We Sinners

by Hanna Pylväinen

This stunning debut novel―drawn from the author's own life experience―tells the moving story of a family of eleven in the American Midwest, bound together and torn apart by their faith

"A resonant and magical work of imagination."―Chicago Tribune

Winner of the Whiting Writers' Award

In this stunning, highly acclaimed debut novel, Hanna Pylväinen's We Sinners introduces us to an unforgettable family, bound together and torn apart by their intense religious devotion. Despite the ways all eleven of the Rovaniemis have built their lives around the conservative religion's rigid guidelines―music, television, makeup, and even school dances are strictly prohibited―their eventual places in the wider world and their paths to get there could not be more different, or more painful to each other. The children who reject the church learn that freedom comes at an almost unbearable cost, and those who stay struggle daily with the temptations of modern culture. Wholly absorbing and unflinching in its emotional honesty, We Sinners shows us how far we will go for faith and for each other, and the consequences when love―or God―is not enough.

Genres: Fiction, Religion, Contemporary, Book Club, Literary Fiction, American, Adult Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2012

About the author

Hanna Pylväinen graduated summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College and received her MFA from the University of Michigan, where she was also a postgraduate Zell Fellow. She is the recipient of residencies at The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, and a fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachussetts. She is from suburban Detroit.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: This stunning debut novel—drawn from the author's own life experience—tells the moving story of a family of eleven in the American Midwest, bound together and torn apart by their faith.

The Rovaniemis and their nine children belong to a deeply traditional church (no drinking, no dancing, no TV) in modern-day Michigan. A normal family in many ways, the Rovaniemis struggle with sibling rivalry, parental expectations, and forming their own unique identities in such a large family. But when two of the children venture from the faith, the family fragments and a haunting question emerges: Do we believe for ourselves, or for each other? Each chapter is told from the distinctive point of view of a different Rovaniemi, drawing a nuanced, kaleidoscopic portrait of this unconventional family. The children who reject the church learn that freedom comes at the almost unbearable price of their close family ties, and those who stay struggle daily with the challenges of resisting the temptations of modern culture. With precision and potent detail, We Sinners follows each character on their journey of doubt, self-knowledge, acceptance, and, ultimately, survival.

NB The author won a 2012 Whiting Writers' Award, given for debut or early-career writers who have shown outstanding promise.


My Review: What is it with Michigan? Bonnie Jo Campbell (American Salvage and Peace Like A River) made me think I'd rather not visit any time soon, Michael Zadoorian gave me some images I'd rather not have of how failing lives and spirits “cope”, and then came the hopelessness of The Galaxie and Other Rides, Josie Sigler's stories that make Knockemstiff look like madcap comedy. Now this nice Finnish lady makes me think the place should be carpet-bombed and put out of our collective national misery.

Hanna Pylväinen is clearly telling the story of her own life. It's made explicit in the publisher's sales pitch. “Drawn from her own life” indeed. And “drawn” in this usage is less “limned” than “poulticed out.” The horrifying, toxic sect of christian belief her family follows is so grotesquely wrongheaded and grimly abusive that it's hard for me to read the book at all. It boggles my mind that anyone could experience any of these things and go on thinking this is a religion of love and light. It's a sadistic, controlling hate group.

Anyway.

I kept reading because Hanna Pylväinen writes in elegant, unadorned prose about the feelings and spirits of her family. She isn't forgiving and she isn't denigrating and she is, most of all, not apologetic. She quite simply tells the stories she's got inside her to tell, and she does so without one bit of fuss or drama.

The stories more than make up for her reticent writing.

Oh, and I keep calling them stories because that's what they are. No amount of hollering “this is a novel it's a novel see see it's a novel!” makes it a novel. It's a collection of linked short stories. It's a darn good one, but it's still a collection of linked short stories. That means 99% of y'all will smile wanly, say something polite about the review if you're so inclined, and then shudder off to read something with a plot.

Your loss. Hanna Pylväinen is a bright new talent on the literary scene. She's unsparingly sympathetic and astringently kind. She's not to be missed in this debut effort, because one day soon, you'll see her bewildering and unpronounceable name at the front of every B&N/Waterstones/Chapters. You can snort with quietly derisory self-satisfaction at all the Janie-come-latelies warbling her praises. “Oh yes, Hanna {Mumblemumble}! I read We Sinners back in the day. Such a book!”

