Scan barcode
A review by bloppenheim
The Greenhouse by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
4.0
The Greenhouse was a pretty simple book -- not in any negative sense of the word, but in the fact that the book's protagonist had a relatively simple quest/goal that led him throughout the book (the desire to plant his special flower in a particular garden). Of course, like any book based on a quest, there's complications that arise, specifically in this case the arrival of his one night stand and accidental daughter.
The book, at its core, is about themes of cohabitation and understanding others. Our protagonist doesn't really understand his daughter, nor the woman that he ends up living with, but he sure as hell tries. He goes out of his way to include them in aspects of his life, to cook for them, to try and be responsible (I'd think the character has some sense of inherent responsibility that many of us seem to have), etc. It's a good analogy for what many of us go through when we try to understand other people, especially those that are close to us. It sometimes seems as if those that we are trying to understand are purposefully obfuscating, like they don't want us to understand them or their lives or their motivations. At the same time, we're blissfully unaware that we ourselves are likely doing the same thing without intending it. In a way, that's what life itself is about. Just trying to understand others so we can live together in harmony.
The narrator can get a tad bit childish in his musings on women and romance, though perhaps this is partially a translation issue. If you can get past these almost teenage thoughts, you'll enjoy the relatively slow and peaceful pacing of this book, and hopefully you can apply some of the narrator's ideas about cohabitation and responsibility to your own life.
The book, at its core, is about themes of cohabitation and understanding others. Our protagonist doesn't really understand his daughter, nor the woman that he ends up living with, but he sure as hell tries. He goes out of his way to include them in aspects of his life, to cook for them, to try and be responsible (I'd think the character has some sense of inherent responsibility that many of us seem to have), etc. It's a good analogy for what many of us go through when we try to understand other people, especially those that are close to us. It sometimes seems as if those that we are trying to understand are purposefully obfuscating, like they don't want us to understand them or their lives or their motivations. At the same time, we're blissfully unaware that we ourselves are likely doing the same thing without intending it. In a way, that's what life itself is about. Just trying to understand others so we can live together in harmony.
The narrator can get a tad bit childish in his musings on women and romance, though perhaps this is partially a translation issue. If you can get past these almost teenage thoughts, you'll enjoy the relatively slow and peaceful pacing of this book, and hopefully you can apply some of the narrator's ideas about cohabitation and responsibility to your own life.