First published in Iceland in 2018; published in translation by Grove Atlantic/Black Cat on February 13, 2018

Here’s some good advice from Jónas’ mom: “Instead of putting an end to your existence, can’t you put an end to being you and just become someone else?” The question in Hotel Silence is whether Jónas will listen to his mother.

Jónas kept a diary of his sexual experiences. Reading it, he remembers how Gudrún told him that she was pregnant, a revelation that led to marriage. They named the baby Waterlily. Only later did Gudrún tell Jónas that she was pregnant by another man. Jónas and Gudrún have been divorced (and Jónas has been celibate) for eight years, but he has nevertheless had a water lily tattooed over his heart.

Jónas visits his mother regularly, but she doesn’t always remember the visits. He has become obsessed with celebrity suicides and is considering how to take his own life in a way that won’t burden Waterlily with his empty flesh.

Jónas decides to do the deed at Hotel Silence in a remote country that has been devastated by war. Iceland hasn’t had a war in centuries, leaving Jónas unprepared for a city where nearly all the stores are closed and the hotel clerk warns him of the places where land mines and unexploded bombs make walking treacherous. Fifi and his sister May are running the hotel by default, the owner having fled to a less dangerous place. The only other regular occupant is May’s son, who was born in the basement as bombs fell.

Jónas gives himself a week to live. He has taken a drill and some tools with him and finds himself making small repairs so that his room will be more comfortable, although (as he repeatedly tells May) he isn’t a carpenter or a plumber — his skill is furniture restoration. Eventually he’s pressed into making repairs elsewhere in the hotel, and later in other buildings. His neighbor asks him if he plans to fix the whole country with his little drill, but it seems obvious to the reader that Jónas is really trying to fix himself, to find a reason to live another day.

Despite his desire for death, Jónas repeatedly encounters people who are surrounded by death but persist in living. He realizes early on that “in the land of death there isn’t the same urgency to die.” The novel’s central question is whether and when Jónas will end his life. Will staying in a country that needs to reinvent itself inspire him to reinvent himself?

Hotel Silence is a rumination on war and ruin. At the same time, it’s a very personal story of a man who imagines himself ruined and his journey of rediscovery. Some of the themes might be obvious, particularly the importance of finding purpose in life as an incentive to keep living, but the more subtle theme involves the struggle to make sense of life when it doesn’t go the way one imagined it would. The juxtaposition of Jónas’ emotional suffering with the more intense suffering of women who lost everything in a war brings home the point that misfortune is arbitrary, that it is unrelated to one’s value as a person, and that persevering in the face of adversity is based on the power of hope for a better future, even if “better” is nothing more than making a connection with another person.

Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir’s prose is effortless and economical. Her focus on a small, slice-of-life story makes it possible to illuminate big themes. As the title implies, this is a quiet story — the silence that follows a war, the voices that are not yet ready to speak — but the story suggests that “Silence saves the world.” I don’t know if that’s true, but the silence between sentences in this masterful story speaks volumes.

RECOMMENDED

Review published at Booklover Book Reviews website: http://bookloverbookreviews.com/2018/03/hotel-silence-by-audur-ava-olafsdottir-book-review.html

Hotel Silence is set in a war torn country (that sounds like Croatia to me) with this privileged but depressed Icelandic man who confronts life in the midst of death. It was strange and disconcerting but also good.

This quiet, somewhat understated novel really was much more than I expected from its description. From Jonas' abject resignation to unhappiness with all aspects of his life, except for his daughter, to his search through his diaries for answers in the past, to the plan to die but how and where. This man lives in his head...And we live there with him. The book is sprinkled with thoughtful poetic quotes from a number of authors (who are listed at the end). Another thing sprinkled through the story are moments of subdued humor.

This is a quiet yet powerful portrait of a man who feels his life has no meaning. Desperate seems too active a word to describe Jonas, our 49 year old protagonist who finds life empty except for his daughter, Waterlily. And thoughts of her open another heartbreak. Where does a man wanting no future go? Jonas opts for the Balkans, then emerging from the horrors of war into a hopeful cease fire. Here is the world of life and death, certainly a suitable place for his last days. So off he goes with his tool box (why I'm not sure he knows) and a plan to die, somehow, some way. Our journey is to go with him through it all.

