Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb

The Blue Fox consists of two different, but connected, narrative strands. The book opens in 1883 with the Reverend Baldur hunting the elusive blue fox, a rare and valuable prey. Their contest, his for a valuable pelt, hers for her life, takes on a mythic air as Sjón fills each page with just a few lines of text letting space and silence surround the sparse words.

The narrative switches to a small village in the remote West Fjords where a small group of characters are introduced. Fridrik a naturalist hunter lives on the outskirts of town with his Downs syndrome companion Abba, who he found on a shipwreck years before and has cared for since.

It is a very short intertwining of history and a fable, or a fairy tale. Though short it needs to be read slowly in order to appreciate it best. Many passages read like poetry and are wonderfully descriptive. They almost demand to be read twice. The atmosphere the story creates is built slowly also, and when its revelations come, the reward will be that much more enjoyable.

I have read all of Sjón’s translations into English and he writes with great variety. Here, I see similarities to the Welsh writer, Cynan Jones. The task to a translator here (Victoria Cribb) must have been immense. He is a writer of great talent, but here he shows his skill in blending nature and folklore into a thing of beauty.
Savour every sentence.

My GoodReads score 5 / 5