The Atom Station

by Halldór Kiljan Laxness

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25 ratings, 3.68 average rating, 4 reviews (more data...)

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published

March 4th 2004 by The Harvill Press

binding

Paperback, 204 pages

isbn

0099455153 (isbn13: 9780099455158)

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Brian rated it:

11/11/08

bookshelves: read-2008

“Suicide - masturbation multiplied by itself”

Browsing through the used bookshop this weekend I came across this book and it was the author’s last name that made me slip it off the shelf and into my hands… Laxness… the name had a calming effect on me. Then I saw just below his name in bright red letters ‘Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature’. Ok… might be worth a go. And then the blurb at the bottom kind of made me wary, ‘Laxness has been hailed as Iceland’s Joh...more “Suicide - masturbation multiplied by itself”

Browsing through the used bookshop this weekend I came across this book and it was the author’s last name that made me slip it off the shelf and into my hands… Laxness… the name had a calming effect on me. Then I saw just below his name in bright red letters ‘Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature’. Ok… might be worth a go. And then the blurb at the bottom kind of made me wary, ‘Laxness has been hailed as Iceland’s John Steinbeck, Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair combined. His is a significant voice in world literature’… I never did like comparisons to other authors (though it seems every country has a Camus and a Kafka or two, and yes, even a Steinbeck).

The Atom Station proved to me worthy of being set free from the cluttered shelves of the bookshop and into my hands. It was an interesting ‘cold war’ romp and if I had to tie this book to Steinbeck it would have to be with Cannery Row. The characters were brilliant. Ugla, a simple country girl from the north works as a housemaid in the home of one of parliament’s ministers, a household where the mother names her children with African names because it’s chic. The characters were some of the strangest I’ve read this year. I found myself looking at the copyright date a couple of times because the writing seemed so fresh, but there it was, copyright 1948.

The U.S. wants to buy a bit of Iceland to build a nuclear base. The government wants to sell because money is the current god of their alter. The communists do not want the country sold; they want free nurseries for children and a youth assembly hall, the organ teacher is a philosopher that has a senile mother that offers strange tidbits to guests, and a couple of gods make appearances, one sings verse while the other plays a salted fish… This book had me spinning.

I read a review of this book just now at Amazon and one critic gave the book 1 star because, as the he says, “Halldor Laxness is a world-class writer as his masterpieces like Independent People and The Fish Can Sing demonstrate. There is however, one aspect of Mr. Laxness' life that casts a shadow over his career, and is, regardless to say, quite disturbing. That is his lifelong love affair with communism and the former Soviet Union.” Quite disturbing? And that should dictate whether someone should enjoy his books? I could care less if Laxness slept with pigs while courting sheiks and declared that all bananas were gods. Plus, who today could write “that foul fellow Muhammad” in a book and not have a death fatwa chasing his tail? He strung together a jumble of words into a book that had me laughing and thinking and longing to visit the countryside of Iceland, in summer. A good read, a good read indeed. I’ll be looking for more of his books....less

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The Atom Station

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