101 Reykjavik

by Hallgrímur Helgason

Book Overview

Hlynur Bj rn is an unemployed 30-something loner, still living with his mum, who spends his days on the Internet, watching satellite TV, and gazing at girls in the pub. But Hlynur's cosy, unthreatening world is shaken when his mother comes out as a lesbian, and her Spanish girlfriend Lolla moves into their home. 101 Reykjavik is a first-person account of a blackly funny and bizarre love triangle, a dark, comic tale of perverse sexuality and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571209769
• ISBN13: 9780571209767
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

101 Rekjavik

This book is a modern classic, at least of Icelandic literature. Imagine if Henry MIller had written Tropic of Cancer on crack instead of wine.

addictively clever and stylish

This book is essentially a deconstruction of Hamlet, with more explicit drug use and pregnancies. A moral tome it is not. But the cleverness abounds. If you love wordplay and aren't too turned-off by self-conscious stylishness (which is here used artfully, I think, to indicate a kind of fumbling), you will greatly enjoy this book. It's the kind of book you read phrase to phrase rather than chapter to chaper - like Shakespeare, you don't read it for the twists and turns of plot, but instead for the twists and turns of phrase. But it's not Shakespeare, either. It's crap, really. But it's like, crap gold.

DID WE READ THE SAME BOOK?

Helgason's Hlynur is one of the most original characters I've come across lately. I found Hlynur's train of thought hilarious and laughed out loud throughout the book. I wasn't even aware Helgason hadn't written it in English. A lot of the humor rides on word play, so in my opinion, the translation is excellent. I rooted for Hlynur even during the outrageous prediciments he continually got himself into. At times he stepped over the line between good and bad taste, if that's what it can be called, pushing me nearly to the point of disgust. Then another line that cracked me up put Hlynur back in my good graces again. Not since A Confederacy of Dunces has a character been more hard to take, yet loveable nonetheless. I knew next to nothing about Iceland and Icelanders before reading this book. I feel as if I've just returned from a few days visit. I highly recommend this book.