The Blue Fox - Sjón

The Blue Fox by Sjón 

Genre: Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): WINNER OF THE NORDIC LITERARY PRIZE AND NOMINATED FOR THE ICELANDIC LITERATURE PRIZE

The year is 1883. The stark Icelandic winter landscape is the backdrop. We follow the priest, Skugga-Baldur, on his hunt for the enigmatic blue fox. From there we’re then transported to the world of the naturalist Friðrik B. Friðriksson and his charge, Abba, who suffers from Down’s syndrome, and who came to his rescue when he was on the verge of disaster. Then to a shipwreck off the Icelandic coast in the spring of 1868.

The fates of all these characters are intrinsically bound, and gradually, surprisingly, unravelle
d in this spellbinding fable that is part mystery, part fairy tale.

Sjón is a celebrated Icelandic poet and novelist. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages and include From the Mouth of the Whale and The Whispering Muse (both by Telegram). Sjón won the Nordic Council Literary Prize, the equivalent of the Man Booker Prize, for The Blue Fox and "Best Icelandic Novel" for The Whispering Muse in 2005. Also a songwriter, he has written lyrics for Björk, including for her eight studio album, Biophilia.

MY OPINION: ***

I read this book for my Scandinavian/Nordic cultures class and found it surprisingly interesting. While it is a very short read, it manages to pack in so much that by the end, you can't help but feeling a little awed by what you just read. The Nordics tend to focus a lot on nature and the environment, which is definitely present throughout this book, and I found it interesting to see how the author interwove nature and ecology with the role of humans in a society. 

It can be a little too nature-y at times, but overall, the book is very beautifully written. It follows two narratives, one about a hunter trying to catch the blue fox and one about the death of a woman with Down Syndrome. It's interesting to see how these two stories overlapped over time and you were able to see the connections between them by the end of the book. Sjón wanted his readers to "decode" or uncover the true meaning of his book and so nothing is very explicitly stated. You are constantly guessing to try to figure out what happened and how these characters are all connected and I found that very fun (if not a little confusing). 

I'm glad we were able to talk about this book in my class because otherwise, I feel like there were some parts of it that I would have been forever confused about, mainly because I didn't do the closest reading that I could of this book. The book focuses a lot on modernization and the role it plays in destructing the environment and the balance between animals and humans.

I've read a lot of medieval and really old Scandinavian literature but I haven't read anything more modern (although the 1880s isn't that recent) from the countries. I found it interesting to see the similarities and differences between them and try to figure out where the author got inspired and where he took creative liberties. Obviously, this was not a myth in the same sense that the Icelandic sagas I read over the summer were, but this did seem to have very similar themes, which I found interesting. 

I don't really have a lot to say about this book, to be quite honest. It was super short and super beautiful. I'd definitely recommend reading it, especially if you haven't read anything from this region of the world. I think it's important to read translated works and international books to diversify your reading and this one won awards, so clearly, it must be good... Anyways, clearly I recommend this book. 

Main Character: Hunter

Sidekick(s): Friends, etc

Villain(s): Fox, infringing on nature, etc

Fiction Elements: This was an entirely fictional story