Scan barcode
A review by careless
From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón
4.0
Really interesting read. Never quite sure which way is up as dream and fantasy sequences merge with the reality of an unreliable and sometimes vicious narrator. Paints a picture of a harsh but beautiful landscape, and the (often) harsh and (sometimes) beautiful people that inhabit it.
It's not really A Novel With A Plot That Gets Tied Up, it's sort of a dinghy ride along the lifestream of the main character. Well, the historically accurate equivalent of a dinghy, a honking great orange thing wouldn't really look right. Imagine a teeny-tiny wooden boat, that looks like it might be leaking, going along a river that looks calm at first and then starts whirling around in random currents and heading straight for enormous sharp rocks and tree roots. Then you get to the bank, and you think you're safe. Then wolves. And bears. And a T-Rex. Exactly like that.
It's a smidge over a 4 star but I need to wait and see where the pointer settles before I risk pushing it up to a 5. I need to digest. Excellent, though, well worth a read.
It's not really A Novel With A Plot That Gets Tied Up, it's sort of a dinghy ride along the lifestream of the main character. Well, the historically accurate equivalent of a dinghy, a honking great orange thing wouldn't really look right. Imagine a teeny-tiny wooden boat, that looks like it might be leaking, going along a river that looks calm at first and then starts whirling around in random currents and heading straight for enormous sharp rocks and tree roots. Then you get to the bank, and you think you're safe. Then wolves. And bears. And a T-Rex. Exactly like that.
It's a smidge over a 4 star but I need to wait and see where the pointer settles before I risk pushing it up to a 5. I need to digest. Excellent, though, well worth a read.