Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir is one of those rare books that hit on all cylinders for me. I love it--everything from the subject matter to the style just clicked for me and I plan on returning to this book for a re-read at some point in the future.
From the book description, "As a terrible storm races towards Reykjavík, Dómhildur discovers decades' worth of letters and manuscripts hidden amongst her grandaunt’s clutter. Fielding calls from her anxious meteorologist sister and visits from her curious new neighbour, Dómhildur escapes into her grandaunt’s archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death, and human nature."
5 out of 5 for me.
Thank you to #NetGalley., and #GroveAntlantic for the ARC of #AnimalLife

A contemporary Icelandic midwife reminisces about her family history of midwives. Beautiful scenic desriptions of climate and customs as the protagonist discovers her grandaunts memoirs and philosophical .works .
Offbeat characters and some strange situations but remarkably engaging.
Not for everyone

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Animal Life by Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir

Quiet and deeply reflective novel set in Reykjavik on the run up to Christmas. The narrator has continued after her mother, grandmother, great grandmother and grandaunt into midwifery and her entire life is immersed in its practice, its vocation and its legacy. In Icelandic, the word for midwife is made up of light and mother, and motherhood and light are major themes throughout the book.
Other themes are nature, man in relation to other mammals, coincidence, paradox and the search for meaning.
The writing style is very Nordic. This is one of those books where nothing happens and yet everything happens. The pace is slow and reflective, but it never drags, its too short for that.
Iceland itself is one of the main characters; it's unique terrain, it's flora and fauna, it's climate and it's dramatic winter darkness not to mention the glory of the Aurora Borealis. The whole book makes me ache to go there.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #GroveAtlantic for providing this gallery in return for an honest review.