A
young woman suffers a frightening array of unfortunate
circumstances in her life as a child in Iceland, then moves to
England where she and a close companion manage an English
country-house. When she discovers that she has been stricken with a
terminal illness, she embarks on a journey home to the place where
so many sad things happened to her, to make peace once and for all
with the people she still loves before she is gone. Olaf Olafsson's
THE JOURNEY HOME is the sensitive and truly literary telling of
this tale, a singular achievement that combines the pathos of
Graham Greene with the lilting and pure voice of Kazuo
Ishiguro.Disa, the protagonist, travels back and forth between her
present and her past through both narrative and letters. Although
estranged from her mother at a young age, Disa continues to attempt
a close relationship with her throughout her life and so writes her
at every turn, putting the basic details of her life's adventures
on paper as if trying to make her mother fall in love with her
bravado. When Disa turns to the culinary arts as a way to make a
living, she tries to impart the joy of that discovery to her family
back home. Her other relationships, relationships that are by all
means more successful and meaningful than Disa's relationships with
her immediate family, get similarly in-depth treatment ---
especially that with her friend Anthony, the man with whom she runs
the estate. As she travels home to die, she passes through the
stages and key incidents of her life with her faculties intact,
describing not only the physical journey of traveling to Iceland
but also the emotional one that is stirred up by her
return.THE
JOURNEY HOME is able to put this highly emotional situation into
truly moving language --- none of the situations are exploited for
heavy-handed sentimentalism. Olafsson, a Vice Chairman of Time
Warner Digital Media, is a natural-born writer: he has a gentle
touch with the quiet moments that make up a life well-lived, with
the difficult times that mark the passages of any human being's
path on earth. THE JOURNEY HOME is a truly beautiful and moving
novel, even as it is fierce and complex. Olaf Olafsson tells an
important story in a simple and elegant way that will stay in your
heart well after the last page is turned.