So read it. Read it for fun if you like to get in deep with struggling people; read it for education if you've always had more than enough on your table and in your house; read it to stoke your outrage machine if you're a feminist or a rationalist; read it for bragging rights if you're snobbish. I don't care. Just read it.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

We Sinners takes a family of nine, heavily embroiled in a severe form of Finnish Lutheranism that sets the children apart from anyone who isn't from the church, and spends about a chapter on each child as they grow up and have their own families.

I realize that to most people, the religion in this family will be startling. It felt very familiar to me - the conversation Brita has with the boy at school about how she can't go to dances? I can't even say how many times I had that as a teenager, and felt the same feelings of complete mortification. The part I identified with the most is how the daughter who has left the faith feels when she interacts with her family (and how her family treats those who haven't stayed in the faith), and how hard it was to leave. Phew.

Because of my identification with the novel, I had to take a few emotional breaks but also couldn't quit reading it. It is short, but this author is promising. I received an ARC of this after reading a preview of it in a set of BEA promoted previews.

"We sinners, we are just lying to ourselves, we are just alone."

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

We Sinners
By
Hanna Pylvainen

My" in a nutshell" summary...

A very religious family has tons of issues.  Too many children, not enough money, no TV and some of them are losing faith.  The religion is an odd extreme one.  They are Finnish and have unusual Finnish names and often speak Finnish.  

My thoughts after reading this book...

Wow...and I thought being Catholic and following certain rules was difficult at times.  Reading this book for me was sort of like watching a bit of a train wreck.  Just because this family followed this really strict religion didn't necessarily mean that they had a perfect family life.  They weren't that clean, their house was a mess, the father yelled and had anger issues, and they kept on having babies.  Some of them left the church, some struggled with alcohol, most were always confronting som sort of issue.  They often struggled with leaving or not leaving the church. They often hid their religion or refused to discuss it.  Their religion defined them whether they wanted it to or not.

And because of all of these issues...We Sinners was a totally captivating reading experience.  It was sad and sometimes hard to read.  This off beat religion kept the Rovaniemi family separate from others, kept them massively multiplying with these huge families that they couldn't truly afford or manage and kept most of them on a righteous religious path.  There was still a homosexual son and an illegitimate child and children still ran away. The family was musical and somewhat loyal but when a tv was around they were mesmerized by it.

What I loved about this book...

I truly did love experiencing this world for the almost 200 pages of the book.  but I was just as happy to never be a part of this uber religious world.
I was happy that it was just fiction!

What I did not love...

I can not understand the blind faith of this family.  It is something that I would need to rebel against!

Final thoughts...

A skilled author, insight into a unique way of life and understanding what blind faith is made this a memorable reading adventure for me.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

To tell you the truth, lately I’ve felt burned out on Sad Stories. While everyone was raving this summer about Light Between Oceans, I gave it a good-but-not-great rating, and most of that was honestly due to Sad Story Burnout.

I approached We Sinners with approbation. The blurb about the plot (an enormous---nine kids!---family who follow a fundamentalist religion) set off alarms in my head; you just know this is not going to be a happy tale.

It isn’t. But it isn’t just slopped-on, unremitting sadness either. There are the people who leave the religion (you expected that, didn’t you?) and there are the people who try desperately to follow the religion and fail (you probably expected that, too) but there are also stories of the people who the religion pulls out of the drowning sea and throws back on the shore.

I found that We Sinners is a story I’m raving about this summer. Sad Story or not.

[Yelda Basar Moers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have tender feelings for this little orange book of fiction about a Finnish-American family of eleven rooted in a deep, evangelical Lutheran faith called Laestadianism. I consider myself a hearty reader of religion and spirituality, familiar with the Amish, the Mennonites and the Mormons. But before reading We Sinners, penned by a young author who grew up in this fundamentalist upbringing, I knew nothing of this faith. The story follows all nine children, three of whom leave the church, in modern-day Michigan. The Rovaniemis appear to be just like any other American family. They just don’t watch television, drink alcohol, dance, listen to music, or engage in any of the joys of the modern world.

There is no doubt that Hanna Pylvainen is a gifted writer. She writes with a Hemingway-like simplicity and a Woolf-like gravity. Something about the string of narratives in this book, each chapter showing the point of view of a different member of the family, reminds me of Virginia Woolf’s experimental novel, The Waves. In that book, each of the six characters has a direct voice, speaking in the first person. Though We Sinners is written in the third person, the author manages to make each family member appear to be speaking in the first person.

