The Outlaw

The dark final volume in former Reykjavik mayor's childhood memoir-trilogy delves into the brutal, relentless despair of his late teens
In The Outlaw, the third and final volume in his acclaimed trilogy, former Reykjavik mayor and comedian Jon Gnarr returns to face the dark teenage years with his signature humor and candor. Raging with music, poetry, life, loneliness, and questions of right and wrong, Jon, a fourteen-year-old punk rock misfit, is sent to boarding school in the Westfjords region of Iceland. There he decides Crass is the only worthy punk band, discovers an unrequited interest in girls, and chooses drugs and self-harm to cope with mental anguish and intense thoughts of alienation and despair. Two years later he returns to Reykjavik, no longer a naive adolescent, and recounts the restless years spent drifting through a life of parties, drugs, and anarchy--until it all fades to black. The Outlaw is the devastating anthem to what it means to grow up, to fit in, and to stand out.