I've never listened to an audio book before, so this is a new experience for me. As luck would have it, this was a perfect one to start with. Great book by Hannah Kent, and an excellent rendition of the text by reader, Morven Christie. It felt as if she had fallen in love with the book, and with good reason. The story, based on the life and death of the last woman to be executed in Iceland (in 1829) for her involvement in the murder of two men, was meticulously researched over years, and the depth of the research is felt throughout as something that is as close to an actual experience as a story can provide. It is through this that the deepest questions of human existence are addressed, leaving the indelible trace that tells you that a book has just changed the way you think and feel about the story of your own life.
Hannah Kent spent time in Iceland as she wrote, and developed relationships with the country and the people there. It all comes through, the sense that the author has incorporated the setting and the culture into her body and translated it into a language that strangers to this beautiful country can understand. The audio added to the experience because it enabled me to hear the Icelandic words, which added to the atmosphere. I felt I had travelled there - to that country, time, and season.
With regard to the book, the telling, I can only say that I came to the conclusion that the story had chosen this writer, and that it had chosen well. There are books you can't put down. This one, I couldn't turn off. I listened in my car, in the driveway, overlooking the lake, on the way to the shops (but a close call with another vehicle cured me of that), and finally in front of the computer. I was in awe of Hannah Kent's writing - what a career she has ahead of her if she can even come close to the beauty and skill of this fine work.
