Iceland follows the absurd adventures of its narrator, Paul, from making love to a woman named Emily whom he meets by a swimming pool filled with f...
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Nov 17, 2007
andeeeeee
rated it: 
one of the weirdest, most beautiful, and most romantic books i've ever read. a man is sent to a clinic to pick out a new internal organ, he immediately falls in love with the bikini clad woman paid to swim in the pool where the organs are kept, to make sure the organs remain stimulated and as hard as it may be to believe, it gets weirder from there. The rest of the story involves volcanos, piano bars, death, betrayal, sadness, marriage, children and of course prison, but it all started with a bi
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Jul 30, 2011
Lisa
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This is surreal Literary Fiction that sometimes goes a little overboard with those capitalized descriptors. The main character gets quite caught up in details and repeatedly misses the big picture, coming across as an obtuse obsessive. He passes quickly -- like, one sentence -- over the horrible death of his traveling companion, but spends pages describing mundane plans and meals and conversations. The effect is to skew reality and if you can accept that universe, it's a well-written and interes
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Jun 12, 2011
Zach
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Sometimes I'll get to the end of a book, and I get almost nervous, worried about how it's going to end. In the best cases, this worry turns to something like relief at the last word, the conclusion exactly what I hoped it would be, which is of course something unpredictable but seemingly inevitable.
Iceland manages to maintain its endearing absurdity and slightly left of real narrative to the very last word. It's such a broad story told in almost a cursory manner. Despite its obvious More...
Iceland manages to maintain its endearing absurdity and slightly left of real narrative to the very last word. It's such a broad story told in almost a cursory manner. Despite its obvious More...
Jan 18, 2010
Jason
rated it:
Clever and strange and still very readable. This became one of my favorite books in 2003. I just found myself reminiscing about it this weekend. It may someday be on my list of all time favorites.
Nov 19, 2009
David
rated it:
An odd little book, but funny and unpredictable. Krusoe's narrator's voice is charming and matter-of-fact, and the novel captures a quiet sense of melancholy that rings true.
A recommended effort, especially as it accomplishes these feats in only 182 pages, thoroughly avoiding the modern American novel's usual bloat.
(And can I also just say how much I love Dalkey Archive Press, and the quality of its books, and the quirkiness of its catalog? Lovely. This edition is particu More...
A recommended effort, especially as it accomplishes these feats in only 182 pages, thoroughly avoiding the modern American novel's usual bloat.
(And can I also just say how much I love Dalkey Archive Press, and the quality of its books, and the quirkiness of its catalog? Lovely. This edition is particu More...
Dec 09, 2008
Carrie
rated it: 
This is probably the weirdest book I have ever read, but it does make you think about fate, infatuation etc. I can't recommend it due to the sexual references which are random, completely inappropriate, and do not add to the plotline other than to make you think the author is disturbed.
Aug 12, 2008
Erin
rated it:
Paul Constant compares every book he reviews in the stranger to this book. It was ok, but you can tell written by a very young author. It was a bit too simple, too many cultural references that will become outdated. What I did like is how years are skipped over in a sentence. The main character meets a girl, sleeps with her - the next sentence is - 6 years later we were married with 2 kids. this made the author able to fit the whole man's life into 200 pages rather tha 600.
Oct 21, 2009
Angela
rated it:
Iceland is an absurd and phantasmagorical novel that centers around a decades-long infatuation with Emily, an employee he meets tending the pre-transplant organs in a swimming pool when he is sent to look for a new one. Unfortunately, while it has all of the lightness and strangeness of a dream, it also lacks a coherent meaning. Yes, it's about a man who suffers more officially or literally of a broken heart, but it's otherwise a little empty.
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Jul 11, 2008
Levi
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I don't even know how to begin to describe this book. It is bizarre, surreal, awkward, hilarious and touching all at once (or in rapid succession, at least). I happened to also get Krusoe's Girl Factory from the library at the same time, so I'm looking forward to delving into that next. His is without a doubt a unique literary voice that I'm glad to have found.
May 06, 2009
Jamie
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Reading this reminded me of A.M. Homes' This Book Will Save Your Life. It has the same matter-of-fact storytelling style and the same surreal, impossible events that become believable and logical as a result of Krusoe's ability to create realism and truth out of coincidence and implausibility. I loved it.
Sep 30, 2008
Blythe
rated it:
Its sort of like a weird dream where everything is sort of real but there are mysterious human organs in a swimming pool and dude lamenting about bumping uglies with their caretaker. For the entire book. My dreams are more interesting, and I would only give them 2 stars also.
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Jan 03, 2008
Tosh
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Jim Krusoe is one of my favorite living writers - and you can gather by my list, there is not that many livin' authors on it. Saying that, I like how Krusoe plays with the sturcture of the narrative as well as as his wit that I find very freshing.
Apr 07, 2011
Louis
rated it:
I read this book while taking Jim Krusoe's fiction writing courses at Santa Monica College. It combines two genres you don't see often, sci-fi and romance. One of the most unique takes on the the ability to find a lasting love I've ever read.
Jul 05, 2008
Stephanie
rated it:
strange, lovely...but i never became fully engaged by it. now i have to move on to school books. goodbye fiction!
Dec 17, 2009
Ryan
rated it:
Good in a deeply strange way. Occasionally bad in the normal ways.
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