Book review publication: 3/9/20, 7:30 AM; Central Standard Time
Book review link: https://www.thepagewalker.com/2020/03/book-review-miss-iceland-by-auur-ava.html

The New York Times got it right, Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir upends expectations. This is my first experience reading her and the book blurb is not enough to describe this work. Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literary Prize for her novel Silence Hotel, Ólafsdóttir is a force to reckon with. Her manipulation of the fragmented narrative is reminiscent of César Aira and Paul Auster. Unlike most fragmented narration, there is no blurring of the timeline in Miss Iceland, but of perceptions and images. Side stories, historical information, and metaphors are provided to highlight an uncommon thought or to indicate what is broken. That rich approach hooked me from the very beginning.

Set 1960s, the story follows Hekla, an emerging novelist, who has moved from remote Dalir to Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, to be published as a writer. In the beginning, Hekla shares her childhood friend Jon’s tiny rented room. She became witness to her friend’s struggle with being gay and victimized for it, “I don’t belong to any group Hekla. I’m a mistake who shouldn’t have been born.” Meanwhile, Hekla herself battles with being a woman and a poet in a male-dominated society. Their other friend Ísey, on the other hand, exclaims being happy as a mother and a wife, while lamenting her being a mother and a wife and not pursuing her writer’s dream. Another would-be poet is Hekla’s boyfriend, Starkadur, who claims that he’ll never be bound in leather. Hekla describes him as. “He uses alliteration, but no end rhymes.”

I am fascinated by Ólafsdóttir’s array of diverse characters sharing a common foe –struggles. I love how they lift each other up and not exactly looking at themselves from each other’s perspective, but by feeding their own madness, crossing their boundaries, and defining their own happiness. I like the chapter headings. They are like haikus, giving the reader a warning where the story is heading. I also like how the story ended -an opportunity to put the imagination to work.

Also, praise to Brian FitzGibbon for the exceptional translation.

In a nutshell, this is a profound read for thought. It is no wonder that it won the 2019 Prix Médicis étranger. I recommend it for either personal reading pleasure or book club discussion.

Don't let the whimsical cover and writing style fool you, this book packs a serious punch within its short pages. It's a meandering story that follows Hekla as she tries to pursue a writing career in mid-20th century Iceland. The book is written in a detached way, only letting us get glimpses of Hekla and the cast of characters in her life.

These glimpses do tell us a lot about them, though. Her best friend is a self-loathing homosexual man who is at constant war with himself over his attraction to men and to his desire to one day be a costume designer. Her other closest friend is finding that marriage and motherhood are not what she dreamt it would be and is obviously suffering from post-partum depression, although I'm not sure those around her would realize it, let alone the poor mother herself.

There's a boyfriend, a man who is extremely self-involved with his projected image as an up and coming poet. He seems to treat Hekla almost like an accessory for the life he wants rather than seeing her for who she is. Although in his defense Hekla does keep things close to her chest. We don't learn much about her, yet at the same time we also learn a lot about her. We know she writes constantly, but we never get to see any of her writing. We can tell she loves her friends and family, but we never see her explicitly express it. We learn she is beautiful, but we never get a description of what that beauty looks like.

It was an odd dynamic- with the short sentences and chapters that seemed to constantly change direction it was often hard to see where this book wanted to go or what it was trying to say. It was a dynamic that ultimately worked, however, even if I'm still not entirely sure what the ending meant!

The writing style was certainly unique and unless you were really paying attention you might miss the darker undertones between the lines. The more I think about it, the more grim I realize the book was and that's not just because of the volcanic landscape the characters live in. I enjoyed what I read and look forward to reading more about this author. I love Scandinavian literature but Iceland is not a country I've read many books from. I'm glad to have been given a chance to read Miss Iceland and would recommend it to anyone looking for an introduction to Icelandic literature.

Full review to come closer to the publication date on my blog.

Unfortunately, I made it approximately 25% of the way in to this book before putting it down and not finishing it.

