It was a bit of a no-brainer that I would love this book. I loved Richard Fidler’s history/travel combo in Ghost Empire and Kari Gislason’s evocative memoir The Promise of Iceland.
Although I did not know it when I started reading The Promise of Iceland, Kari and I went to Uni together. He made some very unflattering comments about the female law students at UQ in his first book. When we recognised each other at a book signing, he assured me that I am exempt from those comments. I choose to accept that explanation.
In hindsight, a collaboration between these two Brisbane writers was always going to work. Sagaland is, like Ghost Empire part travel memoir and part historical non-fiction. It chronicles the “sagas” or iconic true stories about the people who settled and developed Iceland over the centuries. Interspersed between the sagas are alternating chapters told from each author’s perspective as they tour Iceland together.
Kari is essentially an Icelandic ex-patriot. Although he left Iceland as a child, he is magnetically drawn to the Icelandic people, landscape and history. Richard has never visited Iceland before and Kari provides him with a local’s background which always enriches the travel experience.
The sagas themselves are also strangely compelling. Although I have never been to Iceland, I find the stories fascinating. As the authors point out, Iceland probably occupies the place in history usually appropriated by the United States. It was an early experiment in republicanism, modern representative democracy and secularism.
If Sagaland had been written as an analysis of political history it may have been a bit dull for all but complete political/government nerds like myself. Since it is instead told through stories, I expect it will prove appealing to a much broader audience.
