The Outlaw

The Outlaw

By Jón Gnarr

First published 2015
Translated version published by
Deep Vellum Publishing, Dallas, Texas

This is the final volume of Gnarr's autobiographical trilogy.
Like The Indian and The Pirate,  Gnarr takes the reader on a very personal journey through his chaotic young life. His struggles with drinking, drugs and despair are interspersed with some brighter moments, such as discovering an aptitude for the stage. Invariably, however, Gnarr sabotages any progress with his asocial and even criminal behavior. When he expressed an interest in attending boarding school, his parents sent him to what was, in reality, a reform school—with bars on the windows and few qualified teachers. On a remote mountain in the Westfjords!

Gnarr also describes, in detail, his sexual awakening process that is interrupted by a truly harrowing surgical procedure. After exhausting his time at the school (e.g., getting expelled) Jón returns to Reykjavík and shuffles through spells of depression and  unemployment, punctuated by a series of jobs, all the while sustaining a somewhat bizarre drug regimen, a lifestyle that comes to a climax, ending the book. This is a much bigger tome than the others, with more detail about Jón’s political awakening, as well as life in Iceland in the 1970s.

I found the entire trilogy fascinating, although this book is very dark at times.