I do recommend this journey. I think you will be rewarded.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I found this book compelling in a beautifully slow, artful way. Author Audur Ava Olafsdottir managed to keep me entranced. This was nothing like the fast-paced thrillers I usually find myself reading. Instead, it was a gentle story about a 49-year-old Icelandic man, Jonas, who decides it is time to end his life. Since being told by his ex-wife that he was not the biological father of his daughter, he sees no point in carrying on with what he now regards as a pointless existence. To spare his daughter having to deal with his suicide, he travels to an unnamed country, now at truce, but bearing the severe scars of prolonged warfare. I was hugely disappointed when he left Iceland as I had wanted to read this book because of where I thought it was set. (I adored Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, and have been after books set in Iceland ever since!) However, the new country proves the perfect destination for Jonas. The desperate lives of the survivors who hadn’t fled the war provide a stark contrast to Jonas’ own, and act as a catalyst for him to re-assess. I loved the writing style (this was a great English translation); it was terse without being staccato, the author not wasting words on lyrical descriptions. I had to use my imagination to get into the heart and soul of the characters and their surroundings because not too much detail was divulged. And when an author inspires me to do that, he or she has written a great book in my opinion.

A wonderfully charming book, with a lot of heart. Jonas is a man with many scars, both physical and psychological, he is 49, his wife has left him and he has just found out the daughter he raised is not biologically his. Seeing no point in carrying on , he decides to kill himself, but because he doesn't want his daughter to have to deal with the aftermath, he decides to travel to an unnamed country scarred by a recent civil war. Despite his intentions, he soon finds himself immersed in the lives of the local people, all of whom are doing their utmost to not just survive, but thrive in the aftermath of the death and destruction that has devastated their home.
While the writing style seemed a little cold, almost putting me off at first, as I read further into the book and became more accustomed to it, I began to see the beauty of it. The characters are so real, and it is very easy for the reader to empathise with them. Overall a fascinating character study, and a strangely beautiful story in a difficult setting.

At first, I had a feeling of dread to start Hotel Silence. It was coming in line right after I finished My Struggle vol. 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard and The Only Story by Julian Barnes. While I loved both books, I wasn’t in the mood for another story about a whining Nordic man. As I keep my ARC deadlines, I had to push through. Well, my reluctance was ill founded because I was impressed by the Icelandic writer and her little novel about loss and revival.

Jónas is left by his wife and is told a secret that shatters his will to live. Broken and empty inside, he decides he doesn’t want to carry on and struggles to find the best way to go. His main concern is to upset his daughter as little as possible. You see, Jónas was always a person who though more about other’s feelings than his own. Except for now. He decides to book a trip to a hotel in the middle of a country ravaged by war but who recently found peace.

Hotel Silence has seen better days. It is run by two young siblings, brother and sister, the only remaining members of the family who owned the establishment. The others either left the country or died. Faced with the reality of real tragedy, of ever-present death and destruction, Jonas slowly begins to see his hardship with different eyes and to form a friendship with the siblings and with other locals. A handyman at home, he starts to help people to rebuild their homes and also assists with the renovation of the hotel.

I have no idea what it is about the Scandinavian* literature that goes straight to my soul. Except for one Danish crime novel, I enjoyed everything I read from this area. Is it the simple but powerful description of daily life? Is it the melancholy that comes out from the pages, possibly propagated by the lack of sun? Is it the silence and poetic beauty of the writing, just like the unlimited wilderness of the frozen north? Is it the precise, basic and no fuss language but which still succeeds to touch me? Probably all of them and more.

There is a bit more of a plot than in the other Nordic novels that I’ve read but the focus is still on feelings, characters and their daily lives, past and present struggles.

The authors includes small quotes from poems and songs a the beginning of each chapter which enhances the beauty of the novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

*Yes, I know Iceland is not in Scandinavia but for ease of classification I put all this Nordic countries together.

