December - theme: Winter (Snow)
Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg
Time Magazine's "Book of the Year" in 1992.
Unfortunately it is not 1992 anymore and while this book might have seemed fresh and genre defining back then, I've read the girl with the dragon tattoo and the Harry Hole series, so this felt a little lackluster in comparison.
It started well, there was an enigmatic lead character, an evocative Scandinavian winter setting and a dramatic and mysterious death. Then it dragged, then it got weird, then there was a disconcertingly graphic sex scene, then there were far too many near death experiences and I could not suspend my disbelief. I took a break and started reading A Court of Thorns and Roses instead.
So now it's the 27th of December and I was at risk of failing my reading challenge.... back to Denmark.
And we're on a boat for the next 100 pages. Ok, why are we on a boat, why has the love interest turned up again on the boat, why is there lengthy discussions of parasites. Oh and a few more near death experiences. Also, in a novel that makes so much of its protagonist being a Greenlander - only 2 pages right at the end set in Greenland!
You can probably guess I didn't particularly enjoy this book, despite loving Scandinavian Noir and having wanted to read this book since I discovered the genre. All I can say is thanks Høeg for setting the foundations for other authors to write some books that are great, even if this particular one was mostly just peculiar.