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Cecily's Reviews > Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell
by
�Nothing is sweet to me, without thee.�
�I just don’t know who I am. I don’t know why I am.
And I’m not entirely sure I’ll be given time to find out.�
And I’m not entirely sure what I’ve read.
But I am sure that it was profound, beautiful, and brilliant. A tribute to the tenacity of life and the dark depths of one person’s loyalty, even beyond the watery grave.
�It’s one thing to be able to read and another to know how to read.�
There is a short, ethereal introduction, whose significance I didn’t fully appreciate until later. It then launches into the story described in the blurb: a century ago, a nameless boy of 19 and his bookish friend, Bárður, leave Iceland with four others: experienced fisherman, but non-swimmers, in an “open coffin�. Tragedy strikes, after which the boy goes on a perilous journey to return the borrowed Paradise Lost. The reader is hooked as surely as an arctic cod.
But then the tide turns and philosophical digressions and peripheral characters almost swamp the main story. The “we� who narrate, cast their tangled lines through the minds and lives of villagers, all of them lonely, isolated, regretful, and all of whom daily live the pain of the words quoted at the top of this review. And finally, the waters recede, and the narrative returns to the boy.
The harsh and dangerous beauty of an arctic environment is ever present. Dandelions and stars may be kindled, but there is resigned respect for the capricious sea that sustains life - even as it snatches it away; the mountains, too. The fishermen trust God, and “perhaps a minuscule amount of ingenuity, courage, longing for life�. There’s edgy camaraderie, deep bonds of unusual friendships, and the power - and danger - of words, leaving me touched by “snowflakes� born of the heavens� white and shaped like angels� wings�.
Words as Rescue Teams
�We might not need words to survive; on the other hand, we do need words to live.�
The words of this book spoke to me, especially the words about words.
�Some words can conceivably change the world, they can comfort us and dry our tears. Some words are bullets, others are notes of a violin. Some can melt the ice around one’s heart, and it is even possible to send words out like rescue teams when the days are difficult and we are perhaps neither living nor dead.�
The joy of that is that words can be whispered in an ear, shouted across a room, printed in ink, carved in stone, written in blood, typed or spoken into a computer, and sent across the world, and across time. However helpless we sometimes feel when we see those we love and care about floundering in the treacherous waters of life, we can always cast a net of rescuing words.
Bárður and the boy adore literature, but the captain, Pétur, has a more visceral verbal power, reciting obscene verses: “This is a primitive force, a language with deep roots in a dim subconscious sprung from harsh life and ever-present death.�
Memories, important and comforting as they are, “don’t keep us afloat�. Telling how someone died is almost like resurrecting them:
�break into the kingdom of death armed with words. Words can have the might of giants and they can kill a god, they can save lives and destroy them. Words are arrows, bullets, mythological birds that chase down gods� they are nets vast enough to trap the world and the sky as well, but sometimes words are nothing, torn garments that the frost penetrates, a run-down battlement that death and misfortune step lightly over. Yet words are the one thing this boy has.�
Horizon, Boundaries, Balance
One character dies because of his love of literature, leaving another obligated to live, at least for a while, for the same reason.
Almost everything here is perfectly balanced - except the title. Life and death. Good and evil. Ebb and flow. Winter and summer. Sky and earth. No wonder the horizon is mentioned so often.
* “The sea is the wellspring of life, in it dwells the rhythm of death.�
* “The more light, the more darkness.� And “The light of the moon� makes the shadows darker, the world more mysterious.�
* “The world is gone and a dense black cloud where the horizon should be. The storm is approaching.�
* “Those who live in this valley see only a piece of the sky. Their horizon is mountains and dreams.�
Hell - but no Heaven?
Despite the balance, there are many explicit examples of Hell, but none of Heaven. Heaven comes from the writing itself, and the dedication of the boy.
"Hell is having arms but no-one to embrace."
