Ninett

Not bad, just very slow. The finale is not what I expected, but I guess it is what the main characters deserved. I really thought that at least Asta Sollilja would end up with a brighter future, but her fate is bleak and broke my heart. Bjartur - nothing really could redeem this man who puts his silly pride before the lives of others. I disliked him from the start. Putting his selfish and rude demeanor down to an intense desire to be independent just did not cut it for me. Humans are made to be social and to survive together - no man is an island. I suppose the point of the novel is to prove this, and it does that well. It is very difficult to write a loathesome character and still elicit some shred of empathy for him by the reader, but when his house was taken away I felt a twang of pity.
The depth and the complexity of the writing kept me reading, the emotional lives of the characters often striking a chord within me that made me feel seen by the author, even as someone from a vastly different place and time than the characters. There is something universal about the human experience that was captured by Laxness in the lives of these miserable sheep farmers.

My book rating rubric told me to rate this 3.75 based on component scores, but I can't conscionably do that because there is a fundamental clash of values between myself and Peter Thiel. I don't think that business gains above all else are any good for a fair and just society, or that corporate profits are the (only) etalon by which we should judge the success of a capitalist organisation. There was generally some very sound and good advice in here about entrepeneurship itself, as well as some of the pressures that startups face, both from inside (culture) and outside (the market and funding), but on the whole the mindset that Thiel advocates for is not my cup of tea. I do agree on giving 100% and aiming to become the best from the start, though.

I blitzed through this. It was entertaining and suprisingly emotionally deep. I found the point of view to be interesting, there was something unique about an artificial intelligence being the narrator of its own experience and struggles to connect with its human collaborators and to other machines. In particular, I enjoyed the second novella, in which there was a longish section that did not even feature any biological humans at all, just two robots interacting. It was good fun to read, but I did think that the novella format left a little to be desired - the plotline was well-formed, but for me just lacking detail somewhat on both novellas. 

Am I the only person who was repulsed by this? I did finish it, but only so I didn't have to try to find another book for my around the world reading challenge. The blurb made it out like there was going to be a pivotal shift in the main character's life, and while he did get removed from the filthy squalor by child protective services, his character seems abhorrent even in adulthood.
Everyone was vile in this and no one got less vile. The two stars are because the writing itself was good. 

One of the best fantasy books I've read in a while. The storytelling was captivating in an emotionally charged way, without intentionally tugging heartstrings or emotional manipulation on the author's part. I thought that the cast of characters was well fleshed out, though I had hope for Holland to undergo a redemtion arc, but alas... Perhaps finding a way to break the soul seal would have been anathema to the worldbuilding.
All in all really entertaining and nicely told.