It is 'simple,' 'subtle,' 'strong,' 'extraordinary' (all Doris Lessings's words, online at the Independent), 'startlingly beautiful' (twice, in a review on theliterarysisters), 'gorgeous,' and 'harrowing' (Shani Boianjiu on npr.org).Īlthough Vesaas was a modernist, his modernism was of the order of his contemprary Halldor Laxness: lmost nothing reveals the century, or even the country. Because it seems so remote in time and place it has attracted some inaccurate stereotypes: one reviewer said Vesaas lived in a remote area of northern Norway (he was born in a small town in Telemark, and when he married he moved a few miles down the road), and another said the book takes place on a fjord (it is set near a lake). Vesaas's 'Ice Palace,' published in 1963 and translated in 1993, 23 years after Vesaas's death, has been the subject of a number of ecstatic reviews. ( )Ī Kind of Complexity not Known to Postmodernism Oddly, I'd still recommend it though I'll never revisit it. I just felt drained by the end and was happy to close the it after the final page. My current depression didn't help with this. It follows Siss in mourning her loss from winter through to spring and I honestly felt like I had spent an entire season with her. It's possible that Vesaas intended to mirror the long, dark Norwegian winter in this book. Although the book is quite short, it felt tedious after a while and took effort to finish. Unfortunately, that began to fade as time went on. So I was initially head over heels with this book. I felt that I had stepped directly back in time to that age when a friendship could be forged in an afternoon and when everything is seen in black and white. By being sparing with his writing, he allowed her feelings to glow brighter. It also helped to make the turbulent emotions of Siss more pronounced. The writing seems to mirror the environment, Norway in winter, when the trees are bare and everything is blanketed by white. That's not to say it isn't beautiful and poetic, it absolutely is, but it isn't flowery or prolix. The writing is quite plain and almost economical. To begin with I was absolutely captivated. When Unn goes missing the next day Siss is absolutely devastated by the magnitude of the loss despite having really only known her for one evening. So much so that she has to run off when Unn wants to tell her a secret. Siss is beside herself with excitement and, once there, is overwhelmed by the intensity of her experience with Unn. Unn finally breaches the invisible wall between them and invites Siss over to her house. Siss is confused and intensely intrigued by her. She stands aside at recess and doesn't join in with games even when invited. Siss is the center of her group at school and Unn, the new girl, is quiet and reserved. Siss and Unn are two very different 11 year old school girls.

The ice palace by tarjei vesaas