An intriguing, enjoyable, provocative read. There’s an atmospheric mystery, a sort of stylistic vagueness in the narrative that allows the reader to make his or her own assumptions about the protagonist’s path. It was likely the author’s intention that the tale echo James Joyce. Olafsdotttir conjures that Joycean mood and forces the reader to take responsibility for imagining a resolution of the story. I’d definitely read more from this author.

At just over 250 pages, this small novel by Audur Ava Olafsdottir packs a big punch. Miss Iceland is a novel with depth that covers issues of sexism and for the LGBTQ+ community. Hekla pursues a career as a writer in a time that isn't quite ready for females to serve in this role. This is a book about society's expectations and what it means to try to defy those expectations.

I will note that the cover of this book isn't one by which to judge the content. This isn't a bubblegum rom-com, so if that's what readers are looking for (and many times that is what I am seeking), this is not the book to select.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for the ARC!

Hekla is the daughter of a volcano enthusiast an a very annoyed mother. Four years after her birth she is able to witness the eruption of he namesake herself. Forward in time during the 1960s Helka is a poet now who enjoys foreign literature. Headed towards the capital city of Iceland, Hekla wants to make a name for herself as a female author. Together with her boy-obsessed best friend John, they face the challenges of doing something against the norm. As everyone would rather see her become a beauty queen instead of an author Hekla has her work cut out of her on achieving her dreams.

I wasn’t really expecting this type of novel when I started it. I assumed it was going to be this light, airy novel about a woman trying to become an author. Instead, there is a lot of intense moments and heavy dialogue. I had a hard time getting in this novel, and spent most of my time just trying to get through it. I enjoyed the story of Hekla and John’s friendship. It was raw, real, and deep. The novel would get confusing in spots and the dialogue was more difficult that I would have liked. I’m not sure who I would recommend this novel to, but I don’t think it will be one I would read again.

Rate: 2.5/5
Fiction
Author: Auour Ava Olafsdottir

An interesting tale of the life of a young woman in 1960's Iceland. Very differently written to other books of the genre. Though the story itself wasn't the most engaging, the writing was beautiful and evoked a sadness that could only be illustrated against the backdrop of the frozen North in this situation. There was something very compelling about the way the story unfolded and not only was it a fast read, but it continued to allow the intrigue as the story continued on.
The sexism and homophobia of the time was very obvious in the story and was eye-opening for someone who was sort of unaware about that part of the world at this time period. It's unlike anything you will read the rest of this year.
I would recommend this book to someone looking for a book that is out of the ordinary but still compelling and written in a very illustrative manner.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found it very hard to connect with the characters in this book. I don't know if it was me or the characters that just wasn't fitting, but the story line was pretty good.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I enjoyed this short, episodic novel set in the early 1960s Iceland (a much more hardscrabble country than it is today) about a young woman who is a writer and persists in her dream of being published in spite of the obstacles. After traveling to the capital, she keeps in touch with a friend who also writers, secretly - an outlandish thing for a housewife to do. She's pregnant with her second child and quietly in despair about her lonely life and the prospect of yet more children to tie her down. Her other close friend is a gay man who suffers as an outcast and wishes he were different. And there's the poet she moves in with, who hangs out with a group of exclusively male writers and loves her, but keeps falling back on traditional gender expectations - and is jealous of her creativity. Eventually, the woman who writes and her gay friend head south, looking for a better life. I'm not sure why I found this story so compelling. It has, in some ways, a modest canvas and avoids pounding home the feminist message as it portrays a woman who refuses to give up her writing for a more conventional set of expectations. She is "Miss Iceland" - representing a stubborn commitment to living her own life on her own terms - though throughout the book she resists entering beauty pageant that might bring her opportunities. Quietly absorbing.

A particular brooding tone and poetic cadence characterize the few Icelandic novels I’ve read, and Miss Iceland is no different.

The protagonist, Hekla, is an aspiring young novelist. She follows her best friend Jon, a gay man who yearns to be a costume designer, to the capital. The odds of either one realizing their dreams in 1960s society are slim, and yet they persist.

