Review
Olafsson's lean and compelling short stories are
quite addictively good and, on the face of it, a shoo-in for
Valentines. But a note of warning before you rush out to buy
Valentines for a loved one - the title is ironic, Olafsson's
stories are not of warm and nurturing relationships but of
angst-ridden emotionally damaged people brought down by a moment
of poor judgment in the past or present. His style is dry,
stripped of verbiage but nevertheless rich in nuance.
Most of the stories hinge on a single misstep in an otherwise
healthy marriage, but that misstep is like a flaw in a slab of
marble that can lie hidden for years, waiting for the moment
when the stone is tapped at the wrong angle causing the entire
sheet to fracture. Sometimes we witness this fracture taking
root, knowing that it...
Beyond the Book
Olaf Olafsson (full name Ólafur
Jóhann Ólafsson)
was born in
Reykjavik, Iceland in 1962 and studied
physics as a Wien Scholar at Brandeis
University, Massachusetts, in the early
1980s. He is the author of three
novels and a collection of short
stories; his work has been translated
into at least 14 languages.
He is also
Executive Vice President of Time
Warner, responsible for the company's
corporate strategy, mergers,
acquisitions and investments. Prior to
that, he was Vice Chairman of Time
Warner Digital Media where he was...
