[.ca] The Atom Station (ISBN 0933256310)

Saga style:
One should not read this book before getting acquainted with the sagas, if you read only one, then try Njal's Saga. Laxness tries to convey to us the destructiveness of globalization long before it was called by that name, the destructiveness of making a liquid market in everything, putting a price on everything, eliminating all stability formed by old tradition. The girl in the story is the voice of the past, the voice from the sagas, and you cannot hear this voice at all if you have been programmed, indoctrinated by the ideology of neo-classical economic theory (the 'religion' of totally unregulated free markets, which are now known anyway to be dynamically unstable). Other books for some perspective: Berger's Pig Earth, Levi's Christ Stopped at Eboli, Barber's Jihad vs. McWorld, Ross's The Annexation of Mexico. Also strongly recommended: Laxness's Independent People. Like John Berger, Laxness points out for us the destructiveness of unregulated 'development' and suggests that the antidote lies in something that most of us have'forgotten' about the past, about human relations as human relations rather than human beings as 'rational agents' in the neo-classical economic theory implicitly assumed true by the IMF, The World Bank, and The EU, the disastrous philosophy of totally unregulated free markets that has been swallowed hook, line and sinker by recent US leaders. If you wonder why the world is in crisis, look for the answer in the assumptions that are taken for granted by the leaders, the assumptions that they don't question.

Political propaganda:
Halldor Laxness is a world-class writer as his masterpieces like Independent People and The Fish Can Sing demonstrate. There is however, one aspect of Mr. Laxness' life that casts a shadow over his career, and is, regardless to say, quite disturbing. That is his lifelong love affair with communism and the former Soviet Union. Enter The Atom Station Mr. Laxness published The Atom Station soon after Iceland and the US agreed that the latter would handle national defense of the island. With less than 300 thousands inhabitants, and no national defense, Icelanders relied on British and American troops during WWII to defend against Nazi aggression, and then extended the defense agreement with the US after the war. Around the same time, in 1949, Iceland also became one of the founding members of the NATO alliance, along with the US, Britain, France, and others. While an overwhelming majority of Icelanders were eager to align themselves with countries of the free world, a small, but vocal group of communists, in which Mr. Laxness had the loudest voice, was the only exception. In my opinion, Laxness' career reached an all-time low with the publication of The Atom Station. The book is nothing more than an attempt to attack his political advisories and those who had spent a lifetime fighting communism, promoting civil liberties, free enterprise, and individual freedom. In The Atom Station, Mr. Laxness implies that drunken Icelandic politicians sold out the island to the evil United States so it could be used for an "Atom Station" - a base for nuclear weapons. He also uses his book to smear the United States and what it stands for. The protagonist, Ugla, is the only one who stands tall while others, especially conservatives, libertarians, progressives, and social democrats (basically everybody except communists), are portrayed as being morally bankrupt. The only one who has in fact been proven morally bankrupt is Mr. Laxness himself. As a frequent traveler across the Iron Curtain, and as a "distinguished guest" of Joseph Stalin, he knew all about the shortcomings of communism, the human rights violations, and the harsh treatment of those who dared to question the political system. Despite of this knowledge, he continued to write books and articles praising Joseph Stalin and communism, viscously attacking those who questioned and pointed out the shortcomings of communism and the Soviet Union. The Atom Station is just one example of his writings on this subject. Mr. Laxness had a great gift, and many of his books are true masterpieces, humorous and great reads. It is therefore sad to know that he wasted so much of his exceptional talent praising Joseph Stalin and his klan - a man who ranks number one along with Mao Tse Tung and Adolf Hitler as the most infamous mass murderer in history of the world. In 1963, Mr. Laxness finally departed with communism, and admitted that some of his previous statements about the "better way of life" in the Soviet were slightly untrue, if not just outright lies. The irony of course is that Laxness used the freedom of speech he enjoyed in Iceland to question and undermine the political ideas and the political system that ensured that very same freedom of speech! As much as I encourage you to read Laxness' Independent People, one of his greatest books, I cannot recommend The Atom Station to anyone. It's just a ... piece of political propaganda that promotes ideas that have been proven wrong all over the world. It should be regarded as such.

a stunning story of politics, personal hope, and salvation:
In the Atom Station, Halldor Laxness demonstrates the skill and complexity that led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The novel tells the story of a simple lass from the north of Iceland who comes face to face with the duplicity of politicians who sell out Icelandic sovereignty for the sake of a nuclear station during the cold war. She also comes to some realizations about herself and the importance of social class and knowledge and how these interact in today's modern world. The novel will be of very special interest to those with some knowledge of Iceland and its history. For those without such knowledge, the novel will compel you to learn more about this fascinating country and its wonderful author laureate, Halldor Laxness.

The Clear Light of the Sagas:
For the first two thirds of the book, we are cast headlong into a confused world of materialistic politicians, posturing socialists, and over-precious intellectuals. This mirrors the perplexity that the young Ugla finds when she leaves the North of Iceland to live in Reykjavik as the serving girl to a powerful member of parliament. I could have laid the book aside, but I had read Laxness before and was curious to see where he would take me. Ugla becomes pregnant and returns to her family in the country to have her child and think things through and, in her words, "to become a person." From crazy Reykjavik, we suddenly find ourselves in the clear light of the great Sagas of the 13th century. Here there are no harsh moral judgments; and even the Lutheran pastor refers to Gunnar of Hlidarendi in NJAL'S SAGA as being on the same plane as the Good Book. As a hardened Saga fiend, I was enthralled. Here was an Icelander saying that the answer to the topsy turvy world of Cold War Europe was to look at the past and within onseself -- to follow the God who, by definition, was the one left over when all the other ones have been named. Ugla finds her way in the end -- even if she traced a great circle in the process. Like G K Chesterton, Laxness is a great optimist; and he left this reader with a smile and the resolve to read more of his works.

It is not communist propaganda but unconvincing nevertheless:
This book is not about the politics of its day, and certainly not at all about 'globalization' as other reviewers have stated. Instead, it is about the fundamental moral choice of hardship in decency vs prosperity in corruption, displayed in the 'trials and tribulations' of a young woman from the countryside who finds herself dazzled by the affluent, culturally refined but morally corrupt environment in the 'metropolis' of Reykjavik. The 'political propaganda' that has some reviewers so worked up really only provides the backdrop of corruption and amorality; those battles are long over, but this does not affect the book's freshness, because it is not really about politics. Laxness' peculiar humor consists in his juxtaposition of trivial and outrageous events and characters in a laconic, matter-of-factly way that refrains from any explicit moral judgment. He clearly overdoes it in this book. Some key characters, while entertaining, are completely unrealistic, thus detracting from the credibility and relevance of the story, and both their 'wisdom' and Laxness' own come out on the foolish side. The morale? Teaching morale with novels doesn't work.