Review : How much do I have to pay to get to stay?

It was impossible to open Audur Jonsdottir’s new novel, Deposit (Tryggdarpantur), without some anticipation. For her last novel, The People in the Basement (Folkid I kjallaranum, 2004), Audur received the Icelandic Literature Prize and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. The work was recently published in Denmark and highly praised by Danish critics.
To put it briefly, Audur more than lived up to the expectations that are only natural in view of such success. Deposit is a powerful book, a story with strong echoes from Iceland and Icelandic literature, as well as European and world literature.
And – what is perhaps most important – here is a work that, through allegory, wrestles with one of the most pressing contemporary issues, the question of how rich European nations receive immigrants from poorer regions and what they have to “pay” to be able to stay – and enjoy the benefits that Europeans consider their birthright.

Deposit tells the story of Gisella, a woman in her thirties who has lived a carefree life on an inheritance left by her grandmother. Living comfortably in her roomy apartment, in a prime location in an unnamed large European city, she has travelled widely, followed more than one course of study – without ever completing a degree – and pens the occasional magazine article, should she come across sufficiently exotic material. Gisella has, however, paid scant attention to her finances, believing that her inheritance was practically unlimited. Confronted suddenly by the fact that her bank accounts are close to empty, she decides to find renters for her apartment.
While the rent will ensure Gisella an income, and allow her to continue her lifestyle, she considers the move an act of charity, since there is a great shortage of housing in the city and the homeless are to be seen everywhere: on the street, in the parks and in refuse tips.

To make a long story short, Gisella accepts three homeless women as tenants: Marta, Dasima and Anna, the last of these with a little girl of whom Gisella becomes especially fond. Gisella, however, is cautious; not wishing to have her tenants disrupt her life too much, she sets various house rules which they must obey. The first and most important rule is that “in cases of disagreement, the landlord has the final say” and for the first two months they are on probation.
As is only natural when a number of different individuals share the same home, “problems” soon arise in their co-habitation, with the result that Gisella feels forced to set additional, ever more unfair rules which her tenants must follow, even though she in fact gains many benefits from their company. Not least does she enjoy the women's varied cooking, as they look after all the cooking and cleaning.
As the trial period progresses, the relationship grows more difficult and clearly some sort of showdown is unavoidable.

On one level, Gisella’s dealings with her tenants are a study in the relationship between one who holds power and the others who must submit to her power: the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed. In this respect the story makes various references to Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is no coincidence that Gisella buys a pig mask for the little girl, only to pick it up herself after finding it on the floor of the apartment. The house rules and penalty points to which Gisella subjects her tenants are another echo of Orwell’s book.

Viewed as a whole, however, Deposit also reminds one of the short story The Tenant by [Icelandic author] Svava Jakobsdóttir, an allegory on the relationship between the Icelandic people and US forces stationed in the country [during the Cold War]. In its own way, Deposit is an allegory on the relationship between Europeans and immigrants from other cultures, and as such very successful. Both of these stories also examine paranoia and prejudice.
However, Deposit is much more than an allegory. The story of Gisella and her tenants is extremely well crafted, its characters are far from simplified stereotypes, as tends to be the case sometimes with allegory. All the characters are developed and deepened in the course of the story.

The plot captures the reader as it unfolds, gradually depicting the structure of Gisella's life and artificial lifestyle while at the same time she herself is revealed as a selfish and spoiled animal, reminding us of Napoleon in Animal Farm.

In Deposit Audur Jonsdottir has written a novel which has to raise questions in the minds of readers about the social issues which are so pressing for Icelanders to resolve successfully in coming years: a just integration of immigrants into Icelandic society. In so doing, she has joined the ranks of the most noteworthy writers in Iceland – and elsewhere – and it would not surprise me if she were to receive the Icelandic Literature Prize for the second time.

Morgunbladid daily newspaper, Thursday, 7 December 2006 - Books
Soffia Audur Birgisdottir