I greatly enjoyed reading this book (thank you NetGalley for the ARC), though it's difficult to say what I enjoyed the most: the style or the plot. Maybe I should talk about both.
First of all, I liked the fact that the author does not judge, does not try to tell us, the readers, what to think. Not even when both Hekla and D.J. are mistreated, manhandled or even injured. The author's tone is as a mater-of-factly as always. They have to accept the fact that the world is what it is and try to survive, and, through their stories and destiny, so does the author. We all know that their time will come, sooner or later, when female writers will be able to publish under their own names and gay people will have rights. Women will no longer be forced to choose between having a family or a career, postpartum depression will be recognized... This does not mean we live in a world without prejudice, we just accept it and go on.
Secondly, I took a long time thinking about Helka and D.J.'s marriage: is it a compromise, an acceptance or a liberation? In the end, I'd like to think that there must be more than one kind of marriage, and their union will be full of happiness, as long as it lasts, because it's a spiritual one. Usually, the material/ physical part of a relationship spoils things.
The structure of the book must be also something remarkable but my ARC was a continuous text, unfortunately (one of the disadvantages of reading e-books).

Hekla goes to Reykjavik to write. She takes just a few things with her, including her typewriter and Joyce's Ulysses. There she learns that as a woman, you can't succeed in some fields. She gets a proposition to participate in a Miss Iceland competition. But nobody would publish a novel that is written by a woman. So she writes under a pseudonym.

We get the image of Iceland in the sixties: gray, cold, homophobic, discriminatory. Vulcanic eruptions make it even grayer.

This one is one of those little gems I find from time to time. Excellent writing style, I liked it a lot. You don't get a dense narrative in this novel. You get bits and pieces, and you have to read between the lines and make your conclusions. It is an art to assemble a thought-provoking story full of meaning from these fragments. It is one of those novels that leaves you thinking about it long after you finish it.

Miss Iceland is suitable for fans of international and European literature. I would say this one is not for everyone. Some mainstream book readers may not appreciate the beauty of this novel.

I will look up other works of this author. Thanks to Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to read this! All opinions are my own.

Ever since traveling to Iceland, I’ve been interested in reading about the country and its culture. I believe the author provides a faithful portrayal of Iceland’s mood due to its stark landscape and barren remoteness. I really felt the oppressiveness of the night and the sea. In spite of that atmosphere, Iceland seems to be a land full of poets and dreamers, but in the 1960s clearly not ready to accept all of its people for who they are. I felt the writing was quite good and the plot was interesting, however it seemed there was much symbolism that was not thoroughly fleshed out or perhaps it’s more obvious to an Icelandic reader. Understanding that this is an ARC, I hope the ending gets reworked a bit.

I received an ARC of this book by NetGalley. #MissIceland #NetGalley

Thank you to netgalley.com for the ARC.

This book takes places in Iceland during the early 1960s and features a woman who wants to be a writer in a male dominated field. The characters are all flawed and quirky which makes them interesting. There is a strong sense of place and you can feel the weather and darkness at times. I have to admit I struggled with some of the names and also some of the slang or Icelandic terms and a glossary at the back may have been helpful to American readers. I was able to get some of the meaning from the context.

Overall this was a well written book and I enjoyed it.

I tried to read this book and just couldnt.. it might be this time of life during a lockdown for a pandemic. I gave it my best shot.

4.5★s
“Eternity isn’t within my reach. Compared to you, Hekla, who are the daughter of a volcano and the Arctic sea, I am the daughter of hillock and heath!”

Miss Iceland is a novel by Icelandic author, Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir. It is translated from Icelandic by Brian Fitzgibbon. She was delivered by the local vet and named after a volcano, quite against her mother’s wishes, by her volcano-mad father. Her mother later said of Hekla: “that there needs to be… chaos in the soul to be able to give birth to a dancing star…” From a very young age, she was determined to be a writer.

