Be Specific About Books As The Fish Can Sing
| Original Title: | Brekkukotsannáll |
| ISBN: | 1860469345 (ISBN13: 9781860469343) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Álfgrímur, Garðar Hólm, Björn of Brekkukot |
Halldór Laxness
Paperback | Pages: 246 pages Rating: 3.88 | 1842 Users | 263 Reviews
Representaion Conducive To Books The Fish Can Sing
The Fish Can Sing is one of Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness’s most beloved novels, a poignant coming-of-age tale marked with his peculiar blend of light irony and dark humor.The orphan Alfgrimur has spent an idyllic childhood sheltered in the simple turf cottage of a generous and eccentric elderly couple. Alfgrimur dreams only of becoming a fisherman like his adoptive grandfather, until he meets Iceland's biggest celebrity. The opera singer Gardar Holm’s international fame is a source of tremendous pride to tiny, insecure Iceland, though no one there has ever heard him sing. A mysterious man who mostly avoids his homeland and repeatedly fails to perform for his adoring countrymen, Gardar takes a particular interest in Alfgrimur’s budding musical talent and urges him to seek out the world beyond the one he knows and loves. But as Alfgrimur discovers that Gardar is not what he seems, he begins to confront the challenge of finding his own path without turning his back on where he came from.
Particularize Regarding Books The Fish Can Sing
| Title | : | The Fish Can Sing |
| Author | : | Halldór Laxness |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 246 pages |
| Published | : | September 28th 2001 by Vintage Classics (first published 1957) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. Scandinavian Literature. Classics |
Rating Regarding Books The Fish Can Sing
Ratings: 3.88 From 1842 Users | 263 ReviewsEvaluate Regarding Books The Fish Can Sing
An off-beat, amusing, and somewhat sweet novel, The Fish Can Sing was very different from the only other Laxness novel I've read, Independent People, which I recall as powerful and bleak. This is much more of a gentle, comic tale, a coming-of-age story filled with odd characters who speak in wry, almost mystical Icelandic aphorisms. It's kind of like an Icelandic Great Expectations, but with a simpler plot, less action, and more fish.Two years after being awarded the Nobel Prize, Laxness published this bildungsroman about the young Icelander Álfgrímur whose coming-of-age at the beginning of the 20th century coincides with the advancement of capitalist modernity in Iceland. Abandoned by his mother, Álfgrímur grows up with loving fostergrandparents in a cottage named Brekkukot in Reykjavik (the Icelandic original of the book is called "The Annals of Brekkukot"). His fostergrandfather Björn works as a fisherman, never demanding
I read this because i got all icelandy after reading Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland. Laxness is 'the undisputed master of contemporary Icelandic fiction and one of the outstanding novelists of the twentieth century', so you'd have to be an idiot not to like this right?I'm that idiot.It is beautifully written and has a sweet sort of quiet feel to it, and I like reading about coffee and cake.... but... I found it so slow! and I just wanted it to end. There is a lot about lumpfish in this
This apparently simple, plainly-told chronicle is enhanced by an off-hand, engaging drollery, which is rather like the conjurers flourish that distracts us from the rabbit (ultimately revealed to be a dove) we suspect is in the hat. Beautifully crafted and paced, with an authorial voice that doesnt miss a trick, this novel has me looking for more from Laxness.
...and swim underwater, for a really long time.Great stuff from this Icelander.
What a strange and bewildering book! I started it eagerly, then languished a bit in its digressive opening chapters. After ignoring it for a few weeks, I moved it to my 'on hold' shelf usually the kiss of death only to pick it up again and find myself drawn in. The story is narrated by a young boy, Alfgrímur, growing up under the care of his adoptive grandparents, who are principled, hardworking, poor, and generous to the point of recklessness. Their seaside cottage outside Reykjavik (still,
Reykjavik today is such an interesting place. Half spartan northern outpost, half ambitious capital of a scarcely populated but not diminutive country, the biggest (and some say only) town in Iceland welcomed your humble reviewer in style. Bygone the hectic days of the financial and real estate bubble followed by the economic crisis that lead the local currency to lose a good deal of its value overnight and the national government to fall, Reykjavik is slowly recovering. Quite reluctantly, many
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