This was a sad but very uplifting book for me. It definitely made me think about my own life and my place in society and the world in general and what would happen if I wasn't here anymore. It was a book that stayed with me long after I turned the last page. It's a book that inspired me and gave me plenty of food for thought.
We meet Jonas. Divorced and with a mother slowly slipping away. He was living for his daughter but then found that that connection wasn't what he first thought it to be. He's at a time in his life when he starts to consider what the point of living is. Having failed to try and rectify this at home, he finds and books a trip to a war-ravaged country, feeling that that's where his end should be. Arriving at Hotel Silence, a run down hovel run by a brother and sister, in a country trying to rebuild after a devastating war, he starts to find a new focus. But is this a turning point for him or is it just a slight distraction on the way to the inevitable?
I do love a wounded character, when written well of course, and here, Jonas really got under my skin right from the get go. He's a bit (understatement) glass half (mostly) empty kind of guy who feels that his continuous existence is a bit pointless. Cue It's a Wonderful Life parallels. But it is more than that as we find out going forward as he starts to meet people that need him. No, they aren't family and he doesn't owe them anything but he helps them basically cos he can, he's has the skills, whether he really wants to or not. He's that black and white in his thinking.
It's not action packed, it's more subtle than that as most of what happens is small stuff. It had me thinking of a sculptor who has this massive block of material and he is chipping away, uncovering what he sees within the lump, slowly exposing the beauty contained within. As Jonas does small things for people, we see his hard exterior also start to fall away.
The people Jonas meets along the way are all wounded too, all in different ways and all dealing with their adversity again differently. It's poignant and humbling and, at times, hard to read. I've been to Mostar and seen the devastation that that wonderful place suffered in the war and met some of the people who lived through it and, although the action in this book takes place in a unnamed country, it was easy for me to equate what I was reading to what I witnessed there.
Yes, at times it is a bit dark and depressing, but then so's life. It's not all kittens, bunnies and flowers but there is always the underlying feeling of hope just bubbling under the surface. It's a story about perspective and how we get wrapped up in things so tight that we can't see the wonders all around us. It's a beautiful story, and one I feel privileged to have read.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Jonas has no reason to go on living. Divorced from his wife, informed that his daughter is not biologically his, his mother losing her memories in nursing home… What is left?

Jonas leaves Iceland to go to a small, war-torn country, and finds himself fixing the small broken things that surround him. One broken thing after another, he finds his way.

I loved this book. Olafsdottir has seen into the very depth of Jonas’s heart and found it still beating.

The basic plot of this- middle aged depressed man travels and finds purpose- is not new and, in fact, has been quite trendy in recent years. However, Olafsdottir has done a good job of creating a unique character in Jonas, who has had a series of disappointments. The language is sometimes a bit both spare and ornate (could that be due to translation?) but the plot moves along at a good clip. Once he gets to the Hotel Silence, he learns that others have it worse than he does and yet they continue on. Mae is terrific. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Try this one if you like novels that are journeys of personal growth.

A challenging read,initially I found the story to be very depressing,but persevered and it became a quirky and hopeful story about the mending of both body and soul,in the search for the meaning of ones life. We all need to feel we are wanted and will make a difference,and that life is a gift not to be wasted. The contemplation of suicide and the scars of both mind and body are the underlying themes of this book. The many faces of pain are contrasted with the natural world of birds, old people sitting on benches are compared to birds with broken wings,and thoughts of injury,decay and death. Jonas has a mother in a care home,gradually succumbing to memory loss, her thin,bony frame is related to the skeleton of a bird. Jonas has hit rock bottom,he is divorced,and has been told by his ex- wife ,that his beloved daughter is not his biological child,and so,he plans his suicide,but doesn't want her to find his body.
He travels to an unnamed country,where he books into a run down hotel,that is slowly being rebuilt after the war. Hotel Silence needs his skills as a handyman,and through acts of kindness of mending showers and windows,he finds a new purpose in life. His skills are in demand from people in the village,and Jonas finds that broken lives can be rebuilt.
An interesting read, a challenge, but poetic and life affirming . I have posted this review to Goodreads today.

Jónas is the kind of man who lives for others. He’s kind. He’s accommodating. But when his wife leaves him and reveals that their daughter is not his biological child, he is plunged into suicidal depression. In fact, when we meet him at the beginning of Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir’s Hotel Silence (translated by Brian FitzGibbon), he is planning on killing himself. He keeps putting it off because he doesn’t want his daughter to be the one to find his body. Eventually, Jónas plans to travel to a foreign country so that his body will be shipped back without too much fuss. But when he goes abroad to an unnamed country, he finds people who need him and he returns to meaningful life.

