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Title	:	Iceland's Bell
Author	:	Halldór Laxness
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 425 pages
Published	:	October 14th 2003 by Vintage (first published 1943)
Categories	:	Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. European Literature. Scandinavian Literature

Iceland's Bell

Halldór Laxness

Paperback | Pages: 425 pages

Rating: 3.89 | 1697 Users | 129 Reviews

Narrative Toward Books Iceland's Bell

Sometimes grim, sometimes uproarious, and always captivating, Iceland’s Bell by Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness is at once an updating of the traditional Icelandic saga and a caustic social satire. At the close of the 17th century, Iceland is an oppressed Danish colony, suffering from extreme poverty, famine, and plague. A farmer and accused cord-thief named Jon Hreggvidsson makes an improper joke about the Danish king and soon after finds himself a fugitive charged with the murder of the king’s hangman.

In the years that follow, the hapless but resilient rogue Hreggvidsson becomes a pawn entangled in political and personal conflicts playing out on a far grander scale. Chief among these is the star-crossed love affair between Snaefridur, known as “Iceland’s Sun,” a beautiful, headstrong young noblewoman, and Arnas Arnaeus, the king’s antiquarian, an aristocrat whose worldly manner conceals a fierce devotion to his downtrodden countrymen. As their personal struggle plays itself out on an international stage, Iceland’s Bell creates a Dickensian canvas of heroism and venality, violence and tragedy, charged with narrative enchantment on every page.

Mention Books To Iceland's Bell

Original Title:	Íslandsklukkan
ISBN:	1400034256 (ISBN13: 9781400034253)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Jon Hreggvidsson, Arnas Arnaeus, Snaefridur, Magnus Sigurdsson
Setting:	Iceland
Literary Awards:	American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prize (2001)

Rating Out Of Books Iceland's Bell

Ratings: 3.89 From 1697 Users | 129 Reviews

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I loved this book. It didn't sound promising going in, given that the plot is built around several decades-long legal disputes in Iceland, circa 1700. So you learn a lot about the origins of the modern Icelandic legal system. But as the characters maneuver this maze of legal, economic, political and personal complications, it turns out to be this magnificent epic, by turns humorous, mordant, heartbreaking. I'm still thinking about it a couple of weeks after finishing it. My only complaint is

What interesting about "Iceland's Bell" is that it deserves more. It's a complicated book to rate and review, if only because it was a complicated book to read. That said, readers with some free time on their hands and the need to tackle some of the Nobel masters should definitely look at "Iceland's Bell" as an option.There are three stories in "Iceland's Bell" and its downfall starts there. On the one hand, all three have their interesting aspects and all three have fairly strong central

Laxness has given us a crazy, wonderful, hysterical, silly account of an historical lawsuit in Iceland. Follow the misadventure of poor Jon Hreggvidsson as he gets kicked all over Europe by nasty upper crust rotters and smug Danes. My favorite Laxness novel...

This is the first of the works of Laxness that I've read. It won't be the last.What I found most remarkable about this historical epic is how relatively exterior are Laxness' portraits of his characters. Unlike the works of his contemporary 20th century novelists (e.g., Thomas Mann), Laxness provides very little interior information on the characters, what one is thinking, what another is feeling, etc. Instead, Laxness delivers detailed reportage on developments, on mis en scene, and, in this

This book was totally absorbing. It sounds boring, but isn't. Give it a shot- you won't regret it!

Halldor Laxness is Iceland's Nobel-Prize winning author. I struggled reading this and at times became lost in all the characters. In addition, Icelandic people and place names can be very long and difficult to pronounce. But it was an interesting story, based on historical happenings. The book has already been summarized by other reviewers so I will just say a few things about what I liked. I thought some of the descriptions of the places and the situations were beautifully written. And the

This is based on Iceland's sagas, which I wasn't familiar with, as well as Iceland's history which I also wasn't familiar with. It was a difficult dense read for me and honestly took about 60 pages to even understand what was happening. And then I found myself in a wonderful story. Still very dense to read but was well worth it. The three books in this book were originally published as three separate books.