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The Atom Station (Paperback)
Short Description for The Atom StationWhen the Americans make an offer to buy Icelandic land to build an atomic war base, a storm of protest is provoked. Told by a country girl from the north, this novel follows her experiences upon taking up employment as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. Her observations expose the intellectual society of the south as rootless.
Full description- Publisher: VINTAGE
- Published: 04 March 2004
- Format: Paperback 204 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Contemporary Fiction
- ISBN 13: 9780099455158 ISBN 10: 0099455153
- Sales rank: 196,121
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Full description for The Atom Station
When the Americans make an offer to buy land in Iceland to build a NATO airbase after World War II, a storm of protest is provoked throughout the country. The airbase provides Laxness with the catalyst for his astonishing and powerful satire. Narrated by a country girl from the north, the novel follows her experiences after she takes up employment as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. Marvelling at the customs and behaviour of the people around her, she emerges as the one obstinate reality in a world of unreality. Her observations and experiences expose the bourgeois society of the south as rootless and shallow and in stark contrast to the age-old culture of the solid and less fanciful north. A witty and moving satire on politics and politicians, Communists and anti-Communists, phoney culture fiends, big business and all the pretensions of authority, Laxness' masterpiece of social commentary is as relevant today as when it was written in 1948.

