''Land tækifæranna'' () is a 2008 crime fiction novel by

Ævar Örn Jósepsson Ævar Örn Jósepsson (born 25 August 1963 in Hafnarfjörður) is an Icelandic journalist, translator, and author. Early life Ævar is the youngest of four siblings. He grew up in Garðabær, Reykjavík, and in Hafnarfjörður. He moved to Akrane ...

. The backdrop for the events was the

2008 Icelandic financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, with Ævar Örn rewriting parts of the novel just before publication to respond to the unfolding political situation in Iceland. It won the Blóðdropinn award and was thus nominated for the

Glass Key Award The Glass Key award ( sv, Glasnyckeln, da, Glasnøglen, no, Glassnøkkelen, fi, Lasiavain-palkinto, is, Glerlykillinn) is a literature award given annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries. The award, named after the nove ...

. Published in Reykjavik by Uppheimar, 2008, . It is the author's fifth crime novel with the same characters, and received positive reviews. In the assessment of

Katrín Jakobsdóttir Katrín Jakobsdóttir (; born 1 February 1976) is an Icelandic politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Iceland since 2017 and a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency since 2007. A graduate of the Univers ...

;

The community divide suits Ævar well and he is on great form in this book, creating a nice plot around the murdered Pole and the financier ('' útrásarvíkingur''), and clearly enjoys putting words into the mouths of his characters when he constructs dialogues about the situation. ''Land of Opportunities'' thus testifies well to what good effects he has achieved in the form, and at the same time he has distinguished himself with a sharp social commentary and well established subject matter.'Samfélagsdeila lætur Ævari vel og hann er í miklu stuði í þessari bók, skapar ágæta fléttu í kringum myrta Pólverjann og útrásarvíkinginn, og skemmtir sér greinilega vel við að leggja persónum sínum orð í munn þegar hann smíðar samtöl um ástandið. ''Land tækifæranna'' ber því gott vitni hversu góðum tökum hann hefur náð á forminu og um leið hefur hann markað sér sérstöðu með skarpri samfélagsrýni og oldfimum viðfangsefnum': Katrín Jakobsdóttir, `Engin glæpasagnakreppa: Íslenska glæpasagnaárið 2008', ''Tímarit Máls og menningar'', 70.1 (February 2009), 36--49 (p. 48).

References

{{Iceland-stub Icelandic literature 2008 novels

See also

References