Books Are Jazzy

The reading challenge book for April was Minna Canth's arguably most famous work, Työmiehen vaimo. The play follows a recently married couple, a hardworking woman and an alcoholic husband, as their marriage slowly falls apart.

I had previously dipped my toe into Canth's texts by reading her play Annaliisa, and I was excited to read her other works. From my previous readings I knew Canth was known for focusing on so-called "women's issues". However, when I started Työmiehen vaimo, I was disappointed by how she presented these feminist themes in this specific text. The only real conflict in the story was the husband's alcoholism and how the wife found it difficult to accept. Instead of creating well-rounded characters, the characters in the play were two opposites of a moral quandary.

I'm glad I've now read Työmiehen vaimo, solely for the cultural capital associated with it, but I would not recommend the play if it was not considered a classic of Finnish literature. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

-Laura

The start of a new month means another book review of a Finnish "classic". During March my goal was to read Jäniksen vuosi by Arto Paasilinna, and I finished it with plenty of time left in the month. I was especially excited to read this book because Jäniksen vuosi is my mother's all-time-favorite-book. I even timed my reading of the novel so that she was visiting me at the same time as I was reading it, so that we could discuss it as I read along.

The concept of the novel is absolutely amazing. The novel follows a middle-aged journalist who encounters a hare on the road and decides to drop everything in his life to spend time with this hare. He quits his job, leaves his wife, even sells his boat! The novel follows the extraordinary pair for a year, but the ending is left open to suggest that their adventures continue beyond this.

I highly, highly recommend this novel to everyone! Not only is it hilarious, it also offers some valuable life lessons. Moreover, it has been translated into English and can be found under the title The Year of the Hare. Let me know in the comments down below if you've read this novel.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Readings!
-Laura

Hello everyone! Another month has gone by, which means it's time for another update to my 2018 Reading Challenge! In February I read the novel Rautatie by Juhani Aho. Rautatie follows a married couple as they first hear about a train coming to a village near them, to them riding on the train for the first time, to finally deciding never to speak of the experience again. Previous to the novel's events, the couple had never heard of a train before and thus when hearing various details about trains and their workings, they quickly attached fantastical elements to the transportation system.


Compared to January's read, Rautatie was a lot more similar to other classic Finnish literature that I have read and therefore reading it felt more comfortable. Having said that, I'm not sure if I would go out of my way to recommend this book, since plot-wise not a lot happens.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐

-Laura

I just finished reading Kesäkirja by Tove Jansson, as the first book in my 2018 Reading Challenge. Due to some unexpected coursework I didn't technically finish reading the book in January, but since I read the bulk of it during January, I'm still counting this as a win.


Kesäkirja was a short and sweet novel detailing the friendship between a young girl and her grandmother as they experience it over multiple summers at their summer cottage. Reading this in the cold of January did lessen my enjoyment of the novel a bit (since it's a summer novel, it would be best enjoyed read on a beach in the summer). Reflecting on it further, I believe the novel took on a more dreamy quality due to me reading it in the opposite climate the events of the novel occur in. I would like to reread the book during the summer to see how this changes how I react with the story.

Overall, I would recommend Kesäkirja for people who enjoy character driven novels. Personally, I liked reading the more adult side of Jansson's writings.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

-Laura

*contains spoilers*

With only a small number of pages left, I decided to write about this classic's protagonist.

She was created almost 200 years ago and is still acknowledged today.
J.E. (I will use only her initials so you can try to guess if you know who I am depicting) tells her own story with exquisite detail.
Ever since her childhood, as an orphan, she has had to be ready to stand up for herself and defend herself. Whenever someone treats her in an unfair manner, J.E. doesn't hesitate to speak her mind. She must have been born stubborn.
This asset -for her it has mainly worked in her advantage- she carries with her to new settings from her youth to her adulthood. It brings her to joy when she meets a man whom she falls in love with. Much to her surprise and puzzlement, she finds out that the feeling is mutual. This favorable twist of fate brings her close to marriage, only to find herself upon the hardest choice of her life forcing her to leap into the unknown with absolutely nothing. No money, no relations and no destination, but a strong determination drive her to survive absolute poverty and solitude.
Her willpower is the driving force which eventually brings her to a situation where she finds herself richer than ever.
What goes around comes around. This is what I think should be learned from her rough life. Also, she reminded me to never give up and that with the right attitude, anything you put your mind to is indeed possible.
So thank you Charlotte Brönte for (drum roll)
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-Jane Eyre!
I enjoyed reading about her life. It was especially interesting to notice that even as life in the 19th century was so different, a strong woman like Jane's aspirations would fit todays world also. At least in a figurative sense.


Did anyone guess that that I was writing about Jane Eyre?

-Anna