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We all have crisis points in our lives --- moments of time where we are never the same, where a simple word from a friend or an enemy can stay with us forever, where a whispered admission of guilt or a secret made public can alter the course of a relationship indefinitely. Olaf Olafsson's book of short stories catches 12 of these relationships right at their own individual points of crisis. Men and women alike will be carried along by these tales, as the universality of human nature takes the place of rigid stereotypes or gender-based points of view.
Each story in VALENTINES takes place during a different month of the year. In January a bachelor tries to reconnect with an old girlfriend. In March a barren wife discovers that her husband can't let go of his desire for children. In July a husband's sudden illness keeps him from leaving his wife and from rekindling his occupational passion. Each story presents both sides of the argument at hand, as Olafsson exposes the complexity of true understanding and commitment's fragile threads. Here there are no right or wrong answers, no "morals to the story." There is only the reality that nothing stands still.
Some of the stories presented in VALENTINES are set in Iceland, while others take place at various locations within the United States. Many of the stories are a combination of the two, with one or more of the main characters migrating from one location to the other. Olafsson himself is a migratory Icelander, having lived in the United States for a number of years, but owning a house in Reykjavik in order to visit his homeland often.
Olafsson acknowledges in these stories the difficulty of maintaining one's cultural heritage while forming roots in another country. In September an Icelandic mother counsels her emigrating daughter not to marry an American, and in June a father tests his American son-in-law to the limit during the new groom's first visit to Iceland. In May a husband settles down with an American woman, happily trading his past country for his present and future happiness, only to have his wife leave him for another woman.
VALENTINES takes off with a bang, and each page leads to the other effortlessly. Olafsson is a master of dialogue and thus makes the most difficult aspect of story-writing seem easy and natural. His characters come alive the most at this time, as short, clipped sentences speak volumes in revealing the character of the speaker. When such dialogue is infrequent, as sometimes happens here, the story sounds less like a beautifully flawless tale and more like a psychological evaluation. Therefore, the real gems in this book are those that are heavy on communication and light on narration. Fortunately for the reader, Olafsson provides many such gems, and the perfection of one more than makes up for the small letdown of another.
While each page leads fluidly to the next, the reader will most likely need a bit of a break in between each story. The subject matter is so heavy that it's not easy to jump from one point of crisis to the next without being able to absorb each one separately. But after each absorption, the reader will be drawn back to VALENTINES, ready to voyeuristically enter the next intimate relationship and anxious to see how the next couple will deal with life's complexities.
--- Reviewed by Shannon Luders-Manuel (www.shannonluders.com)
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