About the Author

Auður Ava is an Icelandic author that just won the
Nordic Council’s Literature Prize in 2018 and the Icelandic Literature Prize in 2016 for her book Ör (E. Hotel Silence) (affiliate link).

She has published several other books, couple of noticeable mentions are Butterflies in November (Rigning í Nóvember) and The Greenhouse (Afleggjarinn).

Plot of Hotel Silence

Jónas, a 49 year old male, is planning his suicide. During the planning process he realizes that he does not want his adult daughter, Guðrún Vatnalilja, to find his dead body. Jónas decides that he will go to a unnamed war-torn country to commit a suicide. As he packs for his one-way trip he packs some of his tools, since they might come handy.

My thoughts on the book

Jónas needs to go to a war torn country to realize that not the entire world is about him and his misery. His saviour complex is tremendous, and since he was not needed as much as he wanted in Iceland he simply gave up on life. I can’t say that I felt at all sorry for him and I am not sure if Auður Ava wants the reader to feel sorry for Jónas.

Another thing that annoyed me about Jónas was how dismissive he is of his friends and family. Especially since they do need him, and they need him much more than he even realizes.

While I have some complaints about Jónas I have no complaints about the book itself. It was perfect.

The book is beautifully written, and frequently has this poem like elements. What I really enjoyed was the repetitious counting of the items around Jónas. He recites the names of books that he sees, tools, album names. It is mesmerizing and gives the character a different dimension since you learn how his mind is working.

I loved the book and it reminded me not to become complacent in my life and that sometimes you just need a different viewpoint towards your problems. I

I thought the book was just perfect, 5 out of 5! It was depressing without being too depressing, it wasn’t predictable and it had memorable characters.

-Katrin