Iceland

by Dominic Hoey

"We were the dead without an afterlife, ruining the lives of the living. We drifted through neighbourhoods in small packs, clinging to each other, all but alone. Our parents had given up. Packed their photos and furniture and moved to the forest to live simpler lives. But we stayed because there was nowhere else to go. We sold everything for rent — time, dignity, self-respect. Beneath the shiny new paint jobs and streets paved with debt lay our home."

Stuck in a dead-end office job, Zlata hopes for a record deal so she can escape Auckland city. Then at party she meets Hamish, a graffiti artist and part-time drug dealer. Each has their own ideas about the other’s life, and surrounded by a makeshift family of friends and ex-lovers, their dreams of music, art and travel take shape.

But as quickly as things come together, they can be torn apart — unravelling relationships and lives.

Genres: Fiction

ebook

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Dominic Hoey is a poet, author and playwright based in Auckland, New Zealand.

His debut novel Iceland was a New Zealand bestseller, long-listed for the 2018 Ockham Book Award and his short story 1986 won the 2021 Sunday Star Times Short Story Award. His latest poetry collection I Thought We’d Be Famous was released in October 2019.

Dominic has written and performed two one-person hit shows about his bone disease and his inability to get arts funding. In a former life, Dominic was an MC battle and slam-poetry champion.

Through his Learn To Write Good creative writing course, Dominic has taught hundreds of students around the world how to think dyslexic.

He also works with young people through the Atawhai program, teaching art, yoga and meditation to help them with their mental health and self-esteem.

Currently he lives with a small, vicious dog and dreams of one day owning an animal rescue farm.Zealand International Film Festival and Show Me Shorts.

Dominic is currently working on a new novel and a book of poetry.

Reviews

[Monita Roy Mohan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for work. The blurb at the back made it sound far more exciting than it turned out to be. Set in Grey Lynn, Auckland, the story is told through the alternating perspectives of Zlata and Hamish. The two meet at the beginning of the book, and we then follow how their lives intertwine and impact each other.

It's a bizarre book as it lacks any character. You don't really get an essence of this city or the people because we are told what to think, not shown. It appears that Grey Lynn is a creative hub, since all the characters are creative people working in art or music. It's also a small town where most people know or have interacted with one another at some point. But throughout, it felt like you could be reading about a small town in England, and, were it not for a certain amount of contempt levied at an American character in the story, it could have been based in the US as well.

The perspectives of the two characters were often hard to distinguish - neither had a distinctive voice. They melded into each other, which led to confusion especially later in the book when they were interacting with the same people. After a point, if you left the book or weren't concentrating you would be reading Zlata as Hamish and vice versa.

First person narratives are hard to pull off. It is a limiting style of storytelling and this book proves why. The majority of it is in dialogue; the rest is written as an internal monologue. Trouble is, all of it is reactive to the plot, not leading to the plot itself. This results in a disconnect between what the author wants the reader to interpret, and what is actually on the page.

I found the entire story pointless and hollow. One couldn't identify with any of the characters and their reliance on substances to get through the day. I couldn't understand why Zlata was the way she was and why she hung out with Hamish. The two don't have much in common, yet we are told over and over that they love each other. Why? The entire foundation of the book is missing.

Hamish is written as having a life not necessarily dependent on Zlata; but she does not receive the same treatment. He is a huge part of her life and what eventually happens to her life. Her impact on him is minimal. This often happens with female characters, irrespective of who's writing them and I will never understand why.

I didn't understand the ending - I felt like I missed a page or two because there is a vague reference to something that is not explained. What does it all mean? We will never know.

The author's ambition is commendable, yet his execution is lacking. The characters are annoyingly naive, which seems unimaginable given today's tell-all world. There is no way the aspiring artists and musicians can be unaware of what a cutthroat and artificial world their businesses are - especially since they're not teenagers, they're almost 30. While no one wants to feel like a commercial tool, these characters are given opportunities that honestly the majority of aspiring artists cannot even imagine. For them to throw these away, or to disregard them, makes real-life aspirants' pessimism seem disingenuous - and that's not correct.

I can't imagine who the intended target audience for this book is. The text is spare, making it an easy read, yet without much substance. The characters are too self-involved and learn nothing during the course of the story for the book to have a message. There's a convenient plot device thrown in for emotional leverage, but that feels too contrived to lift the story. Most of the book reads like a series of convenient contrivances, actually. It felt like an extended episode of Skins; not that I've watched much of the show, but I have read enough to liken the antics and characterisations in this book to it.

With a plot line this flimsy, the book falls short of its great artistic ambitions. Can't say I would recommend it to anyone.

[Hugo Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like a hateful love letter to the city I hatefully love. Dom carries so much empathy in his writing, he’s great and this books great.

[Hugo Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bigup NZ. Set in Grey Lynn yo

[Umbar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. It feels like a very personal story but it's the most detached I've felt reading a Dominic Hoey novel. Still really enjoyed the charms of the characters and settings.

I've hogged this from the library for so long they have applied a fine to my account so I'm off to return it immediately.