“Hell is not knowing whether we are alive or dead.�
“Hell is to be dead and to realize that you did not care for life while you had the chance.�
“Hell is being seasick in a sixereen� many hours from shore.�
“Hell is a library and you’re blind.�
Hell is also injustice, where ravens come from, and being too drunk to remember your wife’s name.
Joy is simpler: “It is ridiculously good to have solid ground beneath one’s feet. Then you haven’t drowned and can have something to eat.�
The (un)Dead
This is not a ghost story with supernatural themes. However, a dead person is seen and heard (or imagined), and there are two types of spirits in limbo who are neither seen nor heard. These aspects reflect traditional Icelandic beliefs, as well as being a novel lens through which to see the corporeal world.
�The large group of fishermen who ramble about the seafloor, jabbering to each other about the jogtrot of time, waiting for the final call� Waiting for God to pull them up, fish them up with his net of stars, dry them off with his warm breath, permit them to walk with dry feet in Heaven, where one never eats fish, say the drowned, always just as optimistic, busy themselves with looking up at the boats, expressing amazement at the new fishing gear� but sometimes weeping with regret for life, weeping as drowned folk weep, and that is why the sea is salty.�
�We died and nothing happened� Here we are, above ground, restless, terrified and embittered, while our bones are likely peaceful down in the ground�, with “something invisible between us and you who live�, so we “ask constantly, why are we here? Where did the others go?... Where is God?� It’s not fair that “God certainly called her� while we, who ramble here, dead yet still alive, listen and listen but never hear anything.� Their mission is nothing less than �to save the world� - and the boy - by telling this story. �Our words are a kind of rescue team on a relentless mission to save past events and extinguished lives from the black hole of oblivion.�
Blind Eyes See
Milton was blind when he wrote Paradise Lost, but he could certainly see into hearts and minds. Kolbeinn is a retired captain, now blind. �His dead eyes slip through the boy like cold hands.� His Hell is that he can no longer read his 400 books, something Jorge Luis Borges, who also went blind, would have understood when he wrote "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library".
* “Eyes are invisible hands that stroke, feel, touch, find.�
* “Eyes must be somewhere� We must think about where we point them and when� They can be canons, music, bird song, war cries. They can reveal us, they can save you, destroy you.�
* “Both of them blind, he physically, she morally.�
* “No living being can stand to look into the eyes of God because they contain the fountain of life and the abyss of death.�
* “Eyes so bright they vanquish night.�
* “A woman staring at nothing, she has big eyes, recalling a horse that has stood all of its life outside in heavy rain� Once, it was a long time ago, she laughed quite often and then her eyes were suns above life� where now is the joy in these eyes?�
The Meaning of Life - and Death
�Is it a loss of Paradise to die?�
"Our existence is a relentless search for a solution, what comforts us, whatever gives us happiness, drives away all bad things... We take cure-alls instead of searching, continually asking what is the shortest path to happiness, and we find the answer in God, science, brennivin, Chinese Vital Elixir."
We often ponder the meaning of life, but this also considers the meaning and the purpose of death - especially for the several characters who consider choosing it. But we are reminded that �When there is a choice between life and death, most choose life�. Most.
Miscellaneous Quotes
* “The evening condenses against the windows, the wind strokes the rooftops.�
* “The sea floods into the dreams of those who sleep on the open sea, their consciousness is filled with fish and drowned companions who wave sadly with fins in place of hands.�
* “Memories turn to nothing, fish come and nibble the lips that were kissed yesterday.�
* “A dead man is so much heavier than one who lives, the sparkling memories have become dark, heavy metal.�
* “It is not possible to thread the tears together and then let them sink like a glittering rope down into the dark deep and pull up those who died but ought to have lived.�
* “April comes to us with a first aid kit and tries to heal the wounds of winter.�
* “She likely only knows the verb to hesitate by reputation.�
* “Bryndis, he whispers softly� as if to get his bearings, discover the taste� The air trembles.�
* “Music is unlike anything else. It is the rain that falls in the desert, the sunshine that illuminates hearts, and it is the night that comforts.�
* “Sometimes one world needs to perish so that another can come into being.�
The author* indirectly credits his country for his lyricism, �There is nothing to see in Iceland except mountains, waterfalls, tussocks and this light that can pass through you and turn you into a poet�.
