Wastelands - A Novel (2014)

Completely magical.

Stunning novel … a collection of Icelandic stories, realist and mythic, historical and fictional, nestled inside an epic adventure.

… filled with morsels of wisdom, and the author's insight into the soul of the Icelandic nation is phenomenal. … contains strong criticism of those attitudes underpinning boundless utilitarianism, unlimited tourism, and the Klondike madness that has infiltrated modern-day Iceland as a result of tourism. The novel's message is that tourism has more in common with catastrophe than progress, that it turns everything into a wasteland like the volcanic eruptions in the glacier. … Much is beautifully done in this latest work by Ófeigur Sigurdsson. He makes deft references to the paragons of world literature, even in his most outlandish descriptions, such as when Bernhardur loses one of his buttocks like Cunégonde in Voltaire's Candide. There are also many references to El Dorado, the magic valley where wild livestock and giant rams rule, as if conjured from the imagination of Bjartur of Sumarhus. Also, more sombrely, the author refers to the sale of the land, which in many ways is reminiscent of another work by Halldór Laxness, The Atom Station. … an absolute boon. This work categorically puts him among the most noteworthy and original authors of his generation.