Moonstone : the boy who never was / Sjón ; translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780374212438 (hardcover) :
- Physical Description: 147 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm
- Edition: First American edition.
- Publisher: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
- Copyright: ©2016.
Content descriptions
General Note: | Translation of: Mánasteinn: drengurinn sem aldrei var til. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Teenage boys > Iceland > Fiction. Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919 > Fiction. Reykjavík (Iceland) > Fiction. |
Available copies
- 3 of 3 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 0 of 0 copies available at Sechelt/Gibsons.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 3 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
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- Baker & Taylor
A gay man in 1918 Reykjavik deals with homophobia, the Spanish flu and the threat of war by seeking escape in European films, in the latest novel from the Icelandic award-winning novelist, poet and playwright. - Baker & Taylor
In 1918 a man seeks an escape from the homophobia of Reykjavik, the looming threat of war, and Spanish flu by turning to the recent influx of European cinema. - McMillan Palgrave
The mind-bending miniature historical epic is Sjón's specialty, and Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was is no exception. But it is also Sjón's most realistic, accessible, and heartfelt work yet. It is the story of a young man on the fringes of a society that is itself at the fringes of the world--at what seems like history's most tumultuous, perhaps ultimate moment.
Máni Steinn is queer in a society in which the idea of homosexuality is beyond the furthest extreme. His city, Reykjavik in 1918, is homogeneous and isolated and seems entirely defenseless against the Spanish flu, which has already torn through Europe, Asia, and North America and is now lapping up on Iceland's shores. And if the flu doesn't do it, there's always the threat that war will spread all the way north. And yet the outside world has also brought Icelanders cinema! And there's nothing like a dark, silent room with a film from Europe flickering on the screen to help you escape from the overwhelming threats--and adventures--of the night, to transport you, to make you feel like everything is going to be all right. For Máni Steinn, the question is whether, at Reykjavik's darkest hour, he should retreat all the way into this imaginary world, or if he should engage with the society that has so soundly rejected him.