Three-Volume Novel
This is not a trilogy; it’s one novel in three, very closely-related parts, covering just a few weeks:
1. Heaven and Hell, this book.
2. The Sorrow of Angels, reviewed HERE.
3. The Heart of Man, review HERE.
For a more concrete idea of setting, plot, characters, and writing style, see my overview HERE.
Photo is of Jón Gunnar Árnason’s sculpture “Sólfar� (Sun Voyager).
The photo source is .
Information on the sculpture is .
*Note: “Jón Kalman Stefánsson. The last name is a patronymic, not a family name; this person is properly referred to by the given name Jón Kalman�. From .
by
Cecily's review
bookshelves: read-only-cos-of-gr-friends, nordic-scandi-iceland, sea-islands-coast-rivers, landscape-location-protagonist, historical-fict-20th-cent, series-and-sequels
Nov 09, 2015
bookshelves: read-only-cos-of-gr-friends, nordic-scandi-iceland, sea-islands-coast-rivers, landscape-location-protagonist, historical-fict-20th-cent, series-and-sequels
�Nothing is sweet to me, without thee.�
�I just don’t know who I am. I don’t know why I am.
And I’m not entirely sure I’ll be given time to find out.�
And I’m not entirely sure what I’ve read.
But I am sure that it was profound, beautiful, and brilliant. A tribute to the tenacity of life and the dark depths of one person’s loyalty, even beyond the watery grave.
�It’s one thing to be able to read and another to know how to read.�
There is a short, ethereal introduction, whose significance I didn’t fully appreciate until later. It then launches into the story described in the blurb: a century ago, a nameless boy of 19 and his bookish friend, Bárður, leave Iceland with four others: experienced fisherman, but non-swimmers, in an “open coffin�. Tragedy strikes, after which the boy goes on a perilous journey to return the borrowed Paradise Lost. The reader is hooked as surely as an arctic cod.
But then the tide turns and philosophical digressions and peripheral characters almost swamp the main story. The “we� who narrate, cast their tangled lines through the minds and lives of villagers, all of them lonely, isolated, regretful, and all of whom daily live the pain of the words quoted at the top of this review. And finally, the waters recede, and the narrative returns to the boy.
The harsh and dangerous beauty of an arctic environment is ever present. Dandelions and stars may be kindled, but there is resigned respect for the capricious sea that sustains life - even as it snatches it away; the mountains, too. The fishermen trust God, and “perhaps a minuscule amount of ingenuity, courage, longing for life�. There’s edgy camaraderie, deep bonds of unusual friendships, and the power - and danger - of words, leaving me touched by “snowflakes� born of the heavens� white and shaped like angels� wings�.
Words as Rescue Teams
�We might not need words to survive; on the other hand, we do need words to live.�
The words of this book spoke to me, especially the words about words.
�Some words can conceivably change the world, they can comfort us and dry our tears. Some words are bullets, others are notes of a violin. Some can melt the ice around one’s heart, and it is even possible to send words out like rescue teams when the days are difficult and we are perhaps neither living nor dead.�
The joy of that is that words can be whispered in an ear, shouted across a room, printed in ink, carved in stone, written in blood, typed or spoken into a computer, and sent across the world, and across time. However helpless we sometimes feel when we see those we love and care about floundering in the treacherous waters of life, we can always cast a net of rescuing words.
Bárður and the boy adore literature, but the captain, Pétur, has a more visceral verbal power, reciting obscene verses: “This is a primitive force, a language with deep roots in a dim subconscious sprung from harsh life and ever-present death.�
Memories, important and comforting as they are, “don’t keep us afloat�. Telling how someone died is almost like resurrecting them:
�break into the kingdom of death armed with words. Words can have the might of giants and they can kill a god, they can save lives and destroy them. Words are arrows, bullets, mythological birds that chase down gods� they are nets vast enough to trap the world and the sky as well, but sometimes words are nothing, torn garments that the frost penetrates, a run-down battlement that death and misfortune step lightly over. Yet words are the one thing this boy has.�
Horizon, Boundaries, Balance
One character dies because of his love of literature, leaving another obligated to live, at least for a while, for the same reason.
