In “Miss Iceland” she judiciously downplays the oddities, particularly when exploring weighty issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination. Sharing an apartment with her childhood and queer friend Jón John, Hekla comes to learn that she will have to stand alone in a small male dominated community that would rather see her win a pageant than be a professional artist. Hekla’s boyfriend Starkadur is an aspiring poet who feels threatened both by her close friendship with Jon (even though he knows that he’s gay) as well as her prodigious literary talent (when he discovers the writing that she first hides from him). She succeeds Birta Abiba Þórhallsdóttir, Miss Universe Iceland 2019, who placed in the Top 10 at Miss Universe 2019, the highest placement for Iceland since 1962. She finds employment as a waitress but at the job, she is expected to remain silent about the harrassement and discrimination she has to endure while the (male) poets who hang out at the famous Café Mokka don't take her seriously.

Living in a basement with no light gives Isey no hope for the future as she sinks deeper in despair and fear of having too many children. As I have shared in other posts, I have gone on a bit of a reading spurt of her novels after our second trip to Iceland had to be cancelled due to COVID, and I have found the closest replacement possible by reading about this country.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Began 2023 the Miss Universe Iceland became the main title of Ungfrú Ísland titleholder after the organizers took over the defunct brand.In this excellent introduction to her work, Ólafsdóttir creates a world where either escape or hiding one's true nature are the only choices. Her success is a resounding refutation of the masculine writing culture in which “bro-ets” gather and drink and lament while collectively policing their mutual lack of achievement.

Dehydration Illness (after preliminary competition) — Manuela was 1st Runner-up at Miss Scandinavia 2002.It may seem trite to forever be comparing modern Icelandic literature to Viking sagas, but there is an epic saga-like quality to the prose. Helka, trying to make it in the big city, a woman in 1960's Reykjavik weighed down by expectation and constraint. I liked the matter of fact presentation of behaviours of different characters without judgement which nonetheless made it oh so clear where the morality of this world sits. It’s refreshing to find an Icelandic author who’s not writing crime and noir, although there’s some uncomfortable material here as in her first novel, and a sad bit I’ll come on to in a moment.