As the weather gets colder, it’s a perfect time to hunker down with some Icelandic fiction. And since we’re heading into spooky reading season as well, why not go ahead and make it a gruesome psychological horror-thriller?
Dead Weight by Hildur Knutsdottir — translated into English by Mary Robinette Kowal — won’t be for every reader. Or even most. But anyone who appreciates a dark tale of domestic terror and feminine rage may want to pick this one up. It’s a slim but powerful 150 pages, so you can tear through it in one sitting — and I recommend it, in fact.
The book opens with a killer opening line from our 33-year-old narrator, Unnar: “I have thought long and hard about how I would dispose of a dead body.” And that’s just the prologue. The story begins in earnest when Unnar comes home to her quiet apartment to find a black cat at her door. It’s not her cat, and after unsuccessful attempts to shoo it away, she lets it in for a snack before putting it outside again. The next day, the cat is back. And not long afterward, the cat’s owner, a young woman named Asta, shows up looking for it.
What unfolds is an intense, unexpected friendship between the two women, as they both begin to confide their personal struggles. I’ll leave it at that, because it’s best to go into this novel not knowing too much. Knutsdottir weaves a disturbing, atmospheric tale that builds to an unforgettable climax. I read it on a plane and almost screamed when I turned one particular page to find a four-word chapter so chilling, I can still recite it. If you happen to read Dead Weight, let me know, and we will recite it together.
