The Trilogy About the Boy

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The Trilogy About the Boy Bundleincludes the complete series by Jn Kalman Stefnsson, translated by Philip Roughton:Heaven and Hell,The Sorrow of Angels, andThe Heart of Man. Venture into this captivating Icelandic trilogy for only$70!Apply coupon codeTRILOGYat checkout to get free shipping.***Translated by Philip Roughton with finesse and rhythmic beauty, they have the mythic, twilit quality of Scandinavian legends . . . Stefnsson also grounds these books in the material realities of their time, capturing the privation of villages built on what seems like the end of the world. The trilogy probes the spiritual conditions of hardshipwhat life is like on the brink of being extinguished . . . The sensation of being lost in a snow drift is frequent in this trilogy, where eruptions of extreme weather lend an otherworldly feel to the storytelling. Mr. Stefnssons writing evokes this sense of fulsome disorientation.Sam Sacks,Wall Street JournalThere are novels that make something inside you come awake, and make you want to keep it awake. Maybe thats what a classic is: not only a work that endures but one that makes something endure in yousomething that lasts even after you may have forgotten the whole story and the characters names. Such is the case with the Icelandic novelist Jn Kalman Stefnssons Trilogy About the Boy . . . few contemporary novels dare, as these books do, to confront the dilemmas of body, mind, soul, and spirit with equal urgency, to bring the reader right to the edge of the absolute, and leave you, after more than nine hundred pages, so elated that you feel the wind under your feet.Salvatore Scibona,New YorkerInfused with the lyrical poetry and dryly humorous worldview pioneered by Laxness . . . Stefnssons trilogy is an artistic achievement of the highest order, inviting us to walk in the frozen footsteps of another while recognizing our own path through life in each snowy print.Doug McIntyre, Los Angeles Daily News***HEAVEN AND HELLStefnsson shares the elemental grandeur of Cormac McCarthy.Eileen Battersby,TLSIn a remote fishing village, a boy and his best friend spend the lonely hours on shore reading and talking about poetry. When the friend, absorbed in a borrowed copy of Paradise Lost, forgets his oilskin one morning and the crew is unexpectedly caught at sea in a savage winter storm, tragedy strikes. Overwhelmed by griefand his crewmates indifference to what has happenedthe boy leaves the village, determined to return the book to its owner. The hardship and danger of the journey is of little consequence: hes already resolved to join his friend in death. But when he reaches the town where he intends to end his days, he couldnt have imagined the stories and lives he finds.Navigating the depths of despair to celebrate the redemptive power of friendship,Heaven and Hellis an incandescent story of community, resilience, and love from one of Icelands most celebrated novelists.THE SORROW OF ANGELSOne of the consistent, foundational themes that comes out through this is that even among all the uncertainty and harsh beauty of existence, humans have a drive for survival even when all seems to be exhausted.World Literature TodayIts been three weeks since the boy came to town, carrying a book of poetry to return to the old sea captainthe poetry Brur died for. Just three weeks, but already Brurs ghost has faded. Snow falls so heavily that it binds heaven and earth together.As the villagers gather in the inn to drink schnapps and coffee while the boy reads to them fromHamlet, Jens the postman stumbles in half-dead, having almost frozen to his horse. On his next journey to the fjords, Jens is accompanied by the boy, and both must risk their lives for each other, and for an unusual item of mail.The second installment in Stefnssons elemental Trilogy About the Boy,The Sorrow of Angelsis a timeless literary masterpiece that evokes the human struggle within the ferocious majesty of nature.THE HEART OF MANAn engrossing tale as brooding, unpredictable, and invigorating as the sea and storms affecting the characters lives.Kirkus Reviews(starred)The final installment of Jn Kalman Stefnssons Trilogy About the Boy is a profound exploration of life, love and desire written with a sublime simplicity.After coming through the blizzard that almost cost them everything, the postman Jens and the boy rest in a fishing community at the edge of the world to recover from their ordeal before returning once again to their village. But the northern summers are short and the sea is always present, and fish remain more valuable than men. And the chorus of drowned fisherfolk whisper tales full of silver, regret, smiles, and cruelty, in the hope that hidden within such stories are words that will free us from this tug of war between Heaven and Hell.Set in the awe-inspiring wilderness of the north of Iceland,The Heart of Manconcludes a modern Icelandic saga about a boy and the community of the living and dead who congregate around him, offering a profound exploration of life, love, and desire.