Literary Scout

Category: Finnish Fiction

Pidot

Johanna Forss
1/5 stars

Pidot is a novel of memory, intimacy, and imbalance, told through the voice of a woman looking back on a formative friendship that shaped her sense of self in ways she is still unraveling. The narrator’s life unfolds in parallel with that of Marianne, a girl who enters her world in childhood and immediately stands […]

A Cow Gives Birth at Night (Lehmä synnyttää yöllä) by Pajtim Statovci

In 1996, the NARRATOR, an eight-year-old boy, is smuggled across borders with his siblings, hidden in the footwell of a car traveling from Finland to Albania. The journey takes them back to the country their parents fled, the place that once was home before war and displacement turned them into refugees in Finland. From the […]

Erään kissan tutkimuksia (The Investigations of One Cat) by Katja Kettu (2023)

An ageless and formless creature tells the reader that he’s going to visit an Author, but a strange mishap occurs during its birth into the human world. Instead of taking human form, it’s born as a cat, and it struggles to connect with The Office for guidance. The story weaves between two timelines: 1917 Finland […]

Elolliset (Beasts of the Sea) by Iida Turpeinen (2023)

This is a historical fiction novel that vividly brings to life the story of the Steller’s sea cow, an extinct marine mammal, and the people associated with its discovery, extinction, and preservation. This review analyzes the novel’s themes, character development, and its potential appeal to a broader audience. Turpeinen’s narrative revolves around the Steller’s sea […]

Hävitys (Destruction) by Iida Rauma (2021)

Part One A has gotten in the habit of running at night. Rain lashes the muddy streets of Turku as A, a history teacher who suffers from insomnia, runs night after night past the wooden houses of a former working-class neighborhood to the Science Park technology hub, where the solitude emanates a familiar menace. One […]