Surprisingly, the family doesn’t seem dysfunctional, even though Brita, the oldest and seemingly most devout child, shuns another, Julia, the middle child, for not believing. She tells her she doesn’t want her holding her baby anymore. Also, the parents don’t come to the funeral of their son’s partner. Their son Simon is gay, and has left the faith too. In each and every page, the reader feels the love that remains within the family. This makes the conflict brutal for the children who are disconnected from the faith. Julia, the most relatable character, has one of the most compelling points of views as depicted in the chapter “Total Loss.” Plyvainen writes, “She wanted to prove that she could leave the church and not become a disaster, that she could still be a good sister, a good aunt, find a good husband—she could still be loved, just the same.” Julia, together with her other two siblings who leave the faith, are given little compassion by their parents and devout siblings for their choices.

As for the remaining faithful children, life doesn’t seem to be any more settled. In “Rupture,” Brita is on the precipice of having her seventh C-section. Her doctor is petrified that her uterus will rupture due to her history. She suffers a massive hemorrhage during the surgery, but miraculously survives. Even with that miracle, she remains shrouded in hopelessness: “She realized she had run out of fantasies—out of husbands to imagine, homes to build, pianos—there was nothing, only life itself, only long and hard and always more of it, always more.” As positive adherents of religion, we think of faith as pulling us above the doldrums of life to the endless possibilities. Yet here faith is as limiting as it can get. A belief against birth control leads to Brita’s seventh C-section. The reader is left to wonder, would she survive the eighth?

Though the narratives are beautifully woven together, the book longs for a strong sense of place. There is little description of their town or city. I also didn’t get a palpable sense of their Finnish culture. I am left with many questions about their faith and family history. When did the parents come to the United States? Were they first generation? If so, what was life growing up in Finland like for the parents? What is it like to be Finnish-American?

The last chapter named “Whiskey Dragon, 1847” was completely disconnected from the rest of the story. Here we are given a completely impartial narrative including Laestadius, the founder and leader of their church. But giving us a whole new story about a woman and her alcoholic husband in the Scandinavian tundra of the nineteenth century, whereby the drinking leads to devastating consequences, didn’t shed much light on the faith or culture of the early Laestadians.

Still, We Sinners is one of those rare books that stays with you long after you’ve read the last chapter. It disturbs, it moves, it gnaws. At times the author’s words were so moving and penetrating that I saw chills running up my arms. I haven’t had that reaction in some time.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

My two stars is actually quite generous. From the reviews and topic (fictionalized account of a large conservative Christian family and their struggles with faith and family), this book sounded very promising. It was hugely disapointing on so many levels. The chapters are each narrated by one of the family members, as are so many novels these days, which results in a very fragmented story with no real character development. The author also seems to completely gloss over an introduction or conclusion, so the book starts off with no real background on the characters, and more importantly, no background or information on the little known Christian denomination the family belongs to. The book ends abruptly with an enigmatic last chapter. The writing isn't bad and there are glimpses of interesting story lines but nothing is developed enough. I would not recommend this book.

[Celeste Ng]

It seems clear to me that this is a collection of linked short stories, being billed as a novel (many complicated thoughts on this topic; don't get me started). But the stories themselves are lovely and deceptively quiet. Many focus on a moment of decision that's drawn out to show the agony behind it. And although these stories center on a religion that most of us know little about, they're particular and specific without being exoticizing.

[Walter Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Others reviewers tell what it is about. The issue of the book is well expressed by the father speaking to the inquiring teenage, (and I paraphase): We don't have to do any of these things. We live in the grace of the Lord and because of that, we don't want to do the things that the world does. Obviously, members of his family do want the things of the world. Entry into the church is simple confession to a church member and hearing absolution: "You are saved by the grace and blood Jesus Christ." FOr some, this is trite. For others is is profound. I find it interesting because I am not from a fundamentalist sect, and their easy despensing of grace reminds me of my more liberal traditions. And we face the same problems. We can't hold our kids. Salvation by grace is a radical concept and as the novel demonstrates, it seems to be heard best by those who know themselves to be far enough from grace to yearn for it. Grace is those who can say "we sinners" and know the utter despair and alienation of being lost. Most church members and their children think that we are pretty good folk and thus grace is cheap and handled casually. It is a good read-- a bit disjointed--and I disagree with those who would remove the last chapter, for we find Brita (the first) forgiven not by the supposed leader of the sect but by his wife. And then "in grace" nothing else matters.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous book written by a Mount Holyoke Alumna! Of course this may be a bias review because I too am a MHC Alumna! :0)

Seriously, this book was really good. Such an interesting topic, and Pylvainen does a fabulous job pulling you into her characters world. Each chapter is a different member of the family so it also reads as a compilation of short stories. You get to see how each member of the family feels about their situation and about members of their family.