Almost everything here is perfectly balanced - except the title. Life and death. Good and evil. Ebb and flow. Winter and summer. Sky and earth. No wonder the horizon is mentioned so often.
* “The sea is the wellspring of life, in it dwells the rhythm of death.�
* “The more light, the more darkness.� And “The light of the moon� makes the shadows darker, the world more mysterious.�
* “The world is gone and a dense black cloud where the horizon should be. The storm is approaching.�
* “Those who live in this valley see only a piece of the sky. Their horizon is mountains and dreams.�
Hell - but no Heaven?
Despite the balance, there are many explicit examples of Hell, but none of Heaven. Heaven comes from the writing itself, and the dedication of the boy.
"Hell is having arms but no-one to embrace."
“Hell is not knowing whether we are alive or dead.�
“Hell is to be dead and to realize that you did not care for life while you had the chance.�
“Hell is being seasick in a sixereen� many hours from shore.�
“Hell is a library and you’re blind.�
Hell is also injustice, where ravens come from, and being too drunk to remember your wife’s name.
Joy is simpler: “It is ridiculously good to have solid ground beneath one’s feet. Then you haven’t drowned and can have something to eat.�
The (un)Dead
This is not a ghost story with supernatural themes. However, a dead person is seen and heard (or imagined), and there are two types of spirits in limbo who are neither seen nor heard. These aspects reflect traditional Icelandic beliefs, as well as being a novel lens through which to see the corporeal world.
�The large group of fishermen who ramble about the seafloor, jabbering to each other about the jogtrot of time, waiting for the final call� Waiting for God to pull them up, fish them up with his net of stars, dry them off with his warm breath, permit them to walk with dry feet in Heaven, where one never eats fish, say the drowned, always just as optimistic, busy themselves with looking up at the boats, expressing amazement at the new fishing gear� but sometimes weeping with regret for life, weeping as drowned folk weep, and that is why the sea is salty.�
�We died and nothing happened� Here we are, above ground, restless, terrified and embittered, while our bones are likely peaceful down in the ground�, with “something invisible between us and you who live�, so we “ask constantly, why are we here? Where did the others go?... Where is God?� It’s not fair that “God certainly called her� while we, who ramble here, dead yet still alive, listen and listen but never hear anything.� Their mission is nothing less than �to save the world� - and the boy - by telling this story. �Our words are a kind of rescue team on a relentless mission to save past events and extinguished lives from the black hole of oblivion.�
Blind Eyes See
Milton was blind when he wrote Paradise Lost, but he could certainly see into hearts and minds. Kolbeinn is a retired captain, now blind. �His dead eyes slip through the boy like cold hands.� His Hell is that he can no longer read his 400 books, something Jorge Luis Borges, who also went blind, would have understood when he wrote "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library".
* “Eyes are invisible hands that stroke, feel, touch, find.�
* “Eyes must be somewhere� We must think about where we point them and when� They can be canons, music, bird song, war cries. They can reveal us, they can save you, destroy you.�
* “Both of them blind, he physically, she morally.�
* “No living being can stand to look into the eyes of God because they contain the fountain of life and the abyss of death.�
* “Eyes so bright they vanquish night.�
* “A woman staring at nothing, she has big eyes, recalling a horse that has stood all of its life outside in heavy rain� Once, it was a long time ago, she laughed quite often and then her eyes were suns above life� where now is the joy in these eyes?�
The Meaning of Life - and Death
�Is it a loss of Paradise to die?�
"Our existence is a relentless search for a solution, what comforts us, whatever gives us happiness, drives away all bad things... We take cure-alls instead of searching, continually asking what is the shortest path to happiness, and we find the answer in God, science, brennivin, Chinese Vital Elixir."