The first fifth of Hotel Silence are utterly depressing. Jónas shows us his quiet, lonely life. Without his wife and daughter and with his mother descending into obsessive thoughts about war, Jónas feels like there’s no point going on. He doesn’t have anyone to love or take care of and feels like he never will again. When he goes abroad to a country that was at war until very recently, it’s a relief from the unrelenting Icelandic melancholy of Jónas’ life.

Jónas’ new life starts with little things. He fixes the shower in his room at the Hotel Silence and the sticky door. One of the hotel owners asks him to fix a few other things. So does the owner of the town’s last restaurant. He demurs but caves because he really likes to be helpful. The next thing he knows, Jónas is helping to renovate the hotel and other buildings around town. These repairs and the gratitude of the people in this unnamed town help pull him out of his sorrow.

If you can make it through the first part of Hotel Silence, you’ll be rewarded with a sweet story of people being good to each other (with a few exceptions). This is a rare thing in fiction, since authors almost always torture their protagonists to move the plot forward. Seeing this much altruism left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling when I was done.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration. It will be released 22 February 2018.

A sweet tale of loss and love and how we carry on in the midst of it. I enjoy the "grumpy person finds happiness" books that seem to be frequently showing up these days so I enjoyed this maybe more than someone who doesn't enjoy that current theme.

Hotel Silence by Auďur Ava Ólafsdóttir is a beautifully written, heartwarming and thought-provoking story about a middle-aged man who has forgotten who he is and who feels as though his life has no meaning. While I will give no spoilers, Jónas, our main character, packs a toolbox and not much else — traveling to a foreign country that has recently been devastated by war. Jónas sees the effects of war on the people that he becomes close to in this new territory and begins to value his own life. Jónas’s efforts to escape himself actually provides new ways for him to reinvent himself.

While many say this tale is far too similar to A Man Called Ove, I disagree. This story is about a middle aged man with a much more relatable set of problems than Ove’s. The writing style of Hotel Silence is poetic and even philosophical at times, whereas the writing style in A Man Called Ove is much more gruff and casual. Hotel Silence gives a much more hopeful ending than Ove as well. While A Man Called Ove focuses on life’s endings, Hotel Silence focuses and emphasizes on self-renewal and perseverance.

I cannot stress enough how beautifully written this book is. It is so poetic and makes you cherish every moment just a little more.

There have been quite a rash of books over the past few years about grumpy, misanthropic old men who find salvation and new reasons to live, and in a sense this Icelandic novel follows the same well-worn trope. But for me it had a bit more depth to it and I found it an engaging and heart-warming tale. Jonas decides there’s no point in living anymore so why not commit suicide. His life is barren and nobody needs him. But he doesn’t want his daughter to find his body so he books himself on a last minute deal and ends up in a war-torn country that is just about beginning to get back on its feet. The country is never named, and it doesn’t really matter - the Balkans, perhaps – and Jonas finds himself in a dilapidated, barely functioning hotel. Now as it happens Jonas is a capable and talented handyman and he just can’t help himself – he starts to fix things. What follows is a gentle and insightful story of broken things and broken lives that somehow, sometimes, can perhaps be mended. Lovely book.

I might have given this book four stars but it reminded me too much of a A Man Called Ove which came out before this book. Both books are about middle aged men who feel disappointed in their lives and want to commit suicide. In both books, the men don't want their suicide to inconvenience anyone.

If the above were the only resemblance between the two books I might have given it four stars. I found Jonas the protagonist in this book a character I could more closely relate to than Ov and I liked the parts of the book about the problems he faced.

However, I did not like the second half of the book where Jonas visits the war-torn country. Like Ove, Jonas becomes useful to other people by being good with his hands. This similarity bothered me because both of its resemblance to A Man Named Ove and I found it unconvincing that Jonas would be so good at repairs.
In the book A Man Called Ove, Ov is not well educated, gruff and very "blue collar" which contributes to people not seeing some of his good qualities. His mechanical skills which he uses to help people, has also made some people think he simple.

