Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was: A Novel

Written by Sjón

Narrated by Vikas Adam

The mind-bending miniature historical epic is Sjon's specialty, and Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was is no exception. But it is also Sjon's most realistic, accessible, and heartfelt work yet. It is the story of a young man on the fringes of a society that is itself at the fringes of the world--at what seems like history's most tumultuous, perhaps ultimate moment. Mani Steinn is queer in a society in which the idea of homosexuality is beyond the furthest extreme. His city, Reykjavik in 1918, is homogeneous and isolated and seems entirely defenseless against the Spanish flu, which has already torn through Europe, Asia, and North America and is now lapping up on Iceland's shores. And if the flu doesn't do it, there's always the threat that war will spread all the way north. And yet the outside world has also brought Icelanders cinema! And there's nothing like a dark, silent room with a film from Europe flickering on the screen to help you escape from the overwhelming threats--and adventures--of the night, to transport you, to make you feel like everything is going to be all right. For Mani Steinn, the question is whether, at Reykjavik's darkest hour, he should retreat all the way into this imaginary world, or if he should engage with the society that has so soundly rejected him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781501930485

Sjón

Born in Reykjavik in 1962, Sjón is a celebrated Icelandic author whose novels have been published in over thirty-five languages. He won the Nordic Council's Literary Prize for his novel The Blue Fox(the Nordic countries' equivalent of the Man Booker Prize) and the novel From The Mouth Of The Whale was shortlisted for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The novel Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was received every literary prize in Iceland, including the coveted Icelandic Literary Prize. CoDex 1962, a novel in three books written over 25 years, was published in Iceland in 2016 to great acclaim. As a poet, librettist, and lyricist, Sjón has published more than a half dozen poetry collections, written four opera libretti, and lyrics for various artists. In 2001 he was nominated for an Oscar for his lyrics in the film Dancer In The Dark. Sjón is the president of PEN International's Icelandic Centre and lives in Reykjavik with his wife and two children.

Reviews for Moonstone

[Emilio Ramos · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is not the right audio y'all. Please fix this

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a short novella, a metaphor of the diminishing isolation of Iceland in the tale of a queer boy who lives on the fringe of society. Almost presciently, the author describes the Spanish flu striking as a stark reminder of the dangers of the outside. Sjón has a knack for capturing human behavior and its underlying intention very well. Thought-provoking!

[terence_johnson-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hit a little too close to home given it takes place as the Spanish Flu sweeping through a city in Iceland. The writing was interesting and that last page WHEW

[obtusata · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very interesting and hard to put down short book.

[oacevedo-792047 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! What an amazing book!

[ericlee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book during the same week that I saw a theatrical adaptation of Albert Camus' novel, The Plague. Both works are concerned with epidemics, but there the similarity ends. While the Camus novel shows an epidemic of bubonic plague destroying a north African town, its focus is on the adults who are grappling with the disease. Moonstone is the story of a boy, and a rather unusual boy at that, who experiences the impact of Spanish flu in 1918 in Iceland. It is an extraordinary story, and he is an extraordinary boy, and the less I tell you about what happens, the more you may enjoy the book. This is powerful stuff, a story about tragedy and death, but also growth and hope. Highly recommended.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A rather odd novel - the central character, Máni Steinn, is a gay teenager in Reykjavik around the end of the First World War, obsessed with cinema and with a young woman called "Sóla G—" who rides an Indian motorcycle and is the double of a woman Máni has seen in a film. The story brings in the devastating Spanish 'flu epidemic, leprosy, independence from Denmark, and a few celebrated figures from the early history of experimental film. Nothing very profound, but engagingly quirky.

[alliepascal-876024 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A lot of this book's subtlety flew over my head my first read through; even then, it was totally absorbing. By the end I felt equally devastated and in awe. Wonderful, short, disjointed book.

[alanteder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This actually lives up to the seemingly improbable genre labelled in the blurb as "the mind-bending miniature historical epic" and although the concluding deus ex machina effect and the sudden shift into magic realism might be disconcerting to many, it was what bumped it into [5] territory for me. If you've followed my reviews and know my obsession with lost-generation writers (i.e. 1920's) you would understand. Explaining further here would be a spoiler for the ending.But even before that, the story of a 16-year-old cinephile who earns the money to satisfy his film craving by being a gay hustler in 1918 Reykjavik, Iceland was completely intriguing as well. I don't know all of the silent films referenced but certainly the 7-hour "Les Vampires" that is mentioned is an actual film serial of the time. On top of that background there is layered one of the periodic eruptions of the Katla volcano, the Spanish Flu pandemic which sickened 10,000 of the town's population of 15,000 AND the independence of Iceland itself. All of this packed into a novella length work. [Note: There are 2 very explicit sex scenes and the effects of the Spanish Flu are also expressed very graphically.]

[starbox_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Reykjavik has, for the first time, assumed a form that reflects his inner life", 27 Mar. 2017This review is from: Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was (Hardcover)Reykjavik 1918: the last days of the Great War but more pressing for the locals is the violent outbreak of Spanish flu.Against this backdrop runs this short but moving tale of sixteen year old Manni Stein; an outsider, living in an attic with an elderly relative and having clandestine encounters with men for money. Manni's imagination is fuelled by frequent trips to the movies, and admiration for local "girl like no other", Sola G., whom he discovered while watching a vampire movie:"The instant her shadow fell on the screen they merged - she and the character in the film. She looked around and the beam of light projected Musidora's features onto her own."The theme of the vampire movie comes to play out in the disease-ridden capital ("society in the grip of fear...people murdered ..in streets, in back rooms and in their own bedrooms...nowhere is safe".) And as the female vampire leader "breaks into apartments and government offices... one who has turned her back on the laws of her fellow man", so too we see Manni and Sola, roped into assisting the local doctor, entering homes to find the dead and dying...Vivid portrayal of a time and a place.

[bostonbibliophile · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I can't really say I "enjoyed" this book but I appreciate it. It's about a young gay teen in WW1-era Iceland and how he survives through his love of the movies. It's surrealistic and at times hard to follow; the prose is lovely and poetic. The sexual content especially at the very beginning is quite explicit but I believe it serves to immerse the reader into the story immediately- the book is only about 150 pages long so a strong start is needed. Overall B+ for me but just because the dreamy narrative thing isn't really for me. Maybe it's for you?