We often ponder the meaning of life, but this also considers the meaning and the purpose of death - especially for the several characters who consider choosing it. But we are reminded that �When there is a choice between life and death, most choose life�. Most.
Miscellaneous Quotes
* “The evening condenses against the windows, the wind strokes the rooftops.�
* “The sea floods into the dreams of those who sleep on the open sea, their consciousness is filled with fish and drowned companions who wave sadly with fins in place of hands.�
* “Memories turn to nothing, fish come and nibble the lips that were kissed yesterday.�
* “A dead man is so much heavier than one who lives, the sparkling memories have become dark, heavy metal.�
* “It is not possible to thread the tears together and then let them sink like a glittering rope down into the dark deep and pull up those who died but ought to have lived.�
* “April comes to us with a first aid kit and tries to heal the wounds of winter.�
* “She likely only knows the verb to hesitate by reputation.�
* “Bryndis, he whispers softly� as if to get his bearings, discover the taste� The air trembles.�
* “Music is unlike anything else. It is the rain that falls in the desert, the sunshine that illuminates hearts, and it is the night that comforts.�
* “Sometimes one world needs to perish so that another can come into being.�
The author* indirectly credits his country for his lyricism, �There is nothing to see in Iceland except mountains, waterfalls, tussocks and this light that can pass through you and turn you into a poet�.
Three-Volume Novel
This is not a trilogy; it’s one novel in three, very closely-related parts, covering just a few weeks:
1. Heaven and Hell, this book.
2. The Sorrow of Angels, reviewed HERE.
3. The Heart of Man, review HERE.
For a more concrete idea of setting, plot, characters, and writing style, see my overview HERE.
Photo is of Jón Gunnar Árnason’s sculpture “Sólfar� (Sun Voyager).
The photo source is .
Information on the sculpture is .
*Note: “Jón Kalman Stefánsson. The last name is a patronymic, not a family name; this person is properly referred to by the given name Jón Kalman�. From .
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Reading Progress
November 9, 2015
– Shelved
November 9, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 15, 2016
–
Started Reading
May 17, 2016
–
16.0%
"The harsh and dangerous beauty of an arctic environment, the edgy camaraderie of fishermen, and the power of literature.
I'm entranced, so far."
I'm entranced, so far."
May 17, 2016
– Shelved as:
read-only-cos-of-gr-friends
May 20, 2016
–
31.0%
"Some words can conceivably change the world, they can comfort us and dry our tears. Some words are bullets, others are notes of a violin. Some can melt the ice around one’s heart, and it is even possible to send words out like rescue teams when the days are difficult and we are perhaps neither living nor dead... We might not need words to survive; on the other hand, we do need words to live."
May 22, 2016
–
50.0%
"Heaven and hell. Life and death. Good and evil. Sky and earth. No wonder the horizon is mentioned so often."
May 23, 2016
–
55.0%
"One dies because of his love of literature, so another must, reluctantly, live for the same reason.
Everything is perfectly balanced, as in the book's title. But it's a cold world away from the sunny humour of Don Quixote's bibliophilic madness."
Everything is perfectly balanced, as in the book's title. But it's a cold world away from the sunny humour of Don Quixote's bibliophilic madness."
May 26, 2016
–
65.0%
"There are more deviations from the main narrative than earlier on: philosophical musings, possibly peripheral characters, but it's expertly and exquisitely woven to create an ever richer tapestry illustrating the constant lurking peril of the beautiful environment."
May 28, 2016
–
85.0%
"The large group of fishermen who ramble about the seafloor, jabbering to each other about the jogtrot of time, waiting for the final call� Waiting for God to pull them up, fish them up with his net of stars, dry them off with his warm breath, permit them to walk with dry feet in Heaven... Sometimes weeping with regret for life, weeping as drowned folk weep, and that is why the sea is salty."
