Stephen and I decided to buddy read The Glass Woman this year and as April rolled around, we were finally able to pick up the book. Stephen suggested this book and I was drawn in by the cover and the synopsis. In this post, I’ll share my thoughts on the book, and how they aligned with Stephen’s. Drop by his blog to see parts of our conversation. As always, synopsis first:
1686, ICELAND. AN ISOLATED, WINDSWEPT LAND HAUNTED BY WITCH TRIALS AND STEEPED IN THE ANCIENT SAGAS.
Betrothed unexpectedly to Jón Eiríksson, Rósa is sent to join her new husband in the remote village of Stykkishólmur. Here, the villagers are wary of outsiders.
But Rósa harbours her own suspicions. Her husband buried his first wife alone in the dead of night. He will not talk of it. Instead he gives her a small glass figurine. She does not know what it signifies.
The villagers mistrust them both. Dark threats are whispered. There is an evil here – Rósa can feel it. Is it her husband, the villagers – or the land itself?
Alone and far from home, Rósa sees the darkness coming. She fears she will be its next victim . . .
Content Notes: Depictions of homophobia, death of children and during childbirth.
Themes for Thought
The Glass Woman was a beautifully written book, with mixed execution of the storyline. The book is divided into the prologue, 7 parts and an epilogue. The first half of the book follows Rosa’s perspective, how she came to wed Jon, his unique mannerisms and the terrors she feels being alone in his house. She is discouraged to talk to the villagers and restricted to certain rooms and parts of the property. In the second half of the book, Jon starts to present his side of the story in first person narrative. This switch is interesting and complicated at the same time.
On Identity
Iceland in the 1680s has rigid perceptions about Christianity, marriage, and the old sagas. Jon becomes the godi of the village and has the respect of the villagers but throughout the book, I felt he was trying very hard to understand the mould of the society he is in. There is an identity struggle between who he is supposed to be and who he is. As a godi, there are probably restrictions on orientation and that is why he chose to be married and have a wife.
Rosa is an educated woman in a time that does not encourage women to learn how to read and write. She wants to be a good wife but there are often times when she feels conflicted by the choices and decision that Jon imposes on her. It’s interesting to read about that time today.
On Mysteries
There are a number of mysteries and subplots in this story. The biggest mystery is what happened to Anna, Jon’s first wife? Stephen and I were suspicious of a number of characters throughout the book in relation to witchcraft and their motives. Personally, this helped me keep focused on the story, especially the second half when I just wanted all my questions answered!
The glass woman is another mystery. As readers, both Stephen and I tried to understand it’s significance. Ultimately, it ended up being a symbolic one but it added the list of things we were curious about and wanted to delve more into.
On The Writing
I feel the writing is what I enjoyed the most in this book. The world set up is done through the medium of references to Sagas and the wind and the time of the day and temperature are described a lot too. It took some getting used to but I enjoyed this style of prose. The writing created a sense of mystery and suspense. The descriptions are atmospheric and often chilly. There were times when I could feel Rosa’s fear radiating from the book and terrifying me of what she was going to find.
I found myself reading this book quite slowly. The names and the language has something to do with it but I wonder if my unfamiliarity with Iceland and that time contributed to this too. Jon’s narrative changes timeline a couple of times and that also took some adjusting to.
This was a great buddy read. Stephen and I discussed each part of the book and found our observations similar. There were a couple of underwhelming aspects to the plot but overall, the book was an engaging read with a world I had not visited before. If you have a book club, this would be a good read to discuss with fellow readers!
Stephen’s review and our discussion is now up on his site. Check it out!
** The Glass Woman is available in stores. I would recommend checking the library too. Let me know what you think and I hope it is good read for you! **
Amazon Kindle
Cover image: Photo by Osman Rana on Unsplash
Interesting how you do your rating of the book.
Thank you! 🙂