I Remember You

I have read all of Sigurdurdottir's mysteries and enjoyed them. so I was intrigued by her shift to a writing a ghost story. This book has all the tension of her earlier books, with the addition of quite credible - and unpleasant - spirits of children who died untimely deaths.

This is a pretty good writer, but she is succumbing to the 'medieval memes' of ghosts and superstition, to dumb us all down She made this less of a good mystery, which on its own it was, but then has to have the ghosts , i.e. the superstitious and emotional, , rather than the critical reasoning skills and reason , the lineage of good detective stories, the Sherlock Holmes lineage, and Scotland Yard. Even Arthur Conyan Doyle, even though he was a rather effete, 19th century man given to seeing 'fairies', knew how to keep his genres concise and distinguished.

Too bad she wants to sell books to the more irrational and unreasonable crowd of the believers in ghost and goblins these days. She could have had a great detective story, instead of catering and contributing to the dumbed down.

www.extibetanbuddhist.com

Three people arrive at a deserted village to renovate a house. There is no way back to civilisation except by the boat which will return for them in a week's time. But it's not long before odd things are happening...and who is the strange child they keep catching glimpses of? Meantime in the town of Isafjördur, psychiatrist Freyr has been called in to a case of vandalism in the local school, where amidst the destruction one word has been scrawled in crayon on the wall - 'DIRTY'. As Freyr and the police begin to investigate, it appears that this episode mirrors one from 60 years before...and that terrible things have been happening to the people who were children in that earlier class. And somehow the case seems to be linked to Freyr's own son who went missing three years ago and has never been found...

I recently read Sigurdardottir's Someone to Watch over Me which, while primarily a traditional crime story, had a sub-plot concerning a possible haunting. Her excellent writing in these sections created a chilling and decidedly creepy atmosphere. So I was very intrigued to see if she could maintain that in a novel that is much more centred around the supernatural. The answer is both yes and no.

The first half of this book is the scariest thing I've read in a long, long time. Sigurdardottir's writing and the excellent translation by Philip Roughton build an atmosphere so tense that I genuinely had to stop reading it at bedtime because I was too freaked to put the light out! I can't quite explain why - it should all have been very clichéd - deserted house, ghostly children, noises in the night, strange smells and creepy childish chuckling. But somehow Sigurdardottir's timing and restraint meant that I was constantly on edge. The Freyr plotline takes a while to build, so in the beginning it provides a break from the haunted house plot, though it's obvious from early on that they'll be linked in some way. But somehow even when we're in the relatively safe surroundings of Isafjördur, we're still worrying about what's happening to Katrín and the others in the village.

Sigurdardottir takes time to let us get to know and like the characters, particularly Katrín and Freyr, which means that the reader feels a sense of emotional involvement that adds to the fear. And her descriptions of the isolated landscape and harsh weather conditions are great - no electricity, only torchlight and candles and the knowledge that if they leave the house in the night they might freeze to death...brilliantly atmospheric.

The second half of the book is less effective, unfortunately. There's quite a lot of repetitiveness about the things that are happening in the house which means that eventually they lose their scare factor; and while the main plot concerning the earlier case of vandalism stands up well, the strand relating to Freyr's son isn't nearly as satisfactory. And, for me, the ending is the weakest part of the book.

There is a crime and investigation element to the plot, but this is primarily a ghost story with the supernatural taking centre stage. Despite the scariness falling away a bit towards the end, I enjoyed it thoroughly - especially once I gave up the unequal struggle and started reading in the afternoons rather than at night! Highly recommended if you're looking for something to keep you awake at night...

Icelandic novelist, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, was, until this novel, mostly known for the series of crime novels featuring her sleuthing Reykjavík lawyer, Thóra Gudmundsdóttir. With "I Remember You", however, she takes a break from that series with an entirely different sort of story. Some of the best elements of the author's earlier novels are the more bizarre elements which seem to defy rational explanation and which hint at a supernatural cause rather than a more mundane one. Until now, these elements have always turned out to have been carefully contrived by an all-too human perpetrator of the book's central crimes -- usually murders -- to throw any would-be investigators off the trail; the books have ultimately always ended up being firmly rooted in the rational world. "I Remember You" finally throws off the shackles of the purely rational and the supernatural is allowed to rampage unfettered across the narrative in what is quite possibly the best ghost story I have ever come across.

