Uncover 101 Reykjavik Edited By Hallgrímur Helgason Categorized In Printable Format

was the only author I couldn't interview back when I was in Iceland in, so maybe that's why I never got around to reading it or maybe its because it was the most overhyped thing ever when I was living there or maybe because everything I ever read about it made me dislike it or maybe because every interview with Helgason made him seem like a complete dick.
Anyway, I've never read it, but I still hate it, What a ridiculous book, but the way Hallgrimur Helgason plays around with words describing weather, mood, taste of alcohol, pretty much anything is so precise and funny.
It's very Icelandic and darkhumored story, where there is not much of the story, just a description of a year in a life of thisyear old guy from Reykjavik.

It is quite impressive that the book taking place inwhen I wasyears old speaks to me with no need of translation.
I know every song he mentions, I know the references and I know the events, . . while when people mention modern singers and events, I have no idea what they are talking about.

As for me, there is too much descriptions of the body functions of this guy, but at the same time it curious to know the flow of thoughts in a guys head with no filters.

I loved reading it, But I must say you should know at least a bit about Iceland before reading this book, a lot of references wouldn't make sense without experiencing it yourself.
Hlynur Björn is an unemployedsomething loner, still living with his mum, who spends his days on the Internet, watching satellite TV, and gazing at girls in the pub.
But Hlynur's cosy, unthreatening world is shaken when his mother comes out as a lesbian, and her Spanish girlfriend Lolla moves into their home.
Reykjavík is a firstperson account of a blackly funny and bizarre love triangle, a dark, comic tale of perverse sexuality and slacker culture in Iceland's trendy capital city that pokes fun along the way at such foibles of our culture as CNN weather reports and porn videos.
A brilliant way of portraying a cynical mans thought, written so well that even I, aperson with adhd can follow it.
Even though nothing much happened, I was always so interested and entertained by his every move, I read it abouttimes now, Movie is kind of a let down though, . they left many important parts out, Immaginatevi se Welsh, Palahniuk ed Ellis si trovassero in Islanda e facessero un figlio assieme, Ecco a voi:Reykjavik. Parasti mēs ar grāmatām saprotamies labi, Ar šo gan pamantīga stīvēšanās sanāca,
Neslēpšu, ka parasti tā esmu es, kura nosaka, kādā ātrumā grāmata tiks lasīta.
Tikai ne šajā reizē vaļā nelaida, bet ātri palasīt nebija iespējams, Stāsts nu, pilnīgs kosmoss, Bezjēdzība un bezcerība tik mīlīga un cilvēcīga, Nu, kā var tā uzrakstīt, ka vienlaikus šķērmi metas un tomēr ap sirdi ir tā bezgala mīļi.
Prasīju vēl islandiešus dabūju, "Iesālīja" man islandieši smadzenes, Ilgi tagad saglabāsies islandiskā sajūta tajās, Jæja, loksins kláraði ég þessa, Pínu vonbrigði af því að það leynist geggjuð bók inni í öllum þessum textafrumskógi og það er sérstaklega súrt þar sem hún er frábær framan af.
Hins vegar þegar ég var kominn fram yfirblaðsíður kárnaði gamanið dálítið, neistinn sem var í byrjun hvarf og við tók óþarfa moð.
Bókin er sirkasíðum of löng og fær einkunnina nokkuð góð frekar en mjög góð.
Hugmyndin með bókinni er náttúrulega að taka söguna í Hamlet og setja gott spin á hana, flytja hana íog snúa henni aðeins á haus.
Hallgrímur gerir mjög vel, býr til skemmtilega karaktera og er ógeðslega fyndinn höfundur en hann hefur aðeins misst sig í því að troða inn öllum Hamlettengingunum útlandaferðin með Rósa og Gulla er t.
d. bæði löng og leiðinleg,

Baltasar Kormákur leikstýrði myndinni sem byggir á bókinni og aðlagaði sjálfur handritið að skjánum.
Breytingarnar og styttingarnar sem hann gerði á textanum heppnuðust mjög vel og mér finnst, núna þegar ég hef séð myndina og lesið bókina, myndin eiginlega betri en bókin þó hún sé alls ekki fullkomin heldur.
This is possibly one of the most bizarre books I have ever read, It doesnt actually go anywhere just details the life of an incredibly annoying moron,
Hlynur is just awful, He has no social skills, no awareness of whats going on, is incredibly selfcentred and overall an idiot.
He lacks any charm to make the reader emphasise or even like him and seems mentally disturbed.
A lot of what he says and thinks is really quite offensive and vulgar and at times it made unpleasant reading, particularly when he tries to catch aids off a French prostitute.
As the book is mainly a collection of his thoughts, we dont particularly get to know any of the other characters bar through his eyes.
We know the hotness of the females and occasional information about his friends but other than that its just a monologue of his life.

Whilst it was divided into a few sections, there were no chapters so the continuous prose became dry at times as there was no natural break.
Helgason also would include randomly short sentences that did not flow naturally, “Heavenly, Im an angel now. Flittering. Fluttering. ” He also did not make it clear which parts were actually real and which were in Hlynurs imagination.

