I’ve only really read this
book because my wife found a copy of it looking for a good home in our building’s
lobby. Having read another book by Paasilinna (meh…) I decided to give his magnum opus a chance (and for once I use
a Latin term, just because I find it funny to refer to a book like this in
pseudo highbrow words).
This book somehow managed to
be a best-seller in both Finland and the rest of Europe. And I really struggle to
see why. As a funny book, it’s not funny (or at least not funny for me, but
then again maybe I lack a sense of humour). As a deep book about discovering
one’s true self, it’s really not deep. At most I can see it being reasonably
cute for a cute book. But that’s about it. And I really don’t do cute.
And I am worried about the
state of world literature if books like this are hailed as something that “will
have you laughing and gasping by turns. . . . The writing is as spare and clean
as the lines of Scandinavian design. . . . Of the many lines in this book that
I cherished, the last is one of the most delicious: ‘Vatanen is a man to be
reckoned with.’ So is this book.” The review came from Lonely Planet – I am
afraid backpackers might be too worried about expanding their horizons to
bother actually expanding their culture.
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