May 28, 2016
–
100.0%
"'Nothing is sweet to me, without thee.'
'I just don’t know who I am. I don’t know why I am. And I’m not entirely sure I’ll be given time to find out.'
'Nothing is sweet to me, without thee.'"
page
240
'I just don’t know who I am. I don’t know why I am. And I’m not entirely sure I’ll be given time to find out.'
'Nothing is sweet to me, without thee.'"
May 28, 2016
–
Finished Reading
May 29, 2016
– Shelved as:
nordic-scandi-iceland
May 29, 2016
– Shelved as:
sea-islands-coast-rivers
May 29, 2016
– Shelved as:
landscape-location-protagonist
May 29, 2016
– Shelved as:
historical-fict-20th-cent
March 20, 2024
– Shelved as:
series-and-sequels
Comments Showing 1-50 of 71 (71 new)
message 1:
by
Ilse
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
May 29, 2016 07:35AM
Wow, so glad to see these 5 stars! Looking forward to your take on this, Cecily.
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Lovely review, Cecily. I really like the sound of this.
Wonderful review
Gorgeous review, Cecily, your words highlight the brilliance and beauty of this novel so enchantingly that nobody should be able to resist reading this exceptional novel. I read the first installment twice, but your thoughtful observations and the quotes you picked tempt me to re-read the whole trilogy again.
Violet wrote: "Lovely review, Cecily. I really like the sound of this."Thank you, Violet. I'm afraid the review is almost as long as the book! It is a beautiful book, though, and unlike anything else I've ever read.
Apatt wrote: "Wonderful review Thank you so much,
Now, would you like cake or sandwiches? (Not cucumber, obviously.)
Ilse wrote: "Gorgeous review, Cecily, your words highlight the brilliance and beauty of this novel so enchantingly that nobody should be able to resist reading this exceptional novel. I read the first installment twice, but your thoughtful observations and the quotes you picked tempt me to re-read the whole trilogy again."Thanks, Ilse. I will definitely be reading the other two, though I'm not sure when. Exceptional, as you say.
What an exquisite review. I had to read it several times. This book, where did you find it? What a masterpiece of beauty. I was not wrong about your carefully picked books! To me, this is reviewing at its best. You have brought me a sunrise beautiful and fleeting. Only by reading the work itself can I enjoy the whole day! Thank you for such a superb gift.
Another perceptive and nicely worded review Cecily! You've identified the relevant themes. I did not enjoy the book as much as you did but the writing is beautiful, especially in the first half.
Jenny's wrote: "What an exquisite review... This book, where did you find it?... You have brought me a sunrise beautiful and fleeting. Only by reading the work itself can I enjoy the whole day!..."Thank you so much for such poetic praise, Jenny.
As for how I found this book: from GR friends. Pick your friends wisely, and your books pick themselves.
Cecily, wonderful review which has me wanting to read this . Thank you .
Tsung Wei wrote: "Another perceptive and nicely worded review Cecily! You've identified the relevant themes. I did not enjoy the book as much as you did but the writing is beautiful, especially in the first half."While you were posting this comment, I was commenting on your review. It's a shame you didn't enjoy it as much as I did, but your review is very insightful and fair. Thanks for your kind words.
Angela M wrote: "Cecily, wonderful review which has me wanting to read this . Thank you ."Thank you, Angela. The review is a mere shadow of the book, but if it steers one or two people towards it, it's done its job.
Great job in portraying the ethereal quality of Stéfansson's style, which at the same time is heavy with existential pondering on the meaning of life, death and love, Cecily.I thought the fact of the boy being nameless (like the village he ends up in) is metaphoric for the narrative voice, which becomes a phantasmagoric invocation that drags the reader away into the depths of what is left unwritten with the resulting effect of words merging naturally into his conscience.
And I am truly glad to see that your conscience rejoiced in the poetic tapestry painted in this unusual book and that you managed to pay homage to it using Stéfansson's very same"rescue teams", so full of pathos, so full of meaning.
I hope you will read the remaining volumes in the trilogy!
