Our Daily Bread: A Novel

Koillismaa #1

by Kalle Päätalo, Kalle Pںaںatalo

"Selkosen hiljaisuus oli painostava. Mies, joka taivalsi kävellen tietä, kuuli vain omien askeltensa parkaisevat narskahdukset. Joskus sentään räiskähtivät myös tienvarren puissa kiristyvän pakkasen paukut. Kuu oli kiivennyt korkealle. Sen punertavan keltainen kehä ei ollut tänä iltana vähääkään vääntynyt tai muotopuoli. Oli kirkasta. Suorastaan aavemaisen valoisaa."


Näin kuvailee Kalle Päätalo Koillismaan selkoseen saapuvan miehen matkantekoa kylmänä pakkasiltana. Tuntematon mies on lähtenyt kotoaan Tampereelta pakoon pulavuosia ja entistä elämäänsä. Edessä on outo ja ankara Koillismaa ja sen mieleenpainuvat ihmiset.

Eletään 1930-lukua levottoman luonnon keskellä, jossa selkosen paine vaikuttaa jokaisen romaanin henkilön elämään. Se ei tunne kohtuutta eikä keskitietä vaan ajaa ihmisen äärimmäisyydestä uskonnollisesta hurmoksesta raakaan väkivaltaan, herkästä tunteellisuudesta piittaamattomaan karuuteen.

Genres: Finnish Literature, Historical Fiction

532 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Kalle Päätalo on yksi maamme luetuimmista ja tuotteliaimmista kirjailijoista. Hänen tuotantonsa käsittää lähes 40 romaania sekä näytelmiä ja kertomuksia. Päätalon tekstejä on käännetty mm. englanniksi, ruotsiksi ja viroksi. Kalle Päätalolle myönnettiin lukuisia kirjallisuuspalkintoja ja tunnustuksia. Professorin arvonimen hän sai vuonna 1978. Filosofian kunniatohtoriksi hänet promovoitiin Oulun yliopiston humanistisen tiedekunnan promootiossa 1994. Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun Ritarikunnan I lk:n komentajan merkin hän sai vuonna 1994.
--
Päätalon kirjallinen ura alkoi suhteellisen myöhään. "Pitkän armeijan reissuni, ja sen jälkeen rakennusalan ammattiin hakeutumiseni, sekä vielä oman talon rakentaminen, lykkäsivät suunnitelmaani kirjoittaa kokonainen kirja, niin että olin 39-vuotias, kun esikoisromaanini ilmestyi".

Esikoisteos Ihmisiä telineillä (1958) herätti huomiota aihepiirillään. "Tämän vuoden esikoisteosten joukossa tulee varmaan muodostumaan erityiseksi tapaukseksi Kalle Päätalon teos Ihmisiä telineillä, joka alkavalla viikolla ilmestyy kirjakauppoihin. Kirjan erikoinen merkitys sisältyy sen aihepiiriin. Ensi kertaa kirjallisuudessamme siinä käsitellään laajasti ja perusteellisesti rakennustyömaata, joten se merkitsee uutta aluevaltausta kaunokirjallisuudessamme". (US 16.11.58)

Mahtava 26-osainen, 16 993 sivua käsittävä Iijoki-sarja on Päätalon elämäntyö. Sarjan ensimmäinen osa, Huonemiehen poika, ilmestyi 1971. Sarja jatkui päätösteokseen, Pölhökanto Iijoen törmässä (1998) asti. Sarjan kirjoja on myyty 2,5 miljoonaa kappaletta (1999). Päätalon teosten yhteinen myynti on yli 3,5 miljoonaa kappaletta (1999).

Lähtiessään vuonna 1971 kirjoittamaan Iijoki-sarjaa Päätalon tavoitteena oli tehdä läpileikkaus 1920-luvulta aina jälleenrakennuskauteen asti. "Suurin voimani kirjailijana on omakohtainen kuunteleminen, näkeminen ja kokeminen. Rakentajana uskon olevani aitiopaikalla, olenhan kokenut koko kaaren, sekamiehestä vastaavaan mestariin". Toinen Päätalon tavoitteista oli kielen, murteen tallentaminen. Taivalkoskella hänellä oli kielipäivystys, jota alkuaikoina hoiti Martta-sisar. (Iisalmen sanomat 10.11.94)

Iijoki-sarjan jälkeen v. 1996 Päätalolta ilmestyi teos Sateenkaari pakenee. Jos kirjailija kuvasi Iijoki-sarjan parissa olleensa todellisuuden vanki, hän pääsee uusimman kirjansa parissa sepitetyn, fiktiivisen tekstin vapauteen. "Sateenkaari pakenee on Päätalon paras mielikuvitusromaani. Omapäisenä hän jatkaa omalla pokasahallaan, omalla rankakasallaan, toivottavasti kauan", kiittelee arvostelu. (HS 5.10.96, Vesa Karonen)

palkinnot: Hämeen läänin taidemitali 1978
Tampereen kaupungin kirjallisuuspalkinto 1958, 1962, -66, -72, -74, -81, -85 ja 1990
Väinö Linna -palkinto 1999
Kiitos kirjasta -mitali 1970
Valtion kirjallisuuspalkinto 1971
Tampereen palkinto 1989
professorin arvonimi 1978
fil. kunniatohtori (Oulu) 1994

Teksti Kirjasampon sivustolta: https://www.kirjasampo.fi/fi/kulsa/ka...