The book was first published in Icelandic (as "Ég man þig") in 2010. This excellent English translation, by Philip Roughton, dates from 2012. It is a stand-alone story featuring parallel and alternating strands based respectively in the abandoned Westfjords settlement of Hesteyri and in the town of Ísafjörður, also in Iceland's far northwest. The two strands tie cleverly together at the end, in a way that I, for one, completely failed to see coming.

With this book, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir really feels to have found her milieu; her writing here is far less constrained or inhibited and much harder hitting than in her earlier novels and she really manages to create an atmospheric as well as genuinely scary read, sustained throughout the book's entire duration. This publication is a far cry from the chic-lit standard of the author's earlier efforts and is highly recommended for anyone who loves a chilling read. Oh, and you might want to make sure you keep the lights on while reading it...

As a coda, readers may be interested to know that the book has been dramatised and is currently (Nov 2015) undergoing filming on location in the Westfjords. It should make for a cracker of a film!

I Remember You
Yrsa Sigurdardottir; Philip Roughton (translator)
Minotaur, Mar 25 2014, $14.99
ISBN 9781250019004

Married couple Katrin and Gardar, accompanied by a late friend's widow Lif, leave Reykjavik, Iceland to renovate an old house they've recently purchased into a guesthouse in remote Hesteyri. Almost upon arrival, the trio feel like eating the financial investment as they are uncomfortable though none of them initially can explain why. They soon understand that the house contains a deadly resident, a ghost child, who demands they leave or suffer the consequences of their foolishness.

At the same time in Ísafjördur, police detective Dagný investigates a vandal incident at a school in which a young student, who vanished three years ago, remains missing. The cop asks psychiatrist Dr. Freyr to assist him with the case. They soon learn of an identical event at this same school six decades ago. In that historical cold case, the missing pupil's classmates began mysteriously dying. Soon the eerie events happening in Hesteyri and Ísafjördur connect.

As Thora Gudmundsdottir (see The Day Is Dark) takes a respite, Yrsa Sigurdardottir provides an exhilarating Icelandic paranormal mystery. The Ísafjördur subplot is the stronger of the pair as each new clue forces the investigators and readers to change their opinion as to what is happening. The Hesteyri haunted house engages the audience with scary suspense, but loses some steam as the time to flee back to Reykjavik long passed. Still I Remember You is a fabulous fright fest.

Harriet Klausner

Anything Icelandic seems to be growing in popularity. It has become a destination retreat for American's seeking adventure in its rough topography and readers seeking to escape in the pages of the amazing literature being produced in this Country of under 400,000 people.

Iceland's cold climate, stark cliff's, long winters and sparsely populated towns make it ripe inspiration for the imaginative writer. It is a perfect setting for an unsettling ghost story. I Remember You is very spooky ... one of the spookiest books I've read since The Shinning. it seems to be well translated . I Remember You starts slow and arcs into a flame of tension before heading plunging downward toward its disappointing ending.

All the same, the book is worth reading.

Boy, this was a huge disappointment after reading the reviews and hearing it recommended on Book Riot....slow and plodding...and even the scary parts were made less scary by the dopey characters. I had to give up.

Strange story with interesting plot twists. Yrsa is accomplished in the dark horror genre, well exemplified by the characters and backdrop. Am not clear about the ending, but it might have been my reading of it.

Sofisticated spellbinder has you both loving and hating the characters. Absolutely brilliant storyline with human compassion, strength, frailty and horror and oh so believable plot. Read this, you'll question the little big things in life that all adds up.

From the start of the novel, it is intriguing and gripping- filled with haunted questions, a deserted village and naturally a graveyard. Spooky delight. Couldn't put it down yet didn't want it to end.

this book had me running up the stairs and closing all the curtains!!!!! It has been a long time since I did that over a book . I was quite surprised at how creepy I found it ,not sure why ,maybe a slightly over active imagination . the ending did leave me wondering whether it was good or slightly rushed - the twist seemed to change the nature of the haunting.
I liked it but it might not be every ones cup of tea !