Well, with this riveting review and with the remembrance of Dolors's words of praise as well, you have certainly steered me towards this book, Cecily. Gorgeous words here...
Dolors wrote: "Great job in portraying the ethereal quality of Stéfansson's style..."Gosh, thank you, Dolors, though I think you may be crediting me with more insight and intention than is the case.
Dolors wrote: "I thought the fact of the boy being nameless (like the village he ends up in) is metaphoric for the narrative voice..."
Good point. Often stories with a mythical feel emphasise the almost magical importance of names, so anonymity is a startling choice.
Dolors wrote: "...you managed to pay homage to it using Stéfansson's very same"rescue teams", so full of pathos, so full of meaning."
My favoutite and most enduring image.
Dolors wrote: "I hope you will read the remaining volumes in the trilogy!"
I ordered them minutes after posting this review. ;)
Helle wrote: "Well, with this riveting review and with the remembrance of Dolors's words of praise as well, you have certainly steered me towards this book, Cecily. Gorgeous words here..."Thank you, Helle. Dolors' review was a big factor in my reading this, so if I can pass on the love for this book, that's all to the good.
Hi Cecily, I'm delighted to see the five shining stars. What a lush and exquisite review! Words are rescue teams indeed, and you work magic with words in your insightful reviews, Cecily.
“There is nothing to see in Iceland except mountains, waterfalls, tussocks and this light that can pass through you and turn you into a poet�.I love that idea! Glad I stopped here, Cecily!
Cecily wrote: "I ordered them minutes after posting this review. ;)"Excellent! Try not to catch cold during the long journey that awaits you in the second installment...
Laysee wrote: "Hi Cecily, I'm delighted to see the five shining stars. What a lush and exquisite review! Words are rescue teams indeed, and you work magic with words in your insightful reviews, Cecily."Thank you, Laysee. Everything you've said applies as least as much to your own review, which was one of only two or three that kindled my interest in this book.
Fionnuala wrote: "“There is nothing to see in Iceland except mountains, waterfalls, tussocks and this light that can pass through you and turn you into a poet�.I love that idea! Glad I stopped here, Cecily!"
Thanks, Fionnuala. Next stop Iceland?
Dolors wrote: "Try not to catch cold during the long journey that awaits you in the second installment..."One option is to take it on holiday in a couple of weeks time; I would be physically warm then, but I'm not sure if the contrast would be conducive to feeling the book properly.
Thank you for another Icelandic author to keep an eye out for! :)
Cecily wrote: "Dolors wrote: "Try not to catch cold during the long journey that awaits you in the second installment..."One option is to take it on holiday in a couple of weeks time; I would be physically warm..."
Oh, I think you'll feel the cold no matter where you are, Cecily. Even if you visit the tropics! Enjoy your vacation, by the way! :)
Ruth wrote: "Thank you for another Icelandic author to keep an eye out for! :)"Thanks - but who are the others? The only one on my radar is Halldór Laxness.
Lyn wrote: "great review"Thank you, Lyn. Are you tempted to dip your toes in the icy waters?
Dolors wrote: "Oh, I think you'll feel the cold no matter where you are, Cecily. Even if you visit the tropics! Enjoy your vacation, by the way! :)"Probably. And thank you, I intend to try.
Lovely. One to add. Always one add. One wishes for world enough and time.
Lawyer wrote: "Lovely. One to add. Always one add. One wishes for world enough and time."Thank you, Michael. Yes, one wishes for time, but there's also the hopeful expectation of am alluring TBR. I'd rather die with unread books, than run out of things I want to read.
I started reading the beautiful things you wrote, Cecily� then stopped because you had made me realize I wanted to read this for myself also. R.
Cecily wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Thank you for another Icelandic author to keep an eye out for! :)"Thanks - but who are the others? The only one on my radar is Halldór Laxness."
Now I am really embarrassed. I had thought we had several but I could only find one, and that one I panned: Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason.
Another exquisite review, Cecily. My interest has already been raised before, and your thoughts only added to that interest. :)
Roger wrote: "I started reading the beautiful things you wrote, Cecily� then stopped because you had made me realize I wanted to read this for myself also. R."What a compliment, to Jón Kalman Stefánsson and to me. Thank you, Roger. I'm sure you will not be disappointed in the book.
Ruth wrote: "I could only find one, and that one I panned: Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason."Never mind. And critical reviews, when well made, are at least as useful as glowing ones.
Councillor wrote: "Another exquisite review, Cecily. My interest has already been raised before, and your thoughts only added to that interest. :)"Thanks, Councillor. That's how I came to it as well. Keep interested, and go get a copy.
Intriguing review, thanks for putting this on my radar...
Sharyl wrote: "Intriguing review, thanks for putting this on my radar..."Thanks, Sharyl. I'm currently reading part two (of three), which picks up only three weeks after this one ends. A quarter of the way though, and it's just as good.
Absolutely lovely review, Cecily. I don't see how anyone could read your lyrical praise of this book and NOT want to read it. You've certainly convinced me!
Cindy wrote: "Absolutely lovely review, Cecily. I don't see how anyone could read your lyrical praise of this book and NOT want to read it. You've certainly convinced me!"Thank you so much, Cindy. It was a couple of friends' lyrical reviews that convinced me I'd love this. I'm happy to pass on the favour.
This is such a lovely and inspirational review.I also felt confused after reading the book, but unlike me, you chose to remember the several poetic passages. I, on the other hand, could only focus on how I wasn't sure which one of the characters we were following at a given time.
Oh, and I'm not too keen on anything lyrical in general. Ah well, I guess I'll just have to feel special precisely for not liking the most praised aspect of this story. Heh!
Ms. Smartarse wrote: "This is such a lovely and inspirational review..."Thank you! It was a lovely and inspirational book.
Ms. Smartarse wrote: "...I'm not too keen on anything lyrical in general. Ah well, I guess I'll just have to feel special precisely for not like the most praised aspect of this story. Heh!"
With a book like this, it's unsurprising that reactions are so diverse. Special is good.
It is not possible to thread the tears together and then let them sink like a glittering rope down into the dark deep and pull up those who died but ought to have lived.Oh! Oh, I die.
Richard wrote: "It is not possible to thread the tears together and then let them sink like a glittering rope down into the dark deep and pull up those who died but ought to have lived.Oh! Oh, I die."
As will we all. But there can be beauty in death as well as life. That is the main message I took from the third and final installment: The Heart of Man.
A breathtaking, beautifully worded review. Thank you for taking the time. Heaven and Hell is a Must read for me now!
This sounds like what I have been searching for but, obviously, never put on my electronic shelf. It sounds like a feast of language born from the deepest depths raising to the highest heights. A mastery of written words encompassing much of the between. A feast I have found best lathers the palette while seasoned with the sensory pleasures and textures of weight, ink and page.
I will be seeking out the print version based on your review.
Regards,
I had this down as a to-get already, but your very full review gives me all the more reason to find it sooner rather than later. R.
Karen Victoria wrote: "A breathtaking, beautifully worded review.... Heaven and Hell is a Must read for me now!
This sounds like what I have been searching for but, obviously, never put on my electronic shelf. It sounds like a feast of language born from the deepest depths raising to the highest heights...."
Karen, thank you so much for your effusive comments. I've never read anything else quite like this, and your eloquent description of its being a feast of language is exactly right.
I will write another review that explains a bit more about the plot, context, and unusual writing style, as this review, and especially the one for part two, The Sorrow of Angels, is rather opaque. (It will be here, probably before the weekend.)
Roger wrote: "I had this down as a to-get already, but your very full review gives me all the more reason to find it sooner rather than later. R."Thank you, Roger. From what I know of you, I'm confident you'd enjoy it, and I'd be fascinated to read your thoughts in due course.
ok forgive my language Cecilythis is one fucking great review :)
love it and now I must read the book!!!
