A review by ceallaighsbooks
The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“It was an enchanted palace. She must try to find a way in!… Unn’s heart was thudding as she entered the first room. Green, with shafts of subdued light penetrating here and there; empty but for the biting cold. There was something sinister about the room. Without thinking she shouted ‘Hey!’… The emptiness had that effect; you had to shout in it. …she was bewitched and ensnared, and let what had been lie behind her. At this moment she thought only of palaces.”

TITLE—The Ice Palace (Nor. Is-slottet)
AUTHOR—Tarjei Vesaas
TRANSLATOR—Elizabeth Rokkan
PUBLISHED—orig. 1963; trans. 1993; this ed. 2018
PUBLISHER—trans. Peter Owen Publishers Ltd; this ed. Penguin Random House UK

GENRE—literary fiction
SETTING—1960’s Norway in winter
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—winter, the dark season, shadows & fear, what the cold takes, the beauty of ice & nature in winter, childhood, friendship, the isolation of grief, sudden loss, the literary horror of death, time & chance, the threshold between the imagined and the real, miscommunication versus there not being any words through which things can be properly communicated

“But it is so unpleasant to see casements swinging open without reason. You don’t know what is true and what is imagination.”

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—the atmospheric writing of this book made me feel literally cold, it was eerie
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The ice construction rises above them, enigmatic, powerful, its pinnacles disappearing into the darkness and the winter cloud drift. It seems prepared to stand eternally—but time is misleadingly brief, it will fall one day when the floods begin.”

My thoughts:
Wow. What an incredible story. I read it twice in a row. On the first reading the plot had gripped me so intensely and disturbed me so much that I had to read it quickly so I could find out how it ended before trying to go to sleep. 😅 However I reread it more slowly the next day and was able to even more thoroughly appreciate just the depth of meaning, beauty, and emotion in this short little novella.

The exploration of the themes of grief and isolation against the backdrop of a bitingly cold Norwegian winter was as magical as it was deeply tragic. I loved how these themes were interwoven with the additional subjects of friendship, human connection & support, the arbitrary nature of time & chance, and the inevitability & sudden finality of death.

I also picked up on some thematic connections to “The Snow Queen” which were very interesting and beautiful but THE ICE PALACE is far more than just a fairy tale or a retelling of one.

I won’t say more! This would make an incredible bookclub selection, though. 😉 And if you’ve read it, lmk! I’d love to discuss it!

Huge thank you to Gina of IG:@readingwiizard for picking this for the January 2023 #ReadingWizBingo buddy-read selection! I may not have ever come across it otherwise. 🙏🏻💕

“Auntie’s voice: ‘I say again, you must feel you are freed. It’s not right for you to go on as you are. It’s not like you. You’re a different person.’ Don’t answer. It’s not meant to be answered. But it’s like the gleaming of stars in a well. And no explanation.”

I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for an emotionally intense and beautifully atmospheric winter read. This book is best read while you’re warm and cozy inside and it’s cold and dark outside. (Also best read twice in a row, imo. 😂 I am actually also determined to read this in the original Norwegian, if I can track down a copy somehow!)

Final note: I feel like novellas and especially translated books are going to be a big trend for me this year. ☺️

“It had been a time of snow and a time of death and of closed bedrooms—and she had arrived bang on the other side of it, her eyes dimming for joy because a boy had said, ‘You with the dimples.’ Woodwind players are walking at the sides of the road. You walk as fast as you can, and wish at the same time that the road would never end.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CW // they’re all spoilers so DM me!

Further Reading—
  • A WILD WINTER SWAN, by Gregory Maguire
  • GINGERBREAD, by Robert Dinsdale
  • THE RAVEN AND THE REINDEER, by T Kingfisher
  • ALICE IN WONDERLAND, by Lewis Carroll
  • SWANFOLK, by Kristín Ómarsdóttir—TBR
  • LANNY, by Max Porter—TBR (Porter blurbed the THE ICE PALACE, saying: “I’m surprised it isn’t the most famous book in the world.” 💖❄️)
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