Animal Life is the most recent release from award-winning author Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir. Initially released in Iceland in 2020, Animal Life has now been translated into English. Readers are taken to Iceland in the days leading up to Christmas with a major storm on the way.
I want to thank Grove Atlantic, Grove Press, Black Cat, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Animal Life. All opinions presented here are solely mine.
CW/TW: infant loss, post-parteum depression
Synopsis from Goodreads
In the days leading up to Christmas, Dómhildur delivers her 1,922nd baby. Beginnings and endings are her family trade; she comes from a long line of midwives on her mother’s side and a long line of undertakers on her father’s. She even lives in the apartment that she inherited from her grandaunt, a midwife with a unique reputation for her unconventional methods.
As a terrible storm races towards Reykjavik, Dómhildur discovers decades’ worth of letters and manuscripts hidden amongst her grandaunt’s clutter. Fielding calls from her anxious meteorologist sister and visits from her curious new neighbor, Dómhildur escapes into her grandaunt’s archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death, and human nature.
Positives
The settings are wonderfully written. It’s easy to picture the apartment and its layout. The descriptions of the landscape during their travels are also enticing!
Negatives
The story doesn’t quite flow in a logical sequence. If the book was longer, could more details be given?
My Opinions
In recent years I have found myself drawn to all things Iceland. No idea why, but there is something about the country that has drawn me in. Hence the reason I read this book. Animal Life is full of descriptions of Iceland and discusses the long nights in the winter and the short nights in the summer. It makes me want to visit even more, especially with the option of seeing the Northern Lights.
The story in Animal Life is more of a narrative, as there is little dialogue. The narrative is not told in a straight line. Dómhildur finds herself going through her grandaunt’s papers and trying to make sense of them. I often found myself feeling the same way. Her grandaunt was a midwife who found herself interested in the similarities of humans to animals (and even plants). In some ways, the grandaunt was ahead of her time with her thoughts and hypotheses. And as such, she was often disregarded by her peers.
Overall, this story is an interesting read and one to make you think about humans and how we impact those around us.
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This sounds fascinating! I also would love to see the Northern Lights.
Iceland is such an interesting country. I like the sound of this one too.