This is one of my favorite books that I read in 2022. And The Wind Sees All is technically a novel, but is written in such a way that likens it closer to a short story collection. It’s an interesting concept.. The book is written from the perspective of the wind passing through an Icelandic fishing village of Valeyra. We follow the wind’s journey as it blows through the town of Valeyra and lingers at different houses throughout the village. The “wind” is such classy technique on the author’s part because it manifests as an all-knowing omniscient narraor, where each chapter focuses on the inner thoughts of various households in the village.
I really enjoyed the book’s writing and how Thorsson is able to slip in small details of the societal and macroeconomic situation in the village and Iceland as a whole. For example as the novel progresses, we see the Iceland 2010 banking crisis through various characters’s perspectives such as factory employees or bank managers.
The book is made up of several self-contained chapters that form a cohesive narrative, which I think gives you the luxury to read it one chapter at a time. I highly recommend having this book in your bag at all times as it’s perfect to carry around with you to whip out and read a chapter when you have some down time. That’s how I read it and I think it was great.
Overall, this book really exceeded my expectations and is a new mainstay in my favorites shelf on goodreads.