Customer Reviews

101 Reykjavík: A Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Helgason's Hlynur is one of the most original characters I've come across lately. I found Hlynur's train of thought hilarious and laughed out loud throughout the book. I wasn't even aware Helgason hadn't written it in English. A lot of the humor rides on word play, so in my opinion, the translation is excellent.

I rooted for Hlynur even during the outrageous prediciments he continually got himself into. At times he stepped over the line between good and bad taste, if that's what it can be called, pushing me nearly to the point of disgust. Then another line that cracked me up put Hlynur back in my good graces again. Not since A Confederacy of Dunces has a character been more hard to take, yet loveable nonetheless.

I knew next to nothing about Iceland and Icelanders before reading this book. I feel as if I've just returned from a few days visit. I highly recommend this book.

This book is essentially a deconstruction of Hamlet, with more explicit drug use and pregnancies. A moral tome it is not. But the cleverness abounds. If you love wordplay and aren't too turned-off by self-conscious stylishness (which is here used artfully, I think, to indicate a kind of fumbling), you will greatly enjoy this book. It's the kind of book you read phrase to phrase rather than chapter to chaper - like Shakespeare, you don't read it for the twists and turns of plot, but instead for the twists and turns of phrase. But it's not Shakespeare, either. It's crap, really. But it's like, crap gold.

This book is a modern classic, at least of Icelandic literature. Imagine if Henry MIller had written Tropic of Cancer on crack instead of wine.

If www.Amazon.com allowed half-stars, I'd probably give it an extra half. Right down the middle. Not stellar, not a total dog.

The biggest problem this book has is character development. There's only one, Hlynur Bjorn. Everyone else is a prop, and Hlynur isn't much of an improvement. Lazy, cynical, unfeeling, uncaring. You read through page after page hoping he'll have a catharsis and turn into a human being, but it never really happens.

As www.Amazon.com's editorial reader mentioned, you get the feeling something is lost in translation. There seem to be some puns and word plays which are probably terribly funny in Icelandic, but fall down flat in English.

In all, I just failed to be compelled. There is a window opened to the quirks and culture in Iceland, and some stabs at what makes Icelanders unique as a people. The problem is, the arch attitude displayed by the characters was a turn-off. I can go to any bar and get that with much less effort.