Ólafsdóttir’s characters are artfully drawn and endearing. I followed their stories with hope pounding in my heart, aching for them to succeed.

The story follows a straightforward narrative, but rather than numbered or titled chapters, there are section breaks. These begin with lyrical headings, such as “We are all the same, fatally wounded and disoriented whales” or “Homosexuals and existentialists.” Each section draws a scene and is a philosophical reflection. I found myself pausing, letting the taste of one melt on my tongue, before devouring the next.

Brian Fitzgibbon’s translation offers precise, evocative prose, reflecting the tender voice I imagine must be Ólafsdóttir’s in the original Icelandic.

I highly recommend this prize-winning novel by an extraordinary writer.

My thanks to Grove Atlantic for the advance review copy.

I was intrigued by the blurb for this novel, but in reading, I found that I couldn't really engage with the story. Ultimately, I did not finish this one.

This was definitely a different book than I originally expected and it took me a little while to get into it. One major problem that prevented me from loving this book was the story skipped around so much I didn’t know what was happening. The dialogue was too much and I felt like, by the end, I knew a lot about the narrator but also knew nothing. Something I loved though was the take on LGBTQ relationships during that time. It was a serious issue to tackle and I thought the author did a great job with it!

It was difficult for me to get into this one - possibly because the document I received was so hard to read due to the formatting but also perhaps because of the story. I had such high hopes for Miss Iceland but unfortunately this one was a miss for me.

2.5. It was REALLY difficult for me to get into this story; at the beginning there are several shifts in POV that are confusing, and the writing is incredibly dry. There are also some formatting issues—for example, there are random phrases listed that I assume are chapter titles, but this is never fully explained—and some of the translations are strange. It did flow better once the romantic interest was introduced and I got used to the style, but I don’t think the attempt at a historical cozy narrative worked well for me.

So many of the books I have read lately have been written in a best-seller style ... written with the intention of capturing attention and holding on to the reader with lots of exciting action and intrigue. And by reading so much of this, I gotten into a bit of a flow - a reading pattern - so that when I started this book, I was caught off-guard and actually not very interested right away. But about a quarter of the way in, I really connected with the main character, realized that my disinterest was my own fault, and started the book over. And I'm glad I did.

It is the 1960's in a remote town in Iceland. Hekla wants to be a writer, and so she packs up her Remington typewriter and heads to Reykjavik and moves in with her gay friend, Jón John. Hekla learns that the world - at least her part of it - is quite misogynistic and doesn't want a young woman to write. What they want is for Hekla, who happens to be a pretty young woman, to be in the Miss Iceland pageant.

Hekla, a woman writer, and Jón John, a gay man in the 60's find themselves constantly on the outside of an accepting society, which brings them closer and closer together, until Hekla moves in with a man ... a young man who says he is a writer. He hangs out with all the right friends, and they talk about writing and literature all the time, but Hekla never tells him that she is writing her own novel. Instead, she publishes a few things using a pseudonym (and all of her boyfriend's friends spend time wondering who the magnificent new writer really is).

The boyfriend is hurt at first, when he learns that his Miss Iceland-like girlfriend is actually a better writer than he, but he comes to accept and support her. But she never feels truly comfortable with him, and moves back with her gay friend, where she feels truly supported for who she is.

This book is really powerful and dark and beautiful.

I've read critics who have written about the darkness and loneliness found in Scandinavian literature, usually associated with the mystery novels (reaching a bit of a peak with the Stieg Larsson books). But I found that loneliness captured supremely well here, and supported with just enough of a ray of hope to have me feel good at the end.

Although set in the 1960's, it doesn't have to be. There's enough of the world that is stuck in that mindset that this, unfortunately, could take place today just as well.

This is one of those rare books that I will read again. Hekla's quite strength and determination, the fact that she keeps focused on what she wants to do, despite everyone telling her what she should do or could do without even trying, is motivational.

