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Ertu Gu, afi?
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Wikipedia article
'Ertu Gu, afi?' ('Are You God, Granddad?') is an Icelandic children's novel by orgrmur rinsson.Reykjavk: Vaka-Helgafell, 2010. It won the 2010 Icelandic Children's Book Prize, which guarantees publication with the Vaka-Helgafell press. It is orgrmur's twenty-fourth book, and his second to win the prize.
Plot summary
The novel is a first-person narrative from the point of view of the lively and restless Emma Soffa, who for most of the narrative is eleven years old. It starts with news that her paternal grandfather, known to Emma Soffa as Afi Afrka ('Grandad Africa'), will return to Iceland from living in Africa for the first time in eleven years. The novel charts the developing relationship between the narrator and her grandfather over the course of about a year, and how it changes her relationship with her mother (prone to grumpiness, consumerism, and sometimes dininclined to show Emma Soffa the affection that she feels), her father (who is a seaman and therefore absent for long stretches of time), and with herself. Afi Afrka is given to mediation, offering spiritual insights and experiences, and to finding pastimes for his granddaughter which entertain her yet help her to develop patience and inner piece. The novel closes with Afi Afrka's death, Catholic funeral, and his bequest to Emma Soffa of his elegant home near Landakotskirkja.
Critical reception
In the estimation of Helga Birgisdttir and Mara Bjarkadttir, 'the message is clear and good: think beautiful thoughts, conduct yourself well, and be good to people and animals. This is a beautiful book but the message is often repeated to the reader, who is rather confused when the book ends on a "boom-time" note: the main character inherits a penthouse flat'.'skilaboin eru skr og g: Hugsau fallega, hagau r fallega og vertu g/gur vi menn og dr. etta er falleg bk en skilaboin margtuggin ofan lesendur sem vera nokku hvumsa egar bkin endar "grislegum" ntum -- aalpersnan erfir penthouse-b'; Helga Birgisdttir and Mara Bjarkadttir, 'Kreppa slenskum barnabkum: Hugleiingar um barna- og unglingabkur rsins 2010', 'Spssan', Spring 2010, 37--40 (p. 39).
References
Category:2010 novels
Category:2010 children's books
Category:Icelandic novels
Category:Novels set in Iceland
Category:Icelandic-language novels
Category:Icelandic children's literature
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