Yoyo
Martin Montag, radiologist in Berlin, has saved the life of Martin Martinetti and finds in him a soulmate and a friend. Hidden under the surface, both men carry a dark secret from the past. A memory, triggered by an X-ray the shape of a yo-yo, takes Martin Montag back to the traumatic incident that was inflicted on him when he was a child. A drama unravels about betrayal and deception, brilliantly told by Iceland’s most acclaimed author .
The themes are particularly tragic, but the novelist lightens them with their burden with curious fantasy, the vitality of love and healing friendships, the healing power of the fraternities of pain.
Livres Hebdo, France
Steinunn Sigurdardottir is drawn to duplicates and to dive into the lining of his characters to make them soul mates, brothers of blood, tears and revival
L'Humanité, France
The story is beautifully helical, the doctor collapsing as he delves into his memory, and traces the recent history of his most precious attachments
Libération Supplément Livres, France
All the charm of this book lies in its style: stripped, black, desperate ... and so funny!
Biba, France
Yo-yo is the story of a friendship between men that we have rarely read earlier. An unwavering and upsetting bond that will save them from the worst.
Version Femina, France
The drama under life. Friendship, love, a touch of bitterness: an open and generous European novel. At the bottom a flow of dark memories
Centre France, France
Articulated by creaky, high-precision literary mechanics, this luminous novel saves us from horror, gives hope of resilience. After a crazy day.
DNA, France
One hundred and sixty pages with minimalist writing express the inexpressible and evoke the shattered and upsetting fate of two victims: the narrator and his double in friendships.
Notes bibliographiques, France
Icelandic author Steinunn Sigurdardottir signs a heartbreaking novel.
Le Parisien Magazine, France
This bittersweet book teaches us that even the heaviest secrets can be trusted.
Paris Berlin, France
Why read it?
LePoint, France
Because it is dark, but pierced with light. Because it is of rare psychological intensity. Because it is eccentric, really unexpected, it is a tale against the current. Because everything is serious (illness, pedophilia, suicide), but nothing seems to be it really. Because if Martin tracks evil with evil, Sigurdardottir, she tracks him by the absurd, a kind of light and saving distance. And because the friendship of the two Martin, translucent, makes you envious
Under the guise of lightness, this novel is a real uppercut launched to the reader: the initial yo-yo turns into a punching bag returning to the reader's face after the first hiccup. No wickedness or claims: the naked truth is the one that hurts the most. An excellent opportunity to discover Nordic literature other than by a constant return to the thriller
Tessmag.com, France
Steinunn Sigurdardottir knows how to adapt her style perfectly: the passages on Martin Montag's childhood are written as if it was the child who holds the pen. She brilliantly knows how to go from "I" to "He" in the same paragraph, which means that the reader is carried away in this sort of duplication which characterizes the hero. Yo-yo is an original approach to the ravages of pedophilia perceived by a victim
Wukali.com, France
Through her writing, Steinunn Sigurdardóttir demonstrates that the most harmless associations of ideas reveal the most profound truths. And her novel, of a rare subtlety, manages to paint the air of nothing a moving and tragic portrait which never closes the door to hope.
Onlalu.com; France