In contrast, Jonas is a very white collar, executive, and intellectual type. I found it hard to believe that he ever handled a screw driver. Maybe if he helped people in the unknown war torn country by managing a construction project, I might have believed it. However, I did not seem him as doing much physical labor or someone who liked getting his hands literally dirty.

His emotional transformation in this war-torn country I also found unconvincing.
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I confess that some of the attraction of this book was that it reminded me of the book A Man Named Ove (even though I was not that enthusiastic about that book). I felt the book Hotel Silence had potential to be a very good book if it did not seem so derivative.

I thought this book was really interesting. It was a little slow at some parts, which made it difficult to read sometimes. However, I really enjoyed the plot as well as the writing style. The main character, Jonas, had such a unique yet familiar personality. It is a really good story about loss and love.

Hotel Silence tells the story of a middle-aged divorcé, Jónas Ebeneser, as he struggles to find the purpose of life. After learning that his daughter is not his blood, Jónas feels that he has lost his only reason to live. Deciding his fate, he books a plane ticket to an unnamed war-torn country in the process of rebuilding itself. Choosing the Hotel Silence as his final destination, Jónas becomes acquainted with the staff and soon begins helping around the hotel with small repairs. As his generosity and skill spreads past the hotel walls, Jónas starts to wonder if there is more hope and purpose in his seemingly dreary life than he originally thought.

I think the premise of this book is a great one--a man on a journey of self-discovery grappling with what it means to fully exist. The author did a great job of conveying the despair that Jónas was sinking in. However, I had a hard time with how it was written. A lot of it felt almost dreamlike--which was perhaps the point, but it didn't really work for me. I found many of the exchanges of the characters unrealistic and didn't feel particularly attached to anyone. Also, it was an overall depressing read--I guess I was expecting a little more whimsy. Maybe not the best book to start off the New Year with, but I liked where the author was going with it and would recommend it to those who enjoy a more brooding story of self-exploration. I think readers who loved the writing styles of Exit West and/or Dinner at the Center of the Earth would find this right up their alley.

3.5 stars

This is very different from my usual reads. It tells the story of Jónas Ebeneser, a 49 yr. old man who has (in his eyes) lost everything. The last straw was learning from his ex-wife that he’s not the father of his adult daughter. Now living in a tiny flat, he calmly decides there is no reason for him to go on living.

He’s always been a quiet, insular man. After selling his business, his only job these days is visiting his elderly mother. “I don’t know who I am. I’m nothing & I own nothing”. As Jónas considers his options he concludes it would be better for him to end things in a foreign country.

This is the first part of the book & there’s a dreamy, almost surreal feel to it. The prose is poetic & non-linear as Jónas reminisces about his life & the people who have crossed his path. Despite how it may sound, there’s not a drop of self-pity or drama in Jónas’ character. He’s simply reached a point where he has no purpose.

The second part of the story moves to a small village in an unnamed country that is slowly rebuilding after a long war. Jónas takes a room at the Hotel Silence which is decidedly worse for wear. It’s run by a young sister & brother who are determined to bring it back to its former glory. After he makes some small repairs to his own room, he becomes the hotel’s resident handyman. Word spreads quickly & it’s not long before other villagers come knocking.

This section is much more earthbound. As Jónas strolls the safe areas & meets the people, we see firsthand the physical & emotional tolls of war. A man who lived a comfortable if basic life & wants to die is suddenly surrounded by those who have nothing & fight to live. Their stories are poignant & their courage, humbling. And through no effort of his own he forms relationships. With each job, you get the sense he’s also repairing himself as he begins to feel needed & useful again.

This is a book that will appeal to fans of literary fiction, especially if you enjoy that indefinable Scandi vibe. It’s a quiet, introspective read with several running themes. Loss, isolation, self worth, survival, love….all of these are explored through analogy & symbolism. Quotes from well know poets & philosophers take the place of chapter headers. It’s a strange, quirky & ultimately hopeful story about mending what is broken, whether it’s a chair or a human being.

I found it an oddly peaceful, almost mesmerizing read. And in a world where people walk around with faces glued to phones & spend more time in the virtual world, its themes are hauntingly relevant.