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A review by marko68
The Heart of Man by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
5.0
“We’re never the same, the presence of others changes us, draws forth different features and only rarely all at once, within every person are hidden worlds, some of which never reach the surface.” p25/6
Who can truly claim to understand the heart of man? It is complex and plumbs the depths of emotion, and raw human mystery. Jón Kalman Stefansson’s The Heart of Man is just the most beautiful, poetic, lyrical homage to the complexity of the heart. The third and final book in the Heaven and Hell trilogy, we continue to walk with ‘the boy’, the nameless protagonist whom we have travelled with since he set out on that fateful fishing trip with his most valued companion, Bárdur who forgot his waterproofs because of a book…
Reading Stefansson is like reading a dream. Translator Philip Roughton has done an amazing job as I, the reader, am carried away on the wisps of life and the depth of thoughts that permeate every page. Every page is a treasure as Stefansson has this unique ability to evolve a plot where we are privy to a narrative of the heart, mind and soul.
“The most burdensome in this life is never to be able to escape oneself, one’s own existence, shut up inside a compartment, in a world that never gives you any space, except perhaps in particular dreams, but that comes to you as soon as you open your eyes; how can it be tolerated? The most burdensome thing is not to know how to live, to know the notes but to be unable to sing them.”
Somehow throughout this book and indeed the entire trilogy which is essentially one meandering narrative in three parts, ‘the boy’ seems like the most unlikely character yet he seems to epitomise so much. In him is a youthful wisdom, a constancy, an observer, an innocence, a sadness, and a representation of a humanity that is ultimately an aspiration. We see him dealing with the entanglement of affairs of the heart, a naïveté that is becoming as he grapples with a heart that he’s trying to manage.
“The human body is a stupid beast that we drag along through time, like a heavy memory…. It’s a fact that the human heart has two chambers, which is why it’s possible to love two people at the same time. Biology makes it possible, demands it, some would say, but our consciences, consciousness, tell us a different story, which can make everyday life unbearably burdensome.” P77
Permeating throughout the entire book is the notion that all we really have are words. And that there is power contained in the written word, especially the poetic. It’s a source of wisdom, richness, dreams, expansion and wholeness. “What Reverend Kjartan said to me in the spring, that people who like Kierkegaard were dangerous because they cause us to question, and even rethink, the world”. P342
Beautiful, mesmerising, provocative and reflective. Can’t ask for much more from a book. 5 stars.
Who can truly claim to understand the heart of man? It is complex and plumbs the depths of emotion, and raw human mystery. Jón Kalman Stefansson’s The Heart of Man is just the most beautiful, poetic, lyrical homage to the complexity of the heart. The third and final book in the Heaven and Hell trilogy, we continue to walk with ‘the boy’, the nameless protagonist whom we have travelled with since he set out on that fateful fishing trip with his most valued companion, Bárdur who forgot his waterproofs because of a book…
Reading Stefansson is like reading a dream. Translator Philip Roughton has done an amazing job as I, the reader, am carried away on the wisps of life and the depth of thoughts that permeate every page. Every page is a treasure as Stefansson has this unique ability to evolve a plot where we are privy to a narrative of the heart, mind and soul.
“The most burdensome in this life is never to be able to escape oneself, one’s own existence, shut up inside a compartment, in a world that never gives you any space, except perhaps in particular dreams, but that comes to you as soon as you open your eyes; how can it be tolerated? The most burdensome thing is not to know how to live, to know the notes but to be unable to sing them.”
Somehow throughout this book and indeed the entire trilogy which is essentially one meandering narrative in three parts, ‘the boy’ seems like the most unlikely character yet he seems to epitomise so much. In him is a youthful wisdom, a constancy, an observer, an innocence, a sadness, and a representation of a humanity that is ultimately an aspiration. We see him dealing with the entanglement of affairs of the heart, a naïveté that is becoming as he grapples with a heart that he’s trying to manage.
“The human body is a stupid beast that we drag along through time, like a heavy memory…. It’s a fact that the human heart has two chambers, which is why it’s possible to love two people at the same time. Biology makes it possible, demands it, some would say, but our consciences, consciousness, tell us a different story, which can make everyday life unbearably burdensome.” P77
Permeating throughout the entire book is the notion that all we really have are words. And that there is power contained in the written word, especially the poetic. It’s a source of wisdom, richness, dreams, expansion and wholeness. “What Reverend Kjartan said to me in the spring, that people who like Kierkegaard were dangerous because they cause us to question, and even rethink, the world”. P342
Beautiful, mesmerising, provocative and reflective. Can’t ask for much more from a book. 5 stars.