Land of Love and Ruins (2016) by Icelandic author Oddný Eir, translated by Philip Roughton, is a genre-defying novel that blends diary entries, philosophical reflections, and travelogue. The unnamed narrator, a woman writer in her 30s, journeys through Iceland and Europe after a painful breakup, seeking to understand the meaning of “home.” Through visits to family sites, historical places, and encounters with art, language, and philosophy, she explores themes of love, family, nationalism, feminism, and identity amid the backdrop of post-2008 financial crisis Iceland. The novel weaves intimate personal narrative with broader social and political inquiry, ultimately proposing home as a place of ongoing discovery, experimentation, and sometimes something we leave behind.
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