When We Were Vikings
A heart-swelling debut for fans of The Silver Linings Playbook and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Sometimes life isn’t as simple as heroes and villains.
For Zelda, a twenty-one-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert, life is best lived with some basic rules:
1. A smile means “thank you for doing something small that I liked.”
2. Fist bumps and dabs = respect.
3. Strange people are not appreciated in her home.
4. Tomatoes must go in the middle of the sandwich and not get the bread wet.
5. Sometimes the most important things don’t fit on lists.
But when Zelda finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable—and dangerous—methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. Her mission: to be legendary. It isn’t long before Zelda finds herself in a battle that tests the reach of her heroism, her love for her brother, and the depth of her Viking strength.
When We Were Vikings is an uplifting debut about an unlikely heroine whose journey will leave you wanting to embark on a quest of your own, because after all...
We are all legends of our own making.
Title: When We Were Vikings
Author: Andrew David MacDonald
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Publishing Date: 01/28/2020
Language: English
ISBN: 1982126760 (ISBN13: 9781982126766)
My Review
As a fan of all things Vikings, I was drawn to the cover of this novel and had a certain expectation on how it would follow. If the blurb and quotes did not give it away, I soon found myself questioning if I had the correct book at hand that I so expectantly put on top of my tbr the moment it was in my possession. What I was reading was both plain and endearing in the use of verbiage but also resembled the main adult protagonist of child-like character. How was this supposed to make a leap from a coming of age story to the fierce tales of the Vikings I signed up for?
Zelda is a young woman with cognitive differences. Born with fetal alcohol syndrome, she lives with her brother Gert who struggles to take care of her and make ends meet. After their mother had died, they lived with their uncle until they moved out on their own to escape his abusive tendencies. Gert being a young adult himself, is trying to juggle many aspects of his own life, college, jobs, girlfriends, while tending to the well being and emotional needs for Zelda, the bills and putting food on the table.
The two of them have set up rules to follow and they are clearly posted around the apartment. For the most part, this and her weekly visits to a therapist plus her friends from the community center keep Zelda stable.
What Gert does not anticipate or is prepared for are Zelda's aspirations growing from observing the world around her. She is in love with a young man named Marxy who has differences as well. She wants to be legendary like a Viking and do right by her incredible sense of justice and is in preparations to have sex for the first time and get a real job at the library.
While Gert's life is slowly unraveling making the wrong choices, dealing for money, Zelda is inadvertently taken advantage of by the wrong kind of people. A situation that could cost them both dearly. What prevails is love, but that isn't even half of the story.
As you can see, it isn't a book of Viking raids and plunders, but one of heroes of a different kind of tale, courageous and valiant in its own right. So much so, that I was taken by the powerful message it held about people with cognitive differences, invisible disabilities, and an unbreakable spirit. What a great surprise of a novel.
It took a while to get into the grove of reading in Zelda's POV in the appropriate childlike voice the author chose to convey her differences. It is that what threw me off at first all together and had me question if I can read a whole book in this way, but it grew on me. I should mention perhaps that there are a lot of curse words throughout that in connectivity with the childlike language was odd or krass at times, though they became almost an endearing part of it all in the end.
When it comes down to it, Zelda's character is an amazing choice to portray a clear heart devoid of prejudice and full of perseverance. Whereas Gert's struggles show the grasp in complexity that makes life challenging and caring for her so difficult, the lack of a strong adult in their lives is clearly obvious.
A very unique book unlike anything I have read before, but one that deserves to be tackled and read. I could see this as a contemporary summer reading assignment for older high school students as well.
I'm curious about what else this author might write in the future. Till then, put this on your tbr ;)
Happy Reading!
I am an avid reader of different genres and value these different genres respectively. I am also a mood reader and switch genres up according to my reading needs/appetite and I respect and value other people’s individual opinions even if they differ from mine. This review reflects my honest and personal opinion about this novel.
I won this novel at a Goodreads Giveaway contest from the publisher. Thank you!
