Death of a Forest

The book is divided into four numbered parts, with each part containing a series of unnumbered chapters – a total of 34. This first-person novel opens with the narrator Magnús in Spain, having fled the recent events in his hometown, which are recounted in the first three parts.

Death of a Forest tells the story of Magnús and his life in a small village in eastern Iceland with his wife Hildur, son Alli, and daughter Elín. After days of nonstop rain, the forest his parents planted and nurtured comes crashing down the hill in a mudslide, revealing the presence of bombs left over from British training exercises during World War II.

The forest in question is in fact a hillside of trees planted by his parents after the death of their parents, a way of coping with the loss. It continues in this role after the death of Magnús’ mother and becomes a way for him and his father to connect with one other. The destruction of the forest hastens his father’s death, and the discovery of the bombs become a symbol of the mounting personal issues in his life involving his wife and children. His feeling that no one is taking the bombs seriously leads him to deal with the matter himself, a decision that literally leads to an explosive conclusion. Imagine if you will a horse, startled by a drone flying too close, bolting from its pen and galloping across a field in the direction of the hillside where the bombs lie...

He escapes to Spain in the end, but the question as to whether he is alright remains unanswered. Is this the end or just a continuation, and what comes next? The imagery of the bombs works well with the flow of the story, which is indeed a slow-burn, as Magnús does his best to hold himself together when one thing after another in his life falls apart. Through this multi-threaded narrative, Jónas Reynir manages to address familial interactions, life and death, and even the roots of toxic masculinity while maintaining this forest at the nexus of the various storylines.

The theme running through the book is one of connections, between humans and their planet, as well as between one another, how even in this small Icelandic village, peoples’ fates are intertwined with those across the globe and the problems of the larger world are inescapable. As the author himself explained:

“You might argue that this little village in eastern Iceland is the most peaceful place on earth. And yet it belongs to a planet that is having a hard time not wiping out its entire biosphere. Even though wars end, they continue to take lives, NATO jets fly patrols over my home, and forest fires rage all over the world. I recognized the struggle for existence my species is engaged in right in the town I grew up in, saw how everything is connected: the fate of ancient forests with the fate of my woods, the fate of humanity with those organisms wiped out a million years ago due to climate change, life and death, and the desperation in trying to create a safe environment for you and your family.”

I have read the author’s previous novels and feel he is definitely hitting his stride as a writer, making him ripe for discovery by the anglophone world. His work is already reaching other countries, with Through Flight having been translated into Danish and Death of a Forest slated for publication in Hungarian.