In 1963, twenty-one-year-old Hekla Gottskalksdottir, slim and beautiful, takes the coach from Dalir to Reykjavik with a plan: she will find a job, a place to live, and she will write. On the bus though, she catches the eye of a middle-aged man, who feels sure she would do well in the Miss Iceland pageant. No, thank you.

She looks up her two best friends: Isey, married with a baby; Jon John who, with his sewing machine is set to make a name for himself in wardrobe for theatre, but this queer feels very much the misfit in 1960’s Iceland.

Despite the deep faith her two friends have in her work, there’s no instant, or even gradual, success to be had in Reykjavik. In her waitressing job, she is poorly paid and subject to constant sexual harassment. Her manuscripts are rejected by publishers; instead, entry into the Miss Iceland pageant is regularly recommended. Jon John finds he is no freer in the city than in Dalir.

Her new boyfriend, a librarian and frustrated, aspiring poet, who firmly believes “For every thought that is conceived on earth, there is an Icelandic word”, is unaware of Hekla’s literary ambitions: “Does he know about the wild beast that’s running loose inside you and waiting for you to release it? Does a poet understand a poet?”

Isey asks: “’Which do you want the most, to have a boyfriend or write books?’ I give it some thought. In my dream world the most important things would be: a sheet of paper, fountain pen and a male body. When we’ve finished making love, he’s welcome to ask if he can refill the fountain pen with ink for me.”

Ólafsdóttir clearly demonstrates the invidious position, in the early 1960s, of women and gay men within the homophobic patriarchy prevalent in many countries, but especially one as insular as Iceland. Her characters are forced to take pragmatic steps to survive, if not really thrive.

Ólafsdóttir’s prose is quite sparse and understandably has a Nordic feel; the characters are a bit quirky; and the place names will be a tongue-twister for readers not of Scandinavian extraction. Familiarity with the many Icelandic and Danish poets and authors might well enhance the enjoyment of this novel, but it is not absolutely necessary. This is a bit deeper and darker than the cover picture and English blurb seem to suggest, but certainly a beautifully written, moving read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Grove Atlantic

An intriguing, enjoyable, provocative read. There’s an atmospheric mystery, a sort of stylistic vagueness in the narrative that allows the reader to make his or her own assumptions about the protagonist’s path. It was likely the author’s intention that the tale echo James Joyce. Olafsdotttir conjures that Joycean mood and forces the reader to take responsibility for imagining a resolution of the story. I’d definitely read more from this author.

At just over 250 pages, this small novel by Audur Ava Olafsdottir packs a big punch. Miss Iceland is a novel with depth that covers issues of sexism and for the LGBTQ+ community. Hekla pursues a career as a writer in a time that isn't quite ready for females to serve in this role. This is a book about society's expectations and what it means to try to defy those expectations.

I will note that the cover of this book isn't one by which to judge the content. This isn't a bubblegum rom-com, so if that's what readers are looking for (and many times that is what I am seeking), this is not the book to select.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for the ARC!

Hekla is the daughter of a volcano enthusiast an a very annoyed mother. Four years after her birth she is able to witness the eruption of he namesake herself. Forward in time during the 1960s Helka is a poet now who enjoys foreign literature. Headed towards the capital city of Iceland, Hekla wants to make a name for herself as a female author. Together with her boy-obsessed best friend John, they face the challenges of doing something against the norm. As everyone would rather see her become a beauty queen instead of an author Hekla has her work cut out of her on achieving her dreams.

I wasn’t really expecting this type of novel when I started it. I assumed it was going to be this light, airy novel about a woman trying to become an author. Instead, there is a lot of intense moments and heavy dialogue. I had a hard time getting in this novel, and spent most of my time just trying to get through it. I enjoyed the story of Hekla and John’s friendship. It was raw, real, and deep. The novel would get confusing in spots and the dialogue was more difficult that I would have liked. I’m not sure who I would recommend this novel to, but I don’t think it will be one I would read again.

