A lyrical excursion from ancient Greece to Iceland and beyond, this narrative is nothing if not dreamlike. Short but deep in meaning and existential feeling that left this reader with wonder at the experience of reading. ( )

It is 1949, and a somewhat eccentric Icelander (with ideas about the consumption of fish and the superiority of the Nordic race), is invited aboard a Danish merchant vessel on a voyage from Copenhagen to Norway. He accepts. Undercover as the 2nd mate on the crew is the mythical Caeneus, who entertains the crew with his tales each evening. The tales and the trip seem to merge at time, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy….

I enjoyed this amusing and clever book, despite my lack of knowledge in the realm of mythology. Sjon is one of those smart & clever authors, a wizard of a kind, creatively disrespectful of the borders between the real and not. I enjoy his books, and look forward to more. ( )

I wanted to like this book. I tried. I found this so incredibly boring. Exhausting. I skipped whole chunks I'll admit. I just couldn't get into it. I really liked the cover, the premise was different and sounded interesting. Other people's reviews say it's awesome. Hell, even Bjork loves this guy. I really wanted to like it.

I'm not going to go into great detail about what I don't like, just that I don't like it.

It's not worth my time. Ugh.

It makes me tired. ( )

A strange look at Jason and the Argonauts from an Icelandic/Norwegian voyage in the 1940s ( )

a short novel its most intriguing aspect being the protagonist's theory that Nordic culture had succeeded because of its higher consumption of fish. Additionally, the tale takes place on a small merchant ship with excellent guest quarters and its luminaries are entertained nightly at the Captain's table by a ship's mate who tells tales of Jason and the Argonauts.

an entertaining novella that falls short of the writer's masterpiece, From The Mouth of the Whale.
Sjon is a magical writer. ( )