The Ice Palace - Tarjei Vesaas, Elizabeth Rokkan (Translator)
Four eyes full of gleams and radiance beneath their lashes, filling the looking-glass. Questions shooting out and then hiding again. I don't know: Gleams and radiance, gleaming from you to me, from me to you, and from me to you alone—into the mirror and out again, and never an answer about what this is, never an explanation.
Commonly seen as the legendary Norwegian writer's masterpiece, this story tells the tale of Siss and Unn, two friends who have only spent one evening in each other's company. But so profound is this evening between them that when Unn inexplicably disappears, Siss's world is shattered. The Ice Palace is written in prose of a lyrical economy that ranks among the most memorable modern literature achievements.
This is a book that celebrates the inexplicable and the incomplete. Reading it did not make reality less fragmented and random, but it made it seem worthy, bewildering as it may be. It showed me that not every secret needs to be revealed, not every seed of connection blossoms, not every child grows up or is freed of her demons, and not every loss or pain has a purpose or can be put in exact words. Sometimes one has no other choice than to move on and continue living his or her life after all.
By the end of the read, I felt a bit cold. Just one icy star cold.
Comments