Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Jan 2007, 224 pages
Paperback:
Jan 2008, 224 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
Buy This Book
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 is just a matter of time until the crack
becomes visible, other times the flaw is revealed as the final
twist to the story. The outcomes are not universally dismal for
Olafsson's protagonists; some receive their just desserts,
sometimes there is a tragic reversal of fortune, but
occasionally, just to keep us on our toes, a story ends on a
potentially happy note with disaster possibly averted, or at
least delayed, and happiness not inconceivably around the corner
(but never quite in sight).
Olafsson's Bibliography
Absolution (1994) Spanning a boyhood in Iceland to
the Nazi occupation of Denmark to modern-day Manhattan,
Absolution plumbs the darkest corners of a sinister mind and
a wounded heart.
Journey Home (2000): Disa, a character reminiscent of the
butler in Kazua Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, is a
successful, attentive restaurateur and proprietress at an
English country hotel. When she learns she has but a year to
live, the news serves as the catalyst for a final trip home to
Iceland -- a journey she has postponed for 20 years.
Walking Into The Night (2003): The life story of William
Randolph Hearst’s fictional butler.
Valentines (2007, stories)
Interesting to note: According to the
Iceland Review, the movie of Journey Home is
back on track with filming expected to start in Iceland in April
2008. An earlier project, directed by Liv Ullman, was
shelved in 2006 due to disagreements over the screenplay.
This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in February 2007, and has been updated for the
February 2008 edition.
Click here to go to this issue.
If you liked Valentines, try these:
by Jeffrey Eugenides
Published 2009
"Read these love stories in the safety of your single bed. Let everybody else suffer."— Jeffrey Eugenides, from the introduction to My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead.
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
by Vincent Lam
Published 2008
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures invites us into a world where the ordinary becomes the critical in a matter of seconds. A formidable debut, it is a profound and unforgettable depiction of today’s doctors, patients, and hospitals.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
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