The Blue Fox by Sjon Review

This should be called The Blah Fox because that’s all I felt after reading it: blah! 

Set in 1883 Iceland for no reason, a dickhead hunts a rare blue fox in the snow, eventually shooting it. Cut to a different time for no reason and we’re introduced to a dead girl called Abba who had Down’s Syndrome. Then it’s back to the present where the dickhead is covered in snow after his shot caused an avalanche. Mamma mia, what the hell’s the story, my, my, what a crappy novel! 

Sjon (you think you’re like that demented pixie Bjork? Does everyone in Iceland go by one name?!) knocks together an utterly forgettable non-story full of poorly written characters. This thing left absolutely no impression on me. 

I get that the first section is written sparsely – some pages literally contain only a sentence – to illustrate the quiet of hunting but there’s really nothing much else to say about this garbage. We learn that in ye olden days the Icelandic peeps used to kill babies with Down’s Syndrome at birth. There’s some dull magical realism which I guess has something to do with Scandinavian tradition maybe. Blargh, it’s just so boring and pretentious! 

If you see a blurb on any cover from Bjork recommending that book, stay well away from it. The Blah Fox was my first and last venture into Icelandic literature!

The Blue Fox