My only complaint is a technical one ... my advanced reading copy did not format well for the Kindle and I sometimes struggled just to follow a sentence or understand when there was a break, but it was definitely worth the effort of sticking with it and reading to the end.

Looking for good book? <em>Miss Iceland</em>, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, it a tremendous, motivational, and somewhat dark book about a a young woman making her own path in a very male dominated world.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Book review publication: 3/9/20, 7:30 AM; Central Standard Time
Book review link: https://www.thepagewalker.com/2020/03/book-review-miss-iceland-by-auur-ava.html

The New York Times got it right, Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir upends expectations. This is my first experience reading her and the book blurb is not enough to describe this work. Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literary Prize for her novel Silence Hotel, Ólafsdóttir is a force to reckon with. Her manipulation of the fragmented narrative is reminiscent of César Aira and Paul Auster. Unlike most fragmented narration, there is no blurring of the timeline in Miss Iceland, but of perceptions and images. Side stories, historical information, and metaphors are provided to highlight an uncommon thought or to indicate what is broken. That rich approach hooked me from the very beginning.

Set 1960s, the story follows Hekla, an emerging novelist, who has moved from remote Dalir to Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, to be published as a writer. In the beginning, Hekla shares her childhood friend Jon’s tiny rented room. She became witness to her friend’s struggle with being gay and victimized for it, “I don’t belong to any group Hekla. I’m a mistake who shouldn’t have been born.” Meanwhile, Hekla herself battles with being a woman and a poet in a male-dominated society. Their other friend Ísey, on the other hand, exclaims being happy as a mother and a wife, while lamenting her being a mother and a wife and not pursuing her writer’s dream. Another would-be poet is Hekla’s boyfriend, Starkadur, who claims that he’ll never be bound in leather. Hekla describes him as. “He uses alliteration, but no end rhymes.”

I am fascinated by Ólafsdóttir’s array of diverse characters sharing a common foe –struggles. I love how they lift each other up and not exactly looking at themselves from each other’s perspective, but by feeding their own madness, crossing their boundaries, and defining their own happiness. I like the chapter headings. They are like haikus, giving the reader a warning where the story is heading. I also like how the story ended -an opportunity to put the imagination to work.

Also, praise to Brian FitzGibbon for the exceptional translation.

In a nutshell, this is a profound read for thought. It is no wonder that it won the 2019 Prix Médicis étranger. I recommend it for either personal reading pleasure or book club discussion.

Don't let the whimsical cover and writing style fool you, this book packs a serious punch within its short pages. It's a meandering story that follows Hekla as she tries to pursue a writing career in mid-20th century Iceland. The book is written in a detached way, only letting us get glimpses of Hekla and the cast of characters in her life.

These glimpses do tell us a lot about them, though. Her best friend is a self-loathing homosexual man who is at constant war with himself over his attraction to men and to his desire to one day be a costume designer. Her other closest friend is finding that marriage and motherhood are not what she dreamt it would be and is obviously suffering from post-partum depression, although I'm not sure those around her would realize it, let alone the poor mother herself.

There's a boyfriend, a man who is extremely self-involved with his projected image as an up and coming poet. He seems to treat Hekla almost like an accessory for the life he wants rather than seeing her for who she is. Although in his defense Hekla does keep things close to her chest. We don't learn much about her, yet at the same time we also learn a lot about her. We know she writes constantly, but we never get to see any of her writing. We can tell she loves her friends and family, but we never see her explicitly express it. We learn she is beautiful, but we never get a description of what that beauty looks like.

It was an odd dynamic- with the short sentences and chapters that seemed to constantly change direction it was often hard to see where this book wanted to go or what it was trying to say. It was a dynamic that ultimately worked, however, even if I'm still not entirely sure what the ending meant!

The writing style was certainly unique and unless you were really paying attention you might miss the darker undertones between the lines. The more I think about it, the more grim I realize the book was and that's not just because of the volcanic landscape the characters live in. I enjoyed what I read and look forward to reading more about this author. I love Scandinavian literature but Iceland is not a country I've read many books from. I'm glad to have been given a chance to read Miss Iceland and would recommend it to anyone looking for an introduction to Icelandic literature.

