2017 Longlist
Yo-yo
Translated from the original Icelandic by Rory McTurk
ABOUT
THE BOOK
While examining the tumour of one of his patients, Martin Montag, a cancer specialist in Berlin, finds that its shape, resembling a yo-yo, brings back memories of a traumatic incident he suffered as a child. A drama of betrayal and friendship unfolds, intriguingly told by one of Iceland’s best-known contemporary writers.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Rory
McTurk
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Yo-yo is a novel of duality and trauma. Sigurðardóttir expertly blends a very modern examination of trauma, where the past won’t stay past, with the gothic motif of the doppelganger, where the person won’t stay in person. In Sigurðardóttir’s confident storytelling, these become a way of looking at romantic, familial and friendly relationships affected by outside (and outsized) forces.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Date published
12/03/2015
Country
Iceland
Original Language
Icelandic
Publisher
World Editions
Translator
Rory McTurk
Translation
Translated from the original Icelandic by Rory McTurk
Nominating Library