Telegram: The Whispering Muse: Reviews

'Funny, strange, provoking and disturbing; darkness with a light touch.'
Times Literary Supplement

'The Whispering Muse is a quirky, melodic, ticklish, seamlessly-translated, lovingly-polished gem of a novel. Sjón's work deserves space on any self-respecting bookshelf of European fiction.'
David Mitchell

'Long-term fans of Sjón, the Icelandic bard whose projects have included lyrics for Björk, volumes of surrealist poetry and several prizewinning novels, will recognise this trademark interweaving of myth and postmodern playfulness ... The Whispering Muse is essential reading
Guardian

'Sublime, a work of coy humour and shape-shifting magic'
The Wall Street Journal

'Sjón writes like a man under a spell, filled with enchantment and magic and great wit. He is a rogue of the first order.'
Keith Donohue

'The Whispering Muse is a wonderful story about stories, evoking comparisons to Borges, Nabakov and Calvino while remaining a complete original. Sly, dry and elegant, with a diamond brilliance'
Chris Wilson

'An extraordinary, powerful fable - a marvel.'
Alberto Manguel

'An extraordinary and original writer'
A.S. Byatt

'Once again, Sjón has chosen an unusual subject, interwoven the fantastical with the ordinary, and produced a complex and strangely compelling work of fiction.'
Huffington Post

'When a poet such as Sjón writes a novel, the reader may expect the elliptical in both senses of the word - economy and ambiguousness ... Seamlessly translated by Victoria Cribb.'
World Literature Today

'The Whispering Muse, a marine fable of rare beauty and originality, is sure to inspire the urge to return to Sjón's writing for the verve, humor, and verbal artistry one is sure to find in it.'
Quarterly Conversation

'The Whispering Muse defies easy summary. Instead, it is one of those immersive, experiential works of art: exhilarating, then bewildering when one looks up from the page and tries to refocus on 'so-called real life.' Through Sjón's skewed lens, a mythical yet modern world emerges.'
Globe and Mail

'A short effective burst of whimsy and surprise'
Three Percent