Book Review - Iceland

IcelandIceland by Dominic Hoey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I read this book for work. The blurb at the back made it sound far more exciting than it turned out to be. Set in Grey Lynn, Auckland, the story is told through the alternating perspectives of Zlata and Hamish. The two meet at the beginning of the book, and we then follow how their lives intertwine and impact each other.

It's a bizarre book as it lacks any character. You don't really get an essence of this city or the people because we are told what to think, not shown. It appears that Grey Lynn is a creative hub, since all the characters are creative people working in art or music. It's also a small town where most people know or have interacted with one another at some point. But throughout, it felt like you could be reading about a small town in England, and, were it not for a certain amount of contempt levied at an American character in the story, it could have been based in the US as well.

The perspectives of the two characters were often hard to distinguish - neither had a distinctive voice. They melded into each other, which led to confusion especially later in the book when they were interacting with the same people. After a point, if you left the book or weren't concentrating you would be reading Zlata as Hamish and vice versa.

First person narratives are hard to pull off. It is a limiting style of storytelling and this book proves why. The majority of it is in dialogue; the rest is written as an internal monologue. Trouble is, all of it is reactive to the plot, not leading to the plot itself. This results in a disconnect between what the author wants the reader to interpret, and what is actually on the page.

I found the entire story pointless and hollow. One couldn't identify with any of the characters and their reliance on substances to get through the day. I couldn't understand why Zlata was the way she was and why she hung out with Hamish. The two don't have much in common, yet we are told over and over that they love each other. Why? The entire foundation of the book is missing.

Hamish is written as having a life not necessarily dependent on Zlata; but she does not receive the same treatment. He is a huge part of her life and what eventually happens to her life. Her impact on him is minimal. This often happens with female characters, irrespective of who's writing them and I will never understand why.

I didn't understand the ending - I felt like I missed a page or two because there is a vague reference to something that is not explained. What does it all mean? We will never know.

The author's ambition is commendable, yet his execution is lacking. The characters are annoyingly naive, which seems unimaginable given today's tell-all world. There is no way the aspiring artists and musicians can be unaware of what a cutthroat and artificial world their businesses are - especially since they're not teenagers, they're almost 30. While no one wants to feel like a commercial tool, these characters are given opportunities that honestly the majority of aspiring artists cannot even imagine. For them to throw these away, or to disregard them, makes real-life aspirants' pessimism seem disingenuous - and that's not correct.

I can't imagine who the intended target audience for this book is. The text is spare, making it an easy read, yet without much substance. The characters are too self-involved and learn nothing during the course of the story for the book to have a message. There's a convenient plot device thrown in for emotional leverage, but that feels too contrived to lift the story. Most of the book reads like a series of convenient contrivances, actually. It felt like an extended episode of Skins; not that I've watched much of the show, but I have read enough to liken the antics and characterisations in this book to it.

With a plot line this flimsy, the book falls short of its great artistic ambitions. Can't say I would recommend it to anyone.

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