Rate: 2.5/5
Fiction
Author: Auour Ava Olafsdottir

An interesting tale of the life of a young woman in 1960's Iceland. Very differently written to other books of the genre. Though the story itself wasn't the most engaging, the writing was beautiful and evoked a sadness that could only be illustrated against the backdrop of the frozen North in this situation. There was something very compelling about the way the story unfolded and not only was it a fast read, but it continued to allow the intrigue as the story continued on.
The sexism and homophobia of the time was very obvious in the story and was eye-opening for someone who was sort of unaware about that part of the world at this time period. It's unlike anything you will read the rest of this year.
I would recommend this book to someone looking for a book that is out of the ordinary but still compelling and written in a very illustrative manner.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well written, rich in character depth, and enjoyed learning/reading about Iceland. The length is good and I liked how the story moved quickly.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found it very hard to connect with the characters in this book. I don't know if it was me or the characters that just wasn't fitting, but the story line was pretty good.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I enjoyed this short, episodic novel set in the early 1960s Iceland (a much more hardscrabble country than it is today) about a young woman who is a writer and persists in her dream of being published in spite of the obstacles. After traveling to the capital, she keeps in touch with a friend who also writers, secretly - an outlandish thing for a housewife to do. She's pregnant with her second child and quietly in despair about her lonely life and the prospect of yet more children to tie her down. Her other close friend is a gay man who suffers as an outcast and wishes he were different. And there's the poet she moves in with, who hangs out with a group of exclusively male writers and loves her, but keeps falling back on traditional gender expectations - and is jealous of her creativity. Eventually, the woman who writes and her gay friend head south, looking for a better life. I'm not sure why I found this story so compelling. It has, in some ways, a modest canvas and avoids pounding home the feminist message as it portrays a woman who refuses to give up her writing for a more conventional set of expectations. She is "Miss Iceland" - representing a stubborn commitment to living her own life on her own terms - though throughout the book she resists entering beauty pageant that might bring her opportunities. Quietly absorbing.

A particular brooding tone and poetic cadence characterize the few Icelandic novels I’ve read, and Miss Iceland is no different.

The protagonist, Hekla, is an aspiring young novelist. She follows her best friend Jon, a gay man who yearns to be a costume designer, to the capital. The odds of either one realizing their dreams in 1960s society are slim, and yet they persist.

Ólafsdóttir’s characters are artfully drawn and endearing. I followed their stories with hope pounding in my heart, aching for them to succeed.

The story follows a straightforward narrative, but rather than numbered or titled chapters, there are section breaks. These begin with lyrical headings, such as “We are all the same, fatally wounded and disoriented whales” or “Homosexuals and existentialists.” Each section draws a scene and is a philosophical reflection. I found myself pausing, letting the taste of one melt on my tongue, before devouring the next.

Brian Fitzgibbon’s translation offers precise, evocative prose, reflecting the tender voice I imagine must be Ólafsdóttir’s in the original Icelandic.

I highly recommend this prize-winning novel by an extraordinary writer.

My thanks to Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.

I was intrigued by the blurb for this novel, but in reading, I found that I couldn't really engage with the story. Ultimately, I did not finish this one.

This was definitely a different book than I originally expected and it took me a little while to get into it. One major problem that prevented me from loving this book was the story skipped around so much I didn’t know what was happening. The dialogue was too much and I felt like, by the end, I knew a lot about the narrator but also knew nothing. Something I loved though was the take on LGBTQ relationships during that time. It was a serious issue to tackle and I thought the author did a great job with it!

