Stage adaptation rights available
In 1983, Gudmundsson published a second novel, Vængjasláttur í þakrennunum (Wingbeat on the Rooftops), a portrait of a world of creativity and freedom which is gradually forced into submission. Boys in a suburb of Reykjavík “give their thoughts wing” to create a private world where life is breeding pigeons and building coops. But their yearning for freedom clashes harshly with the strictures of organized adult society. Wingbeat on the Rooftops has been translated into Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.
Reviews:
“Einar Már Gudmundsson has written a poetic and sharp novel. He has aimed to describe time and sensation of time through simple but yet complex imagery.” Kurt Dahl, Land og Folk, 1986
“One of the most creative works I have read for a long time.” Morgenbladet, Oslo 1987
“The book of the year...Read Wingbeat on the Rooftops. Enjoy the playful creativity. Experience the Beatle period all over again and search for your inner child! Memorize the name Einar Már Gudmundsson.” Petra Nilsson, Elle 1988
“… deals in parts with a clash between two worlds, the fertile and creative world of the child and the dead-cold world of concrete. Here creation and destruction are at odds. In the beginning of the novel dove-cotes are built in the neighbourhood. In the boys' eyes this is a whole village of winged life that gives them almost unlimited freedom for play and work. But at the end of the novel this world of glory is torn down completely since nature—in the form of dove guano—has become too importunate with the asphalt, in the neighbourhood housewives' opinion. In the last chapter of the book a deluge takes place that clenches the neighbourhood's streets of life.” Thtostur Helgason, the website of Reykjavik City Library