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Koillismaa on saman nimisen sarjan eka osa ja kertoo 1930 - luvun maalaiselämästä. Ei ole kyllä helppoa puuhaa se.

Kirjassa on melko paljon henkilöhahmoja, joka tekee lukemisesta haastavaa kun hahmojen välillä pompitaan ja joutuu muistelemaan että kukas tämä henkilö nyt on. Henkilöiden repliikit on kirjoitettu myös murteella, ja joillain henkilöillä on niin vahva murre, että joutuu lukiessa hieman tavaamaan että mitähän tässä nyt tarkoitetaan. Tähän onneksi kyllä melko nopeasti tottuu.

Kirjassa rakastuin maisemien kuvauksiin, rehellisyyteen ja siitä miten perisuomalaista juroutta kuvataan. Lisäksi yksi päähenkilöistä Kauko on maailman sympaattisin poika, joka on ahkeruudellaan ja ujoudellaan valtaa sydämen. Haluan ehdottomasti lukea myös seuraavan osan!

[wally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read from February 22 to 26, 2011

Our Daily Bread, Kalle Paatalo
This is volume 1 of 5

Good story. There are details in this story that are unique, using a bat's skin under one's arm for good luck for a card player...a witch what snips wool from lambs and hairs from cow tails...people everywhere on skis. A road that is built and that ends the story. Paatalo captures in detail a way of life in a place at a certain time...magazines stitched together to form a book. The details are few because the time was not plenty. Our daily bread, hard to come by, but bread there was. Volume one of five, each one approximately the same length. Entertaining and captivating read.

i enjoyed the metaphor/similes: like a fishy Laplander--as explained below, the Laps were, perhaps still, considered a lower class...the poor hump away all night like men on piece work...it seems the world over, the poor are breeders who should not...more so when times are tough...like a cloudberry blossom growing out in the marsh...tell that to your sweetheart the next time and see how it goes over...like the Russian who fell in the rapids...which may or may be an allusion to something i'm not aware of...

the characters area real, they struggle w/real problems...the men are the most reticent of creatures and at times do not speak unless there are chores to be done, they are angered...often a question goes unasked because that is the way things were done...there is a shyness about the people amongst themselves while there is also an openness that is interesting to read...in an age when everyone is footloose and anything goes, as long as it is politically correct, this was a joy to read...at the same time, dancing is a sin to some, while it is a celebration to others.

it was interesting to see how people who have known each other for years address each other...'malinen will sit on the bench'....or in one instance, in the 3rd person, because that person had attained a kind of elevated status...whereas previously he was Tampere Boy...no one knew, or asked, his first name...and all were fine with that.


early on, characters simply walk into a dwelling, perhaps stand inside the door. this was common. by the end of the story, we learn that the young have taken to knocking prior to entering...and in one instance, there is a knock, but no waiting for the butler comes...there are servants, renki and such, even among the very poor.

another thing i enjoyed is the use of dreams, always fascinating. one dream (nightmare) that Kauko has goes on for several pages and at first, it seemed real, and only a bit before it ended did i realize it was a dream--the dream reflected reality---poor, having to worry where the bread/flour was going to come from, a character a bit stingy though all he does is write out a slip for flour...

and another one, the hermit, late in the story...he dreamed ten years prior, that a giant snake was coming along, setting up on the shore, thrashing its tail about--this, related to the road that is built.

dreams are always fascinating, from dickens to dostoyevsky...and it's a wonder they're not used more frequently...

the story that follows this one takes up w/Kauko, the bridge that was coming at the end is present...


translator’s foreword pp i-ii
Kalle Paatalo’s Koillismaa is the selko, a backwoods region of northeastern Finland in the depression years of the 1930s. The experiences of Kauko, the man walking in chapter I. The story is life as experienced in this given place and time.


chapter I pp 1-19
A man walks through an endless wilderness, having left one torpaa, he journeys through the cold, an old woman, “no rouva“ her, directs him to a place called Saaskilampi, with a large pirtti, where he can rest and eat.
Inside the Saaskilampi (the “a”s are dotted twice) there is a renki, a kind of tenant farmer and the isanta (“a”s dotted twice), the master of the house/boss. Abel, the renki is sore for having lost money at cards. Ivar Saaskilampi is the isanta. Abel is stamping “like a fishy Laplander.” The Laplanders, I understand, are considered lower class in Finland, or were for years, whether that be true still I don’t know. “Some half dozen of the unredeemed had crept into a neighbor’s sauna late on Saturday night.”

“And if cursing to one’s heart’s content were the world’s greatest sin, then all would be well. At least it’s not a hidden sin.”

The visitor is from the city, born & bred, Tampere. Ivar has a Bible, inclines to the teachings of Levi Laestadius. “A man doesn’t become a believer just by going to church.” Reads from Mark, false Christs, false prophets. (here where i come from, i hazard that the religion from Laestadius--those folk are known as "bunners" old apostolic lutherans...my mother was a bunner, as were my grandparents. me? i know that i can walk into ten churches, be damned in each one, though i believe jesus is who he said he was and so it goes.)

The visitor is hungry, though he doesn’t want to beg. Ivar is reluctant, based on two who passed through the year prior