The Blue Fox

• So time here is jagged, sometimes opaque, sometimes translucent, like water melted then frozen again. And the characters are caught in the physics of the landscape and the half-mythic nature of the elusive blue beast helps to dramatize a psychology halfway between neurology and legend.

• Describing her feelings, the surroundings, the weather and the hunter with only a few carefully-chosen words, Sjón brings his readers to the cold snowy mountains of an Icelandic winter. The words flow like a poem and are so realistic that you can almost feel the snow blow down your shirt.

• However, I am afraid these won’t do, because other terms will suggest themselves and these will include “spellbinding,” or “magical”, or simply “exceptional.” In addition, there are several other elements in this novella, which will require that one use the loose descriptive “thriller” too.

• To be read twice—it takes so little effort!—because it is best appreciated upon a second reading. A small book that is very, very beautiful. Its author is a character dressed in tweed (like Fridrik!), wearing round spectacles and fascinated by myths; he always reworks them in his novels, but in my view, this is truly his best, where the myth is indigenous and folkloric, constructed just like a fairy tale.

• It is an absorbing read that never ceases to amaze; I read it in one sitting and absolutely loved it. It is not a conventional novel—I wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for action or lots of plot events, but rather to anyone who wants to savor vibrant descriptions and the author's beautiful prose. In my view, it is Literature with a capital L, a little gem to read and reread.

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