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Title	:	Iceland's Bell
Author	:	Halldór Laxness
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 425 pages
Published	:	October 14th 2003 by Vintage (first published 1943)
Categories	:	Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. European Literature. Scandinavian Literature

Iceland's Bell

Halldór Laxness

Paperback | Pages: 425 pages

Rating: 3.89 | 1697 Users | 129 Reviews

Commentary In Pursuance Of Books Iceland's Bell

Sometimes grim, sometimes uproarious, and always captivating, Iceland’s Bell by Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness is at once an updating of the traditional Icelandic saga and a caustic social satire. At the close of the 17th century, Iceland is an oppressed Danish colony, suffering from extreme poverty, famine, and plague. A farmer and accused cord-thief named Jon Hreggvidsson makes an improper joke about the Danish king and soon after finds himself a fugitive charged with the murder of the king’s hangman.

In the years that follow, the hapless but resilient rogue Hreggvidsson becomes a pawn entangled in political and personal conflicts playing out on a far grander scale. Chief among these is the star-crossed love affair between Snaefridur, known as “Iceland’s Sun,” a beautiful, headstrong young noblewoman, and Arnas Arnaeus, the king’s antiquarian, an aristocrat whose worldly manner conceals a fierce devotion to his downtrodden countrymen. As their personal struggle plays itself out on an international stage, Iceland’s Bell creates a Dickensian canvas of heroism and venality, violence and tragedy, charged with narrative enchantment on every page.

Define Books Concering Iceland's Bell

Original Title:	Íslandsklukkan
ISBN:	1400034256 (ISBN13: 9781400034253)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Jon Hreggvidsson, Arnas Arnaeus, Snaefridur, Magnus Sigurdsson
Setting:	Iceland
Literary Awards:	American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prize (2001)

Rating Out Of Books Iceland's Bell

Ratings: 3.89 From 1697 Users | 129 Reviews

Judge Out Of Books Iceland's Bell

This was a vexing book. I'm not sure if the problem was in translation or Mr. Laxness' prose. Many instances of shifting tenses drove me nuts. A paragraph of section would begin in the present tense and a few sentences later it had quietly morphed into past tense...which is how the book is presented.Also, I had difficulty keeping my mind in the book. I suspect this is more from my own inexperience with dense prose of this nature than it is a fault of the book. Despite my difficulties

Another wonderful novel by Halldór Laxness, who is fast becoming one of my favourite modern authors. Iceland's Bell feels in some ways like an Old Norse saga, yet it is written in a clearly modern style with superb use of wry, witty humour and hints of parody. In many ways it is a dark tale, but thanks to Laxness' skilful prose, it never feels gloomy. All the characters are beautifully rounded. Each has faults, yet they all the more likable because of them. There is a wonderful sense of both

While I admittedly learned quite a lot about Iceland and its people, I wouldn't want to read this book again, and I wouldn't recommend it either. There is a difference between writing in great detail about hard or sad lives, and actually making the reader feel as devastated as the people in the book. If the main characters meet other people, there is little or no impact on them at all and the conversations seem totally random. I did have to look up a lot of things that were mentioned (and I

This was full of gallows humor, which I appreciated. Otherwise the poverty, the hardscrabbleness (the description of an old women's bed near the beginning of the book is absolutely revolting), the infanticide, the disease, the floggings, the executions, would have been a bit hard to take.At the novel's center are several criminal and civil cases which take years to resolve, making this a sort of 17th century Icelandic Bleak House.But I never really warmed to the characters' lack of psychological



I loved this book. It didn't sound promising going in, given that the plot is built around several decades-long legal disputes in Iceland, circa 1700. So you learn a lot about the origins of the modern Icelandic legal system. But as the characters maneuver this maze of legal, economic, political and personal complications, it turns out to be this magnificent epic, by turns humorous, mordant, heartbreaking. I'm still thinking about it a couple of weeks after finishing it. My only complaint is

I've never read a better historical novel, free of anachronisms and sentimentality, witty yet never 'light history,' as are too many historical novels written these days. Laxness writes such vivid, complex characters and depiction of life in the 17th century, when Iceland was under the heel of the Danes -- scorned in every way yet unbowed. The narrative sags in places, but is well worth one's patience. Joh Hreggvissson, Snaefridur, Arnas Arnaeus, are all unforgettable. I will be reading more