Recent Reading and Watching

 A New Forbidden Iceland Detective Novel

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's newly published mystery is titled You Can't See Me, and is the fourth novel of her Forbidden Iceland series. As a constant reader of detective fiction, I was surprised that the method this book uses to create suspense about a mysterious death. The chapters describe events taking place on a single day, narrated by several individuals, with alternating descriptions of a police search and discovery of a body a day later. These events take place at a very expensive and modern hotel where several generations of a very wealthy family are holding a reunion. It's not the typical hotel-mystery plot, though: it's something very different and unusual. Any further summary would spoil the effect in case you decide to read this very well-constructed mystery tale.

The author provides quite a lot of detail about the hotel, including the food and the beautiful architecture.  In the jaded opinions of the guests, there's always something to criticize, though it's clear to the reader that the surroundings and every detail are expensive and luxurious.

In the words of a hotel employee: "There’s a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. Apparently, the Snæbergs are quite traditional when it comes to food. This evening it’s fish and tomorrow leg of lamb. This might sound plain, but it’s not going to be served with your bog-standard boiled potatoes. On the contrary, the cod comes with a soy butter sauce, grilled tomatoes, olives and capers. The starters are beef carpaccio and tiger prawns. Then there are the desserts, of course. The chocolate lava cake they make here is something I could happily live on for the rest of my life. Only the best for our guests. Everything has to be perfect." (p. 108). 

In the words of one of the rather spoiled guests: "‘This all looks very tempting,’ Gestur says, surveying the breakfast buffet. He starts piling bacon, pancakes and cocktail sausages onto his plate. I help myself to scrambled eggs, bread, jam and fruit. But the moment we sit down and I take the first mouthful, I start to feel sick. Nevertheless, I force myself to eat some bread with a thick layer of jam, hoping the sugar will get my circulation going." (p. 187). 

The action here takes place in a hotel facing a stunning and very wild glacier and rugged landscapes in a remote part of Iceland, and I enjoyed the descriptions of the locale, as well as the characters' flashbacks to their lives growing up in various Icelandic towns. I especially recommend this book to readers who like an unusual setting in a country where rather few mysteries are located. 

Food that I ate in Iceland: a dessert buffet at a hotel in Reykjavik last year.
Probably not as luxurious as the food in the novel!

Interesting New Yorker Story

“The Kitchen God” by Hiromi Kawakami published July 3, 2023.

A very strange story. The narrator lives in an apartment building with numerous other women whose husbands are away most of the time. A kitchen god with three faces talks to her; some of the other women’s kitchens also have a similar kitchen god. And she’s a shoplifter for thrills. Here’s how she describes her feeling about shoplifting:

Just that morning, I had stolen a pack of plum chewing gum and an Extra-Large container of miso-flavored Cup Ramen from the convenience store in front of the train station. I was an old hand at shoplifting, a skill I had picked up in junior high. An Extra-Large Cup Ramen was a difficult target, however: the package rustled, and its size made it hard to squeeze into my bag.

Shoplifting always leaves me feeling disappointed. It’s not a “Damn, I’ve gone and done it again!” kind of thing. And it’s not that I feel let down once the excitement of the moment has passed. Or even that I wish I had ripped off something more valuable. Rather, it’s a vague, nonspecific form of disappointment.

The whole whimsical story is a little strange. Some of the strangeness is about Japanese women whose husbands work all the time, but most of the strangeness is just in the story. Strange all around, but I enjoyed reading it.

Light Reading

Reading now: another very amusing book by Jesse Q. Sutanto. 
(Previous books reviewed here.)

Moonrise Kingdom, a Film by Wes Anderson

We enjoyed it even more than we did a few years ago when it was new!

Snoopy the dog plays a role in this unusual movie, and unfortunately he dies in an unfortunate way.
Dogs are evidently often victims in Wes Anderson’s eccentric film world. (source)

There's also a kitten in a fishing basket, but it comes to no harm.

Blog post © 2023 mae sander

Shared with Elieen’s critters

And with Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz.