Back in Reykjavik after a vacation in London, Emil Halldorsson is waiting for a call from a beautiful girl, Greta, that he met on the plane ride home, and he’s just put on a pot of coffee when an unexpected visitor knocks on the door. Peeking through a window, Emil spies an erstwhile friend—Havard Knutsson, his one-time roommate and current resident of a Swedish mental institution—on his doorstep, and he panics, taking refuge under his bed and hoping the frightful nuisance will simply go away.
Havard won’t be so easily put off, however, and he breaks into Emil’s apartment and decides to wait for his return—Emil couldn’t have gone far; the pot of coffee is still warming on the stove. While Emil hides under his bed, increasingly unable to show himself with each passing moment, Havard discovers the booze, and he ends up hosting a bizarre party for Emil's friends, and Greta.
An alternately dark and hilarious story of cowardice, comeuppance, and assumed identity, the breezy and straightforward style of The Pets belies its narrative depth, and disguises a complexity that grows with every page.
Havard won’t be so easily put off, however, and he breaks into Emil’s apartment and decides to wait for his return—Emil couldn’t have gone far; the pot of coffee is still warming on the stove. While Emil hides under his bed, increasingly unable to show himself with each passing moment, Havard discovers the booze, and he ends up hosting a bizarre party for Emil's friends, and Greta.
An alternately dark and hilarious story of cowardice, comeuppance, and assumed identity, the breezy and straightforward style of The Pets belies its narrative depth, and disguises a complexity that grows with every page.
Janice Balfour was born in Scotland and relocated to Iceland in 1972. She studied literature and Italian at the University of Iceland, and started translating articles and texts for museums shortly thereafter. In addition to Bragi Ólafsson, she has translated two collections of short stories by Gyrðir Elíasson (currently unpublished in English). She currently works for the Icelandic Red Cross Association.
October 2008
Novel
Hardcover, 157 pages
$14.95 $11.95
5.5" x 8.5"
978-1-934824-01-6
1-934824-01-1
Novel
Hardcover, 157 pages
5.5" x 8.5"
978-1-934824-01-6
1-934824-01-1
"Brilliantly written and funny, no, very funny . . . The Pets is one of the best pieces of Nordic literature I've read in a long time."
—Berlingske Tidende (Denmark)
"I'm convinced beyond any doubt that Bragi Ólafsson is among our best authors."
—DV newspaper (Iceland)
"The best short novel I’ve read this year must be Bragi Ólafsson’s The Pets, which makes more room for strangeness in its 157 pages than most novels can find in two or three times that length. . . .Small, dark, and hard to put down, The Pets may be a classic in the literature of small enclosed spaces."
—Barnes & Noble Review
