Icelander

by Dustin Long

Book Overview

A Nabokovian goof on Agatha Christie -- a madcap mystery in the deceptive tradition of The Crying of Lot 49 -- Pale Fire meets The Da Vinci Code?Icelander is the debut novel from a brilliant new mind,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802143202
• ISBN13: 9780802143204
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

This book has narrative cuddling

An excellent book: a rollicking plot, screwball comedy, imaginative world building, insightful meta-fiction, tenderness, intrigue, love, war, peace, playfulness, seriousness, and endless list of adjectives and descriptors that add up to an astonishing work. Just read, you wont be able to put it down, but it isn't so long that you'll likely starve to death.

GREAT STOCKING STUFFER

I love this book so much that I am buying it for various friends and family members as the perfect Christmas present. The cover alone is beautiful and reminds you of winter, and the plot is all about mystery, snow, winter and Icelandic lore. An amazing combination for the holidays! This little book slides easily into a stocking for a refreshingly delightful suprise.

Wild, intelligent fun

I can see how people might not like this book, not because it isn't great (it is) but because it's a type of book that doesn't appeal to everybody maybe. It's funny and mysterious, but it's not a straightforward mystery or comedy. It's thought-provoking. It's definitely one that needs to be read twice. But it's so fun that it's a pleasure both times. But that said, if you are scared off by books that require a little work, or by books that aren't exactly like everything else you're used to reading, then maybe this isn't the book for you. But if you're willing to try something different and new, then this just might become your favorite book of all time. I'm waiting for the third read before deciding on that issue.

A Tentative Recommendation for those with Firm Moral Character

I must admit that I haven't read Icelander, but given what I know of the author's febrile, ether-choked mind and its propensity for deceit and fabrication, I can only assume the man would excel at fiction, as well. But BE WARNED! Reading anything this nun-defrocking bounder has put to the page could imperil your very soul, such is the malignant bent of his character. I needn't go into details, but when last I saw Mr. Long, he had been using the assumed name Euphonius Greely and was swindling penshioners out of their walking canes. While I attempted to alert the proper authorities, he absconded with my favorite brandy flask and my parrot, Chuckles. What god-fearing man would steal another's parrot, I ask you? So, while I suggest buying and readin this handsome tome, I advise against it if any of the following applies to you: you have not been to church (or any other moral-building place of worship) in more than a fortnight; you do not eat graham crackers; you take warm showers; you have never played field hockey or been in a glee club; your name is Martin.

Excellent first novel - hilarious and intriguing

This is Dustin Long's first novel Icelander and I can't recommend this book highly enough. Although the premise is slightly confusing, you are soon caught up in the plot and by page fifty or so it becomes that rarest of things: a literary page-turner. The book focuses partly on the discovery, commercialization, and quest for independence of a fictional underground Icelandic kingdom called Vanaheim. Most of the action, however, takes place in the U.S.A. in upstate New Uruk on "Bean Day," a local celebration of the deceased adventuress Emily Bean, who along with her family discovered Vanaheim. Despite the book's humorous tone, there are a number of surprisingly moving characters - French-Canadian ex-cop Blaise Duplain struggling to come to terms with and solve the murder of his wife; Jon Ymirson an aging adventure hero stricken with Alzheimers; and his daughter "Our Heroine," in a Hamlet-like state of indecision over following in her deceased mother's adventure-seeking footsteps. At many points in the book I laughed out loud or marveled at the author's clever use of language. (Also watch for hidden clues throughout the book). My favorite parts include overly self-conscious actor Nathan, philosophical investigators Wible and Pacheco, the fox-shirted Refurserkir (guardians of Vanaheim), and rogue library scientist Hubert Jörgen. If you love (but don't mind poking fun at) mysteries, Nabokov, Norse mythology, adventure novels, literary pretentiousness, and Hamlet (the Thomas Kyd version) order the book!