Halldór Laxness

Abandoned as a baby, Alfgrimur is content to spend his days as a fisherman living in the turf cottage outside Reykjavik with the elderly couple he calls grandmother and grandfather. There he shares the mid-loft with a motley bunch of eccentrics and philosophers who find refuge in the simple respect for their fellow men that is the ethos at the Brekkukot. But the narrow horizons of Alfgrimur's idyllic childhood are challenged when he starts school and meets Iceland's most famous singer, the mysterious Garoar Holm. Garoar encourages him to aim for the 'one true note', but how can he attain it without leaving behind the world that he loves?

The Fish Can Sing

Halldor Laxness

Growing up in the cottage of a generous elderly couple, orphan Alfgrimur wants nothing more than to pursue a career as a fisherman like his adoptive grandfather, until he encounters opera singer Gardar Holm, Iceland's biggest celebrity, who encourages Alfgrimur to pursue his own destiny in the wider world. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

Wynter

I have a hard time putting my thoughts about this novel into words. It pains me to give it only three stars, because the story offers so much more. I think if I come back to it in a couple of decades I would love it more. It's a meditative kind of book, reflective if you will. The opening ten or so chapters are absolutely spell-bounding. If this is truly the voice of rural Iceland, I want to pack to go there right now, because it seems like a place of ultimate escapism and comforting minimalism. Stunning, but stumbled upon at the wrong time.

The Fish Can Sing

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