The digital galley of this was hard to read. There were random phrases thrown in that I assume were the start of new chapters? There was no way to tell because the font wasn't bolded and it was the same size as the text. A lot of times it appeared directly after a sentence.

By the time I reached 25% in, I really felt like nothing had happened plot wise and I wasn't sure where the story was going.

I loved Iceland when I visited last January. Reading this felt like a long train ride: I can’t really remember but drips and drabs. I really struggled to get into it. I’ll give it a try again later but I just didn’t like it much.

This is not a cutesy beach read. It is literature, a tempest of a coming of age story. It feels dark and heavy, but at same time cozy like a knit sweater. beautifully written and I really enjoyed the language and prose the author used.

Miss Iceland

Wear a sweater and your Uggs when reading this lovely book. The characters are quirky, unexpected and in a place that is as foreign to me as may be possible, despite the DNA connection I have to the North Countries. Surrounded by sea and sharing acreage with active volcanoes, Hekla and Jon John are attempting what many do – they run away to somewhere foreign to see if they can fit in there. Both have a few hot spots of friendship, but none that can sustain, only distract them. Throughout, the narrative is hung on webs of the most beautiful language, words looped onto words. Chapter heads are mini poems, on their own.

Atmospheric, foggy, wet, frozen, rainy, slippery, and with contrasting hot, bright weather, Hekla makes her way through all of the challenges of her time. As a beauty in a world of men, she is groped and poked at; in her ears are placed whispers about what she “ought” to be doing with herself, and even women try to keep her in a woman’s place. All she wants to do is write, and she carts her tools everywhere, fighting her battles with keystrokes. She resists, pushing back . . .until she. . . .quits . . .or did she? I was bereft at her choice. This is one of those reads that needs revisiting – I know I will be revisiting.

3.5 stars. . . tucked in a plate of haddock, with a side of potatoes.

A sincere thanks to Audur Ava Olafsdottir, Grove Atlantic / Grove Press / Black Cat and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this one.
I enjoyed the author’s debut novel, Hotel Silence. And it was one of these books that the longer I distanced myself from then after completing them, the more the grew on me. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Miss Iceland.
I found the prose quite dry and hard to get into resulting in me not feeling connected neither to the story nor the characters.
A two star review from me just because I think it’s important to support the LBGQT community and that this was not a bad book but it was just not for my taste of writing style.

I love scandinavian literature! It's so refreshing to read something that is not originally in english. And I guess that's the main issue for people that are not used to it The story is rather slow and it's hard to find out in which time it takes place since the language is quite modern. But I love the icelandic setting and the character's mentality. The writing is tipical for iceland: it's full of contrasts. On the one hand it is dark and heavy and on the other hand it's so hopeful! All in all this is a rather literally book than chic-lit. In this case the cover is a bit misleading.

Written in a very different style than most books, this was a refreshing novel.

I was not overly thrilled with any of the characters. I almost felt as though we were intentionally kept distant from the characters' emotions. Like the cool teenagers smoking cigarettes vibe, where they won't let you in on their true emotions but they are happy to show you how cool they are.

The protagonist and her friend, D.J. Johnsson, are completely outsiders. The protagonist is a writer, but because she's a woman, she's not seen as equal. She often writes under pseudonyms because publishers sometimes tell her her works are not in the style that women write in, and therefore they will not publish her works. Despite these pitfalls, she has been published many times and is now working on a novel. She wants to have a man around, but not to limit her, mostly just for sex.

D.J. Johnsson has struggles of his own. Because he is queer, he cannot have an open relationship in their town. He feels ostracized and isolated. He constantly worries about his ability to persevere through life. He is unhappy with his job, and he wants to leave Iceland, to see if there is something better out there.

I had a really hard time figuring out what decade this book was from, although Goodreads tells me it's the 1960's, which makes a lot of sense. The writing style is very modern, although their troubles can only make sense to be set many decades ago. I visited Iceland once, so I was able to recognize some of the geography. I enjoyed reading a book set in Iceland, as I have never read another quite like it.