I received this advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This slim, haunting novel is like a chamber piece, interweaving its four main characters' reactions to their circumscribed lives in post-WWII Iceland. Today we think of that country's exquisite landscapes and enlightened social policies. But Olafsdottir documents an earlier generation, who ate boiled fish and potatoes and aspired to their ewes having three rather than two lambs. In this stark landscape of winters devoid of sun, everyone seemingly chafes at the narrowness of their lives. One young mother journals obsessively, writing down conversations of "what was said and what was not said." A gay man struggles between self loathing and his liberating talent of designing and sewing beautiful clothes. A poet unthinkingly enacts bourgeois patriarchy even as he asserts his Bohemianism.
These beautifully drawn characters orbit the first person narrator Hecla, lovingly named after a volcano by her farmer father. Her quiet but undeniable creativity creates a building tension, as she skirts the lure of becoming the eponymous Miss Iceland, a role that promises opportunity but more likely invites ruin. Indeed, all the characters "miss" Iceland, loving a country where only 175,000 people (in those days) speak their language, where men drink on land and fight at sea, and where women don't complete their own sentences and sit with palms open in their laps on the first day a ray of sun beams through their windows. The novel's shocking last line left me musing. A gentle, lovely book.

It was difficult for me to get into this one - possibly because the document I received was so hard to read due to the formatting but also perhaps because of the story. I had such high hopes for Miss Iceland but unfortunately this one was a miss for me.

2.5. It was REALLY difficult for me to get into this story; at the beginning there are several shifts in POV that are confusing, and the writing is incredibly dry. There are also some formatting issues—for example, there are random phrases listed that I assume are chapter titles, but this is never fully explained—and some of the translations are strange. It did flow better once the romantic interest was introduced and I got used to the style, but I don’t think the attempt at a historical cozy narrative worked well for me.

So many of the books I have read lately have been written in a best-seller style ... written with the intention of capturing attention and holding on to the reader with lots of exciting action and intrigue. And by reading so much of this, I gotten into a bit of a flow - a reading pattern - so that when I started this book, I was caught off-guard and actually not very interested right away. But about a quarter of the way in, I really connected with the main character, realized that my disinterest was my own fault, and started the book over. And I'm glad I did.

It is the 1960's in a remote town in Iceland. Hekla wants to be a writer, and so she packs up her Remington typewriter and heads to Reykjavik and moves in with her gay friend, Jón John. Hekla learns that the world - at least her part of it - is quite misogynistic and doesn't want a young woman to write. What they want is for Hekla, who happens to be a pretty young woman, to be in the Miss Iceland pageant.

Hekla, a woman writer, and Jón John, a gay man in the 60's find themselves constantly on the outside of an accepting society, which brings them closer and closer together, until Hekla moves in with a man ... a young man who says he is a writer. He hangs out with all the right friends, and they talk about writing and literature all the time, but Hekla never tells him that she is writing her own novel. Instead, she publishes a few things using a pseudonym (and all of her boyfriend's friends spend time wondering who the magnificent new writer really is).

The boyfriend is hurt at first, when he learns that his Miss Iceland-like girlfriend is actually a better writer than he, but he comes to accept and support her. But she never feels truly comfortable with him, and moves back with her gay friend, where she feels truly supported for who she is.

This book is really powerful and dark and beautiful.

I've read critics who have written about the darkness and loneliness found in Scandinavian literature, usually associated with the mystery novels (reaching a bit of a peak with the Stieg Larsson books). But I found that loneliness captured supremely well here, and supported with just enough of a ray of hope to have me feel good at the end.

Although set in the 1960's, it doesn't have to be. There's enough of the world that is stuck in that mindset that this, unfortunately, could take place today just as well.

This is one of those rare books that I will read again. Hekla's quite strength and determination, the fact that she keeps focused on what she wants to do, despite everyone telling her what she should do or could do without even trying, is motivational.

My only complaint is a technical one ... my advanced reading copy did not format well for the Kindle and I sometimes struggled just to follow a sentence or understand when there was a break, but it was definitely worth the effort of sticking with it and reading to the end.

Looking for good book? <em>Miss Iceland</em>, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, it a tremendous, motivational, and somewhat dark book about a a young woman making her own path in a very male dominated world.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.