Kent
A little less traumatic than my previous reads. It was a welcome break to be a little girl with her grandmother living out a time on a island in the Swedish archipelago. Like a magical fairyland but still very much grounded in the earth. You can feel the moss under your feet as you scamper like a child over rocks or duck dive under water thinking that you are plumbing the depths when you're really barely below the surface. Everything is bigger when you are little.
I found this a bit cold and monosyllabic from our main character and he just didn't have any warmth or anything redeeming about the central character. Perhaps I struggled to inhabit this world but it's meant to be that way to the main character and how he moves through it so the writing style is reflective of that.
It wasn't till the end of the book and the full cycle was complete that it hits with a quiet sadness instead of that detached beginning.
Intermezzo got me thinking I really like epic sprawling dramas that extend over generations. I went in not thinking of where it was placed and didn't intend to stay in Ireland but glad I did as this was a great blend of historical, coming of age, compassionate and also pretty funny. Had me staying up late laughing in the darkness.
From reading Independent People by Halldor Laxness I needed something a bit more modern but still with that lived in feeling like I'm inhabiting peoples lives. Intermezzo has been on my radar forever and it's my first Sally Rooney book that I have read. The struggles between the grief of the two brothers and how they coped or not deal with their issues was a page turner for how was this all going to play out.
I liked the formatting of no italics so conversations just blended into one another's characters and it forced me to slow down my reading and truly focus on what I'm actually reading. Kind of re inspiring my love of reading and getting lost in someone else's drama.
I started reading this on my phone while waiting to be let into a Blood Incantation concert at Sydney Uni's Manning Bar. It was kind of perfect blend of old Icelandic gods wreaking wrath through the countryside.
Yes to lots of sheep but it's the lived existence of these characters that worm under my skin was what kept me coming back. Although I kind of fell off my reading between end of November and picking up again in January and re fell in love with the sheer belligerence of our main character Bjartur. He's just beyond stubborn and of course everyone suffers around him unless they flee to the so called mythical land of the United States.
It got me wanting to read more about people and the lives they live than just a story as the main driver. A place you can inhabit for a while. I'm still thinking of broad vistas of ice and snow, springtime of flowers, sheep and the poor suffering women having to deal with Bjartur shit.