The writing is dry, but hopeful. The women are funny, and I enjoyed the letters written back and forth. I enjoyed the whiny poet bit. I was pleased that the relationships fell so far outside of the norms, for both today's time and for the 1960's.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading Miss Icelandic and enjoyed the story line. I enjoyed reading about Hekla and her pursuit to leave home and become a published poet. Along the way she reunites with her friends, meets another poet and learns what is important to her. I did have a hard time following along at time, but I am wondering if it has to do with the translation.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to preview this book. Hekla is an interesting character, but the plot is just too rambling and the pacing is very slow. The Icelandic setting is enjoyable, but the book was disappointing overall.

I loved this book. I tend to go in blind when choosing new books so I didn't know what to expect. The cover art misleading...this is not a cutesy beach read. It is literature, a.tempest of a coming of age story. It feels dark and heavy, but at same time cozy like a knit sweater. I would compare the tone to a book like Catcher in the Rye. Thank you netgalley for the copy.

I really enjoyed this novel, set in 1963 Reykjavik, about an aspiring young author and her gay best friend who leave their rural community with hopes of finding a place to be themselves in a sexist and homophobic world. Though the flat, understated prose took me a while to get used to, it soon became clear that much of the story was taking place between the lines and was filled with dark humour and a surprising amount of tension.

Recommended for lovers of international literature and anyone with an interest in the creative process, feminism and LGBTQ+ stories.

Written differently than most books of this genre, i found this to be a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher!

"Miss Iceland" isn't plot-driven, nor is it particularly character-driven; it's more mood-driven. Don't get me wrong: There is a loose plot, and there are vivid characters, but what comes through most is the sense of crossing into adulthood and realizing that dreams don't always come true and possibilities aren't endless. The era, early '60s, is beautifully evoked, as is Reykjavik itself. (I first visited the city some 30 years after the book takes place, and I recognized so much of it.) And while this may make the book sound turgid or precious, it wasn't. It zipped along and was wonderfully concise—not a wasted word. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The punctuation in the translation is incorrect and detracts from the reading experience. In my opinion, the author captured a look at the 60s consistently and believably. The descriptions of Iceland and abroad were well done. The ending is abrupt even though it wraps up one of the story lines. There are 4 story lines captured in the novel and easily deciphered. It was an okay read but the translation could have been better.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing a copy of this book to read and review. Opinions expressed in the review are my own.

A glance into the past with an eye on the future. "Miss Iceland" is for those writers seeking to make a way while finding their own meaning in the creative world.

I loved the story and idea behind this text, but it was a bit hard to read. I do not know how much of that is due to translation issues or not, but it jumped around so much and was hard to keep track of where the plot was.

I found Miss Iceland to be a lovely book. The story was, at times, quite face-paced but this only made me want to read faster! The character development throughout, particularly that of the poet, was heartwarming. I know little of Iceland in the 1960s and I found myself occasionally confused because of this lack of background knowledge. This was particularly prevalent when any political stances were mentioned.

Miss Iceland is a book to read when you want to relax. If you're a fan of reading but wish to take a break from particularly intense books then Miss Iceland would be perfect for you. It's a sweet story that can be difficult to put down. It's written with an interesting narrative stance, rarely using names for certain characters. I found this to be the main point of interest for me - I enjoy any story that's written in a more unusual way.

Miss Iceland is likely to be the perfect summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this. I’ve travelled to Iceland twice and fell in love with the country, the culture and the people.

The short vignettes and letters we get from the main character and via secondary characters is such a different spin on recent books I've read and keeps the reader engaged with every page.

I loved the 60s timeline, I loved the tie in with volcanoes, I loved the passion of the narrator to be a female writer no matter what (re: sexism), I loved the theme of homosexuality.

I also love that the title of this novel is based on a minor characters insistence and has nothing to do with the novel in a sense.

Time to book another flight to Iceland.