[Sevrin Noakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can’t escape from anything in this country. Iceland is a beautiful, scuzzy look at people simply trying to exist in a city that’s kinda huge on paper, but in reality is just a small town - your past, present and future are tagged on every concrete wall that you tactically vomit on most nights of the week. The books portrayal of late nights on the piss followed by early mornings shaking it off so you can go to your dumb job hit hard - same with the suffocating realities of having to deal with WINZ and impending rent payments for shit housing. It’s not all doom tho - people support one another, love one another. It’s also funny and it’s written with a lot of empathy. Finished the book and was just like, man, I hope everyone’s doing all good.

[Philippa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This guy can write - especially snappy Aotearoa street-slang dialogue. Musician Zlata meets drug dealer-cum-artist Hamish as they both float and sift and drink and trip their way around Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and other central Auckland locales with their various friends. There's a helluva lot of drinking and drugs going on. So much so, it's a wonder they don't get into more trouble, but they do care about each other and look out for their friends.
There is sadness and struggle in here, but also a lightness of touch, a wistfulness and sense of distance from reality, like looking back on memories of youth.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was drawn to this book after a librarian recommendation because of its Auckland/Grey Lynn setting as well as the 'sex, drugs and rocknroll' blurb. Felt quite YA, so while an easy read, I think the 1st person switching structure has let the book down. Hamish and Zlata didn't have any individual voices or tone, both lacked depth from very little character exploration, as well as the writing being too pacey. The best character was Sam, the eternally drunk yet still able to drum feisty sexpot. I was rooting for the ending long before it happened, but finished the book unexpectedly satisfied.

[Caroline Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something wonderful about reading a book set in your own hood, characters walking the streets that you do. Although set more recently, Iceland took me back to being a teenager in the early 90s, hanging out with questionable creatives at DTM's on K' Road. High on the fragrant fumes of potential—for love and success and excitement.

Quotes:

Though we shared a bed and a neighborhood, we inhabited different worlds. We measured out the pieces of the day that made the other half bearable: art, music, dancing, drinking, fucking. We kept the rest locked behind doors the other didn't know existed. (p 65)

I wanted to capture the new songs before they grew old. There is nothing worse than losing a song to time. Thought they are the children of memories, they age differently. Even the most traumatic event can make for a good story with enough time as a buffer. But a song doesn't become funnier or more poignant as the years pile up. (p 66).

I loved the neighborhood at this time on the weekends. It was empty, everyone at home getting ready, the air charged with excitement. We thought every weekend would be different — gamblers, believing this time we would beat the house. The next morning we would wake up broke and sick, swearing never again. But by afternoon we were feeling lucky and it would begin all over. (138)

[Leanne Comer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know what to expect from this book but was pleasantly surprised. It centres on the relationship between Hamish and Zlata, two youngish Aucklanders who live their lives in the creative margins. Hamish is a graffiti artist and painter, part-time drug dealer and long-term welfare beneficiary; Zlata is a musician, from a more middle-class and stable background, who spends her days in a boring office job and the rest of the time writing music and getting drunk and/or high. She gets drawn into his world when they meet and fall in love. It is set in central Auckland and the author clearly has a detailed knowledge of this area - Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Kingsland etc. It isn't a very uplifting tale and the author paints a depressing picture of life for a generation of young people who don't want to work nine-to-five (well, who does?!) or live conventional mainstream lives but who are, to be fair, quite self-indulgent and aimless. Although I couldn't really relate to the characters and their lifestyle choices, I found them believable. In fact, they reminded me of some people I grew up with in the 70s (except for the cellphones, of course!)

[Nadia L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t put it down!!

[Jon Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. All of the characters felt like people I "know" (some of them are), the setting is all very familiar and the plot moved along nicely to its relatively predictable conclusion.
I wish there had been a bit more exploration of some of the unexplained parts - the almost-apocalyptic events in the background of some scenes, the fires in the hillsides at nights - at times I wondered if this was going to go a bit sci-fi (where's the talking dog?)
Great read for Aucklanders, or anyone else stuck in a little city that tries to be big.

[Clodagh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might've liked this more if Iceland actually had any significance to the story. Or if it weren't so bleak. Or if it weren't for all the homophobic language, none of which is called out by other characters.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

   Louisa started to cry. "Shit," she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "What a fucking year."

The untouchable local muse Dominic Hoey might take a long time getting there, but when he hits the right note, it's one hundred percent relatable.

[Winnie Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

So kiwi. Easy flow of reading.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit gritty and a lot sad.

[guillem ros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un llibre que retrata un Auckland fred i distant, però que m’ha ensenyat i ajudat a entendre una mica més aquesta ciutat

[Mindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some excellent writing here, and a gritty story with characters that feel real. I really loved it.

[vanessa!]

auckland was my favourite character

[Rosalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up around people like the characters in this remarkable debut, and Dominic's writing portrays perfectly the need of escape that consumes such lives.
Highly recommend.

[Joanna Laing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm……like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Inevitable really but also confusing. An easy read but not necessarily a good one.

[Dorothy Dentata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of this book was really pretty, I found myself empathising with lots of the main characters, and the second half had me totally engrossed while reading on the bus.... but I found the first-person narrative switching every chapter made it hard to get into at first- I found myself wishing it could have gone for longer in one person's narrative before switching around. BUT it was beautiful and sad and had a great feeling of familiarity.