What I wished for and was disappointed to not have was a chapter from Simon's perspective. I really wanted to read more about his story, but also wonder if Pylvainen left Simon's own account out because she knew her readers would probably be very interested in his story, and she wants us to create his world for ourselves...

I was also a little confused by the final chapter and the jump back in time. It will be interesting to see what the rest of my book club (all Mount Holyoke alumna) will think.

[Molly Tynjala · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[David Sweeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small novel about growing up in a deeply conservative religious church in Michigan. Clearly autobioographical (I've not checked), the author achieves in 187 pages what many others would stretch to 500.
The economy of writing and narrative is perfect, and whilst it isn't mining anything new, it is a pleasant enough way to spend the time. I should add it is perfectly balanced in terms of tone, and messaging.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of the Rovaniemis and the nine children who are members of a conservative church is sad. Not in a beautiful, emotion fueled way but in a numbing, no depth sort of way.

Each chapter is told from the point of view of different person. Instead of it being interesting it is distracting because of the large number of characters and the unexplained time jumps. Most major life events occur during the time jump, and many chapters end without resolution. The children who stay in the church live a life of struggle, those who leave the church live a life of resentment. The author doesn’t share any history of the family/religion and doesn’t really develop any of the characters.

This is an interesting premise and the author is a good writer but this book is just sad.

[Kema Reads (a lot) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book bored me.

[Rachelfm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This portrait of a family was incisive, probing and efficient. At just under 200 pages, this book was delightfully economical, and that added to its power. At its heart is a modern American family with strong ties to their ethnic and cultural roots in Finland, members of a small, conservative movement of Lutherans called Laestadians. Family life is centered around the church, its seasons and its practice at home. It is a simple faith in which members express their belief by confessing their sins continually to one another.

The eleven Rovaniemis are shown as they grow up, each facing how and if they can carry the mantle of their faith into adulthood. Each faces her own personal struggle, balancing her curiosity, aspirations and loyalty to her family.

I really appreciated the compassionate, complex, and nuanced portrayal of each character in this book. The author did a wonder job illustrating what it meant for believers to struggle with the faith, to be apart from modern society, to balance the demands of work, family and belief. No one comes out looking like a religious whack-a-doo and no one comes out looking like a smug atheist. Everyone struggles with what this upbringing means for their future, its richness, its limitations, and its truth. Even those who leave the fold for rich lives outside the boundaries of the church must continue to wrestle with how to relate to their upbringing and their siblings.

Hanna Pylvainen has a quiet, controlled, powerful writing style. You won't get hibiscus sunsets glimmering over the azure, lapping waters; you get taut, painfully human dialogue and rich, conflicted human experience.

This is a character-driven, rather than a plot-driven novel. While there are pivotal, life-changing disasters and epiphanies, they are handled with the sort ambiguity that is more like life than art.

I think this book will appeal to anyone interested in family dynamics, the effects of faith on worldviews and the struggle to assimilate into mainstream American life.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a series of short stories from different times and narrators that are actually a single novel. It took me a few too many chapters to figure that out so I will save you from feeling even a little foolish. You probably read all of those other Goodreads reviews that are really just summaries so you wouldn't have had that problem anyways.

I look forward to talking about this book with someone else that has read it. So go on.

I don't know how to rate this one star-wise. I left the window open so that I could think on it and went and read an entire other book that I loved in the meantime.

And now I will write one of the things that is sticking with me after turning the last page of this book. We (parents) worry that we are letting televisions raise our kids, or that we are over scheduling and structuring our kids play, or that we are not paying enough attention. It was surprising (and a bit of a relief) that even in the absence of tv, dancing, drinking, etc parents really have no clue what is happening in the lives of their children.

Also, it seems so foreign to consider a life without so many things. It makes it surprising when something perfectly average is acceptable because we accept things as more extreme than they are. I suppose this is not quite so different than adopting a different diet in that it takes time and effort to shift your thinking from what you cannot have to what you can.