Full review to come closer to the publication date on my blog.

I loved Iceland when I visited last January. Reading this felt like a long train ride: I can’t really remember but drips and drabs. I really struggled to get into it. I’ll give it a try again later but I just didn’t like it much.

This is not a cutesy beach read. It is literature, a tempest of a coming of age story. It feels dark and heavy, but at same time cozy like a knit sweater. beautifully written and I really enjoyed the language and prose the author used.

Miss Iceland

Wear a sweater and your Uggs when reading this lovely book. The characters are quirky, unexpected and in a place that is as foreign to me as may be possible, despite the DNA connection I have to the North Countries. Surrounded by sea and sharing acreage with active volcanoes, Hekla and Jon John are attempting what many do – they run away to somewhere foreign to see if they can fit in there. Both have a few hot spots of friendship, but none that can sustain, only distract them. Throughout, the narrative is hung on webs of the most beautiful language, words looped onto words. Chapter heads are mini poems, on their own.

Atmospheric, foggy, wet, frozen, rainy, slippery, and with contrasting hot, bright weather, Hekla makes her way through all of the challenges of her time. As a beauty in a world of men, she is groped and poked at; in her ears are placed whispers about what she “ought” to be doing with herself, and even women try to keep her in a woman’s place. All she wants to do is write, and she carts her tools everywhere, fighting her battles with keystrokes. She resists, pushing back . . .until she. . . .quits . . .or did she? I was bereft at her choice. This is one of those reads that needs revisiting – I know I will be revisiting.

3.5 stars. . . tucked in a plate of haddock, with a side of potatoes.

A sincere thanks to Audur Ava Olafsdottir, Grove Atlantic / Grove Press / Black Cat and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this one.
I enjoyed the author’s debut novel, Hotel Silence. And it was one of these books that the longer I distanced myself from then after completing them, the more the grew on me. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Miss Iceland.
I found the prose quite dry and hard to get into resulting in me not feeling connected neither to the story nor the characters.
A two star review from me just because I think it’s important to support the LBGQT community and that this was not a bad book but it was just not for my taste of writing style.

I love scandinavian literature! It's so refreshing to read something that is not originally in english. And I guess that's the main issue for people that are not used to it The story is rather slow and it's hard to find out in which time it takes place since the language is quite modern. But I love the icelandic setting and the character's mentality. The writing is tipical for iceland: it's full of contrasts. On the one hand it is dark and heavy and on the other hand it's so hopeful! All in all this is a rather literally book than chic-lit. In this case the cover is a bit misleading.

Written in a very different style than most books, this was a refreshing novel.

I was not overly thrilled with any of the characters. I almost felt as though we were intentionally kept distant from the characters' emotions. Like the cool teenagers smoking cigarettes vibe, where they won't let you in on their true emotions but they are happy to show you how cool they are.

The protagonist and her friend, D.J. Johnsson, are completely outsiders. The protagonist is a writer, but because she's a woman, she's not seen as equal. She often writes under pseudonyms because publishers sometimes tell her her works are not in the style that women write in, and therefore they will not publish her works. Despite these pitfalls, she has been published many times and is now working on a novel. She wants to have a man around, but not to limit her, mostly just for sex.

D.J. Johnsson has struggles of his own. Because he is queer, he cannot have an open relationship in their town. He feels ostracized and isolated. He constantly worries about his ability to persevere through life. He is unhappy with his job, and he wants to leave Iceland, to see if there is something better out there.

I had a really hard time figuring out what decade this book was from, although Goodreads tells me it's the 1960's, which makes a lot of sense. The writing style is very modern, although their troubles can only make sense to be set many decades ago. I visited Iceland once, so I was able to recognize some of the geography. I enjoyed reading a book set in Iceland, as I have never read another quite like it.

The writing is dry, but hopeful. The women are funny, and I enjoyed the letters written back and forth. I enjoyed the whiny poet bit. I was pleased that the relationships fell so far outside of the norms, for both today's time and for the 1960's.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.