Why this book:  I’m planning to spend a couple of weeks in Iceland this summer and somehow this book came to my attention as a novel which takes place in rural Iceland fairly recently. I read it as part of my mental prep to get the most out of this trip, and help me appreciate the land and people I’ll be visiting. 

Summary in 3 sentences:  The story is told from the first person perspective of a young man about his life growing up on a remote, hard-scrabble farm in southern Iceland. He vividly describes the hard work and challenges of ranching cattle in that world, to include from the character of the land, the inclement weather, and the often uncooperative animals themselves, all while he wrestles with what he will do with his life as he enters adulthood.  His father is beaten down by the hardships, his mother is a professor at a local university and our young protagonist eventually goes through the classic challenges of falling in love and creating a relationship with a young woman, all while things on the farm and in his family are not going well. 

My impressions:   I loved the book – the story, the writing, and indeed the sense it gave me of farm life in rural Iceland.  I read the book primarily as an introduction to Icelandic culture, but what a bonus in that the story was so compelling and seemed genuinely authentic  to me. The book is told as a retrospective from the protagonist looking badk from his late 20’s on the events he describes. 

I listened to the book, and am glad I did. The reader clearly has native fluency in the Icelandic language, which added to the authenticity of the book, in his pronunciations of place names and other words of Icelandic origin. 

Characters in the book are interesting and believable.  I liked all of them.  Principle characters were our protagonist Ourie (sp?), his Papi, his Mama, his Ama (grand mother,)   Runa, their drunken neighbor’s daughter, Mihan, Oure’s  girlfriend,  and Riku their loyal and very intuitive farm dog,

Our ptotagonist is an introverted adolescent, an only child working with his father on the farm until  he goes off to the university in Reykjavic – something his parents expected and wanted him to do . His father because he wanted a better life for his son than the unrewarding drudgery of working the farm, his mother because she came from a university educated family and wanted her son to have that path open to him.    He’s not crazy about being a student, and when his father is injured and  struggling with the work on the farm, he willingly takes a leave from being a student and stays on the farm to help out.  

But it’s clear that he enjoys farm work, much  more than his father, and misses it when he’s in Reykjavic.  He doesn’t particularly like school and doesn’t enjoy the hustle and bustle of city life.  

Sub plots –

• How the tension below the surface between Oure’s parents would resolve itself.
• Whether Runa would be able to find a female partner 
• Whether Oure and Mihan would ever get past their communications difficulties and become a couple.
• Whether his father would ever get over his antipathy toward farming.
• Whether Oure would go back to complete his degree program or stay and work the farm.

These sub plots are driven to a conclusion by an unanticipated event, that forces all concerned to make decisions that they were unwilling to make without being forced to. As the book concluded, I wanted more, and would enjoy a sequel.