I haven't even begun to process the forgiveness part.

In review, my initial thoughts seem so superficial for a story that really is not.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an intriguing first novel, but I thought it was a little rough around the edges, as if the chapters were not originally envisioned as a whole. I liked how time was marked by the voices of different family members. It created a rich family dynamic--as in, sometimes the people you know best are those you really don't know well at all. As each dealt with his or her faith, family, and the world beyond, they grew, and the other family members were forced to deal with these changes. This was an effective narrative, especially since the core of their lives, their church and their faith, was the one thing that was both the most natural for them all and also the thing that caused them the most difficulty and soul seeking. One of the non-believer boyfriends said it succinctly, "The best thing about the church is your family and the worst thing about your family is the church." The novel was certainly an eye opener into a faith I had never heard of until I read this book. It was fascinating to gain understanding of how a faith that sets people apart from others in their community can have such a strong hold in spite of the difficulties it sets in their paths. I just wish that the historical final chapter could have been incorporated into the novel in a different way, maybe as a beginning with some threads thrown in between the chapters of the family members. I definitely look forward to more work from this author. She has a very appealing style that is readable and sensitive to how real people think and feel.

[Trux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, with intimate, mundane familiarity and withOUT didactic melodrama or judgment. Exceptional (because it's so shockingly uncommon to find people talking or writing about growing up immersed in church and having left it, or doubted and stayed, and being able to represent the compelling aspects of practicing religion and/or being part of or isolated to or alienated within a religious community) - which is a big part of what makes me give it the "amazing" five stars.

One of my favorite aspects of this book (and area of focus/appreciation/wonder for me in life and culture anyway): the way confession and forgiveness were depicted in the stories. Oh, and music/song. Also: the way women's experiences with sex, gender-role expectations, motherhood, etc. were portrayed and emphasized. AND! How significantly alone almost all of the characters were/we are.

This book definitely improved as it went on, and the last chapter was an unexpectedly beautiful, harsh, almost-magical departure driving it home how deeply we want to belong with our sisters, children, family, SOMEONE, etc. Glad I spotted this on the free table of advance reader's editions in a bookstore - having read it, I can say it's worth paying for a copy if you haven't read it and I want the opportunity to buy/read more of her work.

[Melrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was particularly interesting to me because both my parents, all Grandparents and Great Grandparents were raised in it. My parents rebelled like some of the brothers and sisters in the story and left the church, but I could always see the guilt and need to confess followed them throughout their lives. As well as the alcohol and shame for being "worldly", and wanting to have fun and live like everyone else. I have attended this church many times as many of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins are still in it. In my city, being Finnish means being "First Born" and attending the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. However, in my city the church and the people have changed greatly since my parents were small. The "worldliness" has crept in and the Finns here do not shun materialism & popular fads in the same and strict way that my ancestors did. I have studied the history of this church deeply, and in my mind it is a cult and can be very damaging to certain personalities. I am forever grateful that both my parents were strong enough to have a wider view of their future, and mine. Thank You to Hanna for writing it.

[Becky Roper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and quite interesting look at a Finnish-American family in Minnesota who belong to a very fundamentalist sect of the Lutheran church. Each chapter is from a different family members's perspective, and there are plenty to choose from (parents and nine children) but the time moves ahead in large jumps also, so it felt a little disjointed. The last chapter was a total mystery to me as it was some historical bit that had little connection to the main story, and if it hadn't been there I would give this book 4 stars. What was interesting to me were the parallels with the fundamentalist groups in our own church, and how they live outside the mainstream and have trouble keeping their kids committed to their way of life. The psychological aspects were interesting and I wish there had been more of that. I understand this book was actually the author's master's thesis, so maybe there will be more from her. It was a book that made me think and exposed me to a group I knew nothing about, which is my favorite kind of book.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book takes on a heavy task in describing the inner workings of a hyper-religious family living in impossibly close quarters. It covers the shame and degradation surrounding walking away from beliefs, the pride and misguided hubris of maintaining one’s beliefs, and the awkward and stumbling interactions of this family with a world that looks remarkably different than the lives they lead within the walls of their home and church.

I found it to be oddly healing in many ways, triggering in others, and there was only one odd repetition of an entire paragraph that felt like it was a lazy mistake. The final chapter of the book could be removed and the entire work would be better for it. It almost seemed like the final chapter was the inspiration for the entirety of the piece, but might’ve proved too difficult a story to actually write, thus was just thrown in at the ending as an indolent explanation for why the book exists in the first place.

It’s worth reading, but not twice in any lifetime.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed We Sinners. It's the story of a family in the Midwest, The Rovaniemis, who belong to a deeply deeply traditional Lutheran church and the impact their religion and faith (or lack thereof) has on each family member. The story is told through a series of vignettes; each chapter is centered around one of the 11 family members (mom and dad plus 9 kids) and the book dips in and out of different times in their lives. It's a quiet, lovely book, with fantastic writing and something that just grabs you by the hand and keeps you turning pages. There's not a lot of "action," and yet so much goes on in these snapshots of the Rovaniemis that I could not help but get wrapped up in their lives, their struggles with their faith, and the battles and comforts of family. A beautiful read.

-----------------
Disclosure: I received a copy of We Sinners from the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

[Katie Stark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many question the ending of this book. Up until the last chapter, the book discusses what the religion does or does not do for the family, and what the goals of the church (and it's rules) are for the followers. The last chapter discusses what problems the church is trying to fix in its followings in the 1800's in Finland. It provides a comparison so that readers can see how the religion has changed, how the followers have changed, and how religion changes for those who have immigrated. Think about the last character, Gunna. The church cannot help her torment that she must suffer after losing a child and being married to an alcoholic (whose alcoholism is the cause of her child's death)- and so she leaves. Many of the children leave because the church can't help them in the places that their lives are now, such as Simon. Both leave because the church cannot do what it is supposed to do for them.
Hope this helps.

[Wavelength · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book was like standing in front of a portrait of the entire Rovaniemi family. Pylvainen pointed out each sibling and told their story. Since she wanted to tell about all nine siblings and she didn’t have much time, (200 pages) she just skimmed the surface. As soon as I was beginning to get a feel for the sibling and where they fit in the family, she moved on to the next sibling. I enjoy books written as intertwining stories, however, there needs to be a connecting narrative. Louise Erdrich is a master of this form of storytelling. In my opinion, the narrative structure in this book fell short. I hope Pylvainen will explore more deeply the stories of her siblings struggling to individuate within the confines of what I would label a fanatical religion.

[John Pappas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each of the chapters of this debut novel has the power of a tightly coiled short story,and could stand on its own, but the collective cumulation of the chapters creates a narrative that is much more than the sum of its parts. Pylvainen creates a host of distinct and distinctive characters -- members of a large Finnish family who belong to a small sect of Lutheran Christianity -- each with their own struggles and doubts. As they wrestle to find their place in their family structure, their church and the world, each questions their identity and their faith. A marvelous first novel; both sad, and ennobling.

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. The characters were excellent, the plot was excellent, the emotions and problems were real; Hanna Pylvainen created a remarkable debut. I had never had any exposure to the particular religion in this book, but it was very informative without seeming like a textbook. Realistically, this is more like a collection of short stories, each one focusing on a particular member of the strictly religious Finnish-American Rovaniemi family. I wish I had written a review right after I finished it because I took it back to the library, but I am planning on buying a copy for myself soon. Maybe when I do, I will reread it for a third time and write a better review.

[Kseniya Melnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It seemed to me more like a collection of linked stories than a novel -- each chapter focuses on one of the eleven members of the family, so the overall development and temporal arc is not as obvious as in traditional narratives. Although the voices of the female characters do become a little hard to distinguish at times - just because there are so many of them - this book is full of small and big moments of truth. Chapters entitled "Total Loss" and "Rupture" BLEW ME AWAY. I am looking at them as individual stories and they were perfect, magnificent. Pylvainen is a tremendous talent.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this illuminating and sympathetic book, the eleven members of the Rovaniemi family cope with an uneasy mix of modern life and conservative religion. The nine children and their parents follow a strict form of Lutheranism (no dancing, no TV, etc.)in present day Michigan. Some embrace the faith and some eventually follow other paths, but most of them have to wrestle with the choices they make. The chapters follow each other sequentially in time, but each has the point of view of a different family member.

[Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this. I read it cover to cover in one day. Maybe it sputtered a bit near the end, but I thought the characters were wonderful, and the conflicts felt very real. Almost 5 stars. One of my favorite novels I've read recently.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am such a sucker for a book that features the different perspectives of the characters.She draws you close to each and envelopes you in their world.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The only disappointment was the very oddly placed final chapter.