Far Afield

I have spent my summer furiously and rapidly reading a spate of excellent books, and this was my favorite This was one that I had seen prominently displayed at the public library s randomly chosen display of Paperback fun I actually felt guilty when I checked it out because the cover is emblazoned with BY THE AUTHOR OF GIRL INTERRUPTED a book that I didn t read that was made into an imperfect movie that I assumed was written and consumed by the type of person who glamorizes pretty girls sufferin [...]

This is a humorous book that I would enjoy reading again It is a story about a young man who goes to the Faroe Islands to apply his archeological skills and finds himself really having to adapt, but the natives there are than willing to teach him It is quite humorous at times.

A sort of graduate student Bildungsroman, this novel centers on the protagonist s year in the Faroe Islands working on his dissertation.I was pretty excited when I got this book as a gift from my friend Pat, whose college friend at Cornell provided the model for Kaysen s main character, Jonathan Brand After all, I love all things Northern Atlantic read Iceland and the Faroes are just smaller, exotic Icelands, right Well, not quite.Since I have never been to the Faroes, I took it on faith that t [...]

A great book, you will love it and it will linger in your heart The writing is lyrical the setting sublime and the characters engaging.

Makes you feel like you re actually living in the Faroe Islands The type of book that has you spending as much time researching the places and ideas you re reading about as you do actually reading Also, it showed up in my dreams, which is the ultimate nod to its captivating effect on my consciousness The writing is the best kind, the kind that makes you forget it s writing Though it did include many words that were over my head, they were included in such a way that made it possible to get the g [...]

Not a bad book at all There were some parts that I had to skim due to the fact that it was so much useless details that had nothing to do with the overall story, but that is just my personal distaste, I m sure others enjoy tremendous amounts of details in their stories, with me, I am content knowing that there is a green hill and a man on the top of it, not that there is a single red flower with red ants, their antlers holding on to a single green leaf, etc.I recommend this book to be read, beca [...]

It is quite interesting to read a book about your own country Jonathan is an American anthropologist and is going to spend a year in the Faroe Islands The story takes place in one of the smaller islands in the 80s It was a really weird experience to read about my home country in English and in a way of foreignness I was about to give the book four stars, but I decided on three stars because it is all very extreme in a way There are many important features in this book sheep hunting, whale slaugh [...]

This beautifully written book plods along and then suddenly hits you with a remarkable insight into human nature Though others might find it slow moving, I enjoyed the pace of the book because it gave me time to dwell on some of the truths of the human condition that emerge, both spoken and unspoken Witty, colorful, and symmetrical, this book has all the elements of a classic By the end, you will love the Faroes and the book.

All sorts of levels of funny in here It was insightful and shocking and moving without being heavy handed or sentimental, and there was room for a bit of inexplicable otherness, a whisper of that mysterious other world that mankind s myths walked out of And there was also much whale fat for dinner

At first I hated it in spite of myself, then liked it in spite of myself the protagonist is an insufferable douchebag I am curious as to why Kaysen decided to write her protagonist as a winy, misogynistic man, rather than as a woman Is it incomprehensible that a woman in the 90s would be an independent career academic

An engaging book about the nature of civilization, and about being an outsider living abroad Very readable Surprisingly, I was able to better understand the ritual whale kill that takes place in the Faroe Islands after reading this book Still horrific, but the tradition is complex than I would have imagined before reading this book.

Sooooo much fun raed a few years agois is the woman who wrote the autobiography, Girl Interrupted Int his case the book is fictional, takes place on the Faroe Islands off the coast of Iceland It is the story of an anthropology student who goes there to study the locals and ends up in a relationship romance while there It is witty, smart and great fun to read.

i got to page 29, where our intrepid, and whiny, anthropologist phd student has been invited to his first supper with and authentic Faroese, and he and his host are chatting and the Faroese says in english they burn pat for fuel and its the land you have to cut it out of the land but you can keep warm and cook with ite anthro has NO IDEA what he s talking about i closed book.

A re read for me, but very good, and I appreciated it this time About an anthrolpolgy grad student who goes to remote islands in Scandinavia to study a culture that has remained fairly unchanged by technologic progress for 100 years He spends a year there, and is forced to re examine himself and his motives as well as he realizes what the f am I doing here

Sussanna Kaysen s Far Afield is a book filled with lovely prose and great characterization It isn t a plot driven novel, but it makes me smile to know the level of detail taken into one character s psych It is enormously satisfying in the end, and a lot of beautifully detailed passages Highly recommended It starts off slow, but then picks up.

The writing lacks a flow This book put me to sleep every time I picked it up and I finally gave up after getting one quarter of the way through Life is too short to waste so I m off to the promising books on my reading list

I usually don t really enjoy books written in the first person from a male s perspective, but this one was an exception What happens when an overachieving Harvard grad student ends up in the middle of nowhere in Iceland for research

It s hard to find many books about the Faroe Islands so I was super excited to find one by an author who had written another book that I love Girl, Interrupted Sadly, there s not much of a story and the protagonist is neither particularly likeable nor interesting Two stars for the scenery.

Oh the navel gazing It s a good thing this book was firmly set in the Faroes because finding out about the culture and people was what kept me going I never developed even slight curiosity about the main character and his story, he was just so blah.

I was a bit skeptical of this book when it was recommended to me, but I really enjoyed it Based on the subject matter a Harvard grad doing research in the remote Faroe Islands , I didn t think it would be so interesting Thanks for the great recommendation, Dana

AKA Traveling abroad is a really lonely business.

I wanted to give the main character a swift kick in the pants.

Kaysen tells a quiet story with careful, precise language, creating a world that remained clear and vivid in my imagination for years after.

The plot is a little thin in this one, but the sense of place makes up for it If you want a good travelogue of the Faroe Islands, this is well worth your time.

In Kaysen s books, it seems like nothing happens until you finish Then you realize things happened I like that.

One of my favorite books actually she s very good at describing her protagonist s lonely awkwardness

Fascinating

An interesting take on an anthropologist going to a place he knows nothing about and trying to find himself while learning about a new place.

Curious and thoughtful, it s a far cry from Girl, Interrupted.

What s life like in the Faroe Islands