Angels of the Universe [Hardcover]

Einar Mar Gudmundsson (Author), Bernard Scudder (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997

Set against the bleak landscape of Iceland, a story of madness unfolds as Paul describes growing up in a working-class family and his frequent retreat into his own fantasy world, which eventually leads him to Klepp, a psychiatric hospital.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA. Set in the '60s, this is the story of a young man struggling with mental illness. Paul exposes the darkness and even the flashes of light associated with his descent into schizophrenia while describing his maturation from a young child through adolescence and young manhood in Reykjavik, Iceland. He was an intelligent boy, consequently placed "above his station" in a state school system, but thoroughly at home with his friends on the street. His destructive behavior develops gradually, but inexorably, and even the best intentions of a loving family cannot save him. He is institutionalized several times and released as often. His therapy includes the use of drugs and their benefit is, at best, inconclusive. His stays at the state psychiatric hospital are punctuated with various attempts at a "normal life." In Klepp, he meets such interesting figures as Oli Beatle, who believes he wrote music for the Beatles; while he is "out," he stays with a farmer who fires at a ship from the shore because it might be a Russian warship. Readers will be drawn into the progression of the disease and feel much sympathy for Paul and understanding of his illness by the end. This slim volume is not an easy read, but it is an evocation of the place, the time, and especially the disease, and is well worth consideration.?Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Icelandic

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312150539
• ISBN-13: 978-0312150532
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT -- BUT CHILLING -- PORTRAIT OF INSANITY, August 2, 2002

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angels of the Universe (Hardcover)

Einar Mar Gudmundsson's short but rich novel is dark, but it is not without humor -- and that's a good thing, since it's an 'inside' look at a young man slowly losing his grip on reality. He experiences paranoia and hallucinations, experiments with drugs, and is suffering from severe depression. He has his lighter moments -- in fact, he's an intelligent and lucid person much of the time -- but the weight of his madness slowly drags him further and further down.

The humor in the book comes in the form of some of his friends -- fellow-inmates at the Klepp Psychiatric Institute in Rekjavik. His portraits of some of the doctors, orderlies -- and police -- that he encounters will bring a smile to the reader as well.

The author is obviously pretty sensitive to the plight and conditions in which people suffering from mental illness live -- his characters, while embodying much humor, never come across as charicatures, but as real human beings. I've read that this novel has been (or is being) made into a film in Iceland -- like another reviewer below, I strongly hope that it makes it to the States. I'd love to see a well-made screen version -- I hope that the author has a great deal of control over it, to keep it true to the spirit of this enlightening and compelling novel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Madness!, January 9, 2002

By 

Stephen Swartz (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Angels of the Universe (Hardcover)

I had to read this as a library book in Kansas because I have not been able to find it in English anywhere--not even an Icelandic version when I visited Iceland.
The story is schizophrenic in itself yet gives you a wonderful (i.e., thorough, emotional) impression of life in Iceland. The main character struggles through his increasing madness, as the other reviews explain in detail. It's just a great read.
I understand the Iceland film commission is making it into a movie, but I wonder if it will make it to Kansas. It should be in paperback and on bookshelves in all Barnes & Nobles, Borders, etc. and at Amazon!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Madhouse Is In A Lot Of Places, August 7, 2000

By 

EriKa "E" (Iceland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels of the Universe (Hardcover)

In its own surreal, non-linear way this book tackles larger questions than cannot be answered: what is reality? Who determines what it is? More telling, who determines when you have stumbled outside the boundaries of reality and accepted norms?

Angels of the Universe tells a heartbreaking (to echo another reviewer's sentiments) story of Paul, an Icelandic man who slowly loses his footing in reality while giving the reader a glimpse into Icelandic life.

The tale is tragic, following Paul's slow descent further and further into himself. Nevertheless the book also illustrates the fact that madness, or perceived madness, or depression, or any kind of emotional or mental illness can befall anyone. Paul's friend Rognvald, who appears to be content, living a "normal" life, kills himself. Rognvald always visits Paul in Klepp Psychiatric Hospital and when Paul tells Rognvald that he wishes Rognvald had become a psychiatrist instead of the dentist he was, Rognvald replies, "Don't you reckon it's not enough trouble keeping yourself on the right side of the line?" Paul says that he cannot imagine anything more normal than being a wealthy dentist, adding that there isn't room for healthy sorts of folks like dentists at the madhouse. Rognvald replies, "But just bear in mind that the madhouse is in a lot of places."

What point could be made that is more true? Many places and stations in life are places that might just as well be asylums, and the book points out that there is illness and pain everywhere which is ultimately what made the book realistic and painful to read.

Although the book is out of print, it is available in Iceland in Icelandic and English. A film has also been made.