However very well done to Brian Fitzgibbon for a great translation into English, It must be hard to translate Icelandic humour in a way that makes sense to English readers but it was very smoothly done.
The only positive I can say about Helgasons work is that I found it interesting to learn about Icelandics culture, which I thought he portrayed well.
Other than that this is a book I will never touch again, Well, I have now read this book, And yeah, it was mildly diverting, and yeah, I got to the end of it, but overall I was a bit disappointed by it and a bit overwhelmed by the way this guy's mind just drivelled on and on and on.
This is narrated in the first person bysomething Hlynur Bjorn, who is an absolute waste of a space, still lives with his mother, treats people, particularly women like crap, lives off unemployment benefit and spends his days sleeping, watching porn he is an utter pervert, surfing the net and drinking.
And whilst some of this book is the narration of a year or so in his life, a lot of it is the random thought threads rolling about in his head.
Which occasionally come across as slightly pretenscious excuse the spelling, but I'm tired!, I'll be the first to say a career isn't the be all and end all of life, but to have nothing in your life at all and be content to be a parasite on your country, your mother and women.
. . ugh. And I am surprised to say this, but I think I prefered the film, He seemed to get some things resolved in that, but in this there's nothing, Maybe I was just expecting too much of this book, This is probably one of Iceland's best known film exports, if not just for the fact Damon from Blur did the soundtrack with exSugarcube Einar Orn.
Again, Hilmir Snaer is in it, so I would see it just for that, . . hehehe but, seriously, I could not get into this book at first, . . even after I saw the movie, I just could not understand or relate to Hlynur Bjorn, . . but then I went to Reyjavik and got to know alot of the people not because of the movie and I read it again, and it Hlynur started to seem a lot more like a Scandinavian version of Rob Gordon minus having a job or owning a record shop.
That's when I saw it as a coming of age novel, . . and I burned right through it, Good times! Oh My Bjork,
I still remember this one, I wish I had forgotten it,

Well, I might have a very good reason for keeping the memories of 'Reykjavik' alive.

You may say it's because of the post code, but you would be wrong, Actually I'm not planning to send any flattering paper letter

to Hallgrìmur Helgason, And I am afraid that dispatching a wrapped package full of rotten tomatoes to him would cost me way too much via air mail.
What a pity!

Perhaps I can recall this noveloryears after having swallowed it because it stands around the top of many lists of mine.

Let's have a look at the rankings:

The best book to give to your worst enemy.

The biggest waste of paper I've ever read,
The silliest plot ever written north of Copenhagen,
The easiest object to toss in a recycling bin,
The worst male character in a XXI century novel,
The most unnecessary movieadaptated book,
The greatest relief ever felt in my life after being done with it,

Ah, by the way: how does it end
I am pretty sure I'm not giving any justice to "Rekyjavik" by not including this novel in the rankings of "the worst final ever".
Confusing, annoying, and honestly gross, There are plenty of amazing books where you hate the main character but I just couldn't stand reading his annoying point of view and objectification of woman.
A great read, absolutely enjoyed it! I have a thing for books about the lost and messed up people of society.
Helgason's writing style is very unique, He writes in short sentences some even just the length of one word, He often describes things in a way that no other writer has done before, You can laugh your ass off, be disgusted, purely shocked, or pulled into deep thoughts from these short sentences.
Sometimes all of this happens at once,

This book is definitely an adventure into a lost man's soul and mind, The story is interesting, shocking at times, Some bits where the main character took speed were quite strange but I think they also fit the story well.
Definitely a great read, those who liked Bukowski's "Women" will enjoy this one! Very good, and I suspect a very good translation.
It's a little Nabokov, a lot of Hamlet, and probably many other references I missed, with pellmell streamofconsciousness good enough to make me not hate the present tense he uses.
A touching story about a boy and his penis, Mjög fyndin bók skemmtilegt hvernig Hallgrímur leikur sér að orðum, Byrjaði og kláraði hana ádögum og var byrjuð að hugsa í orðastílnum hans Hlyns Bjarnar.
Gat ekki sleppt henni frá mér, Er að rifja upp myndina núna, i wanted to like this, but about five pages in, i wanted to punch the protagonist in the face, set in iceland makes you almost forget the book is about an unemployed slacker hipster doofus, almost. i like iceland. i want to visit iceland, i do not want to read about a hipster doofus,

i may try reading this again when i don't have anything else on my list.
it has a certain weird charm, just maybe. if i can get past hating the main character, Videorecensione: sitelink be/wULXGPvpXY

"Guardo il notiziario pakistano, più che altro per vedere se nel planisfero hanno incluso l'Islanda.
L'Islanda non c'è e questo è il problema, L'Islanda è un paese che a volte c'è e a volte no, Dipende da come gli girano al grafico, Se ha voglia di includere anche quest'isola, mentre disegna sul vetro nello studio pubblicitario di Karachi fradicio di sudore, con il fax ancora guasto e due settimane dopo che la fidanzata l'ha piantato.
Ecco perché questa chiazza di sperma sul planisfero, Non sono abbastanza nazionalista per farmi innervosire da questo fatto, In un certo senso è una bella sensazione abitare in un'isola che non compare nei planisferi, Deresponsabilizzati. Non ci siamo. Noi guardiamo ma nessuno ci vede, ".