Description
Book SynopsisThe debut novel from the author of Blood Lake, a collection of short stories that was critically acclaimed and landed on the Los Angeles Times best-seller list. An adventure in the absurd, Iceland begins with our narrator, Paul, arriving at a mysterious "Institute" to pick out - on doctor's orders - a new internal organ. There he meets Emily, a young, bikini-clad woman hired to stimulate the organs preserved in a nutrient-enhanced swimming pool, and falls in love amidst a flurry of chlorine and kick-boards. In Jim Krusoe's world, this is about as simple as life gets. Paul's brief interlude with Emily sets the course for his extraordinary adventures, which involve a troublesome stain on Paul's rug, a volcano, Paul's marriage and children, six years in a piano bar with a girl named Calypso Sally, and a long stretch in the State Penitentiary. But throughout it all Paul keeps re-imagining that first afternoon by the poolside with Emily, his one true love. Iceland is a novel of melancholic hilarity that raises serious questions along the way about the nature of memory, imagination, and desire.
Trade Review"Krusoe's whimsical, ironic debut novel (following his story collection, Blood Lake) conjures up Kafka on antidepressants..."--Publishers Weekly
