The Fish Can Sing

by Magnus Magnusson (Translator), HalldorLaxness (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $6.16

  Alfgrim was an abandoned child whose mother gave birth to him in the turf cottage of Bjorn of Brekkukot, the fisherman, on the outskirts of Reykjavik. This is the tale of Alfgrim's boyhood and youth in the home of his grandparents in the early years of the twentieth century. It is a hospitable place, where dignified understatement is the norm and everything from a lumpfish to a Bible has a fixed price that never changes.When Alfgrim goes to school and begins to learn Latin and music, he comes into contact with new attitudes toward the currencies of gold and language. The reigning spirit in this new world is the singer Gardar Holm, whose fantastic successes throughout the world have become a source of pride to his countrymen. Alfgrim's encounters with the singer only serve to make Gardar and his fame more mysterious and ambiguous.A beautifully crafted tale by Iceland's finest writer.

• Used

  Paperback
  2001

  $3.55

  Abandoned as a baby, Alfgrimur is content to spend his days as a fisherman living in the turf cottage outside Reykjavik with the elderly couple he calls grandmother and grandfather. There he shares the mid-loft with a motley bunch of eccentrics and philosophers who find refuge in the simple respect for their fellow men that is the ethos at the Brekkukot. But the narrow horizons of Alfgrimur's idyllic childhood are challenged when he starts school and meets Iceland's most famous singer, the mysterious Garoar Holm. Garoar encourages him to aim for the 'one true note', but how can he attain it without leaving behind the world that he loves?

• New

  Paperback
  2001

  $11.38

  Abandoned as a baby, Alfgrimur is content to spend his days as a fisherman living in the turf cottage outside Reykjavik with the elderly couple he calls grandmother and grandfather. There he shares the mid-loft with a motley bunch of eccentrics and philosophers who find refuge in the simple respect for their fellow men that is the ethos at the Brekkukot. But the narrow horizons of Alfgrimur's idyllic childhood are challenged when he starts school and meets Iceland's most famous singer, the mysterious Garoar Holm. Garoar encourages him to aim for the 'one true note', but how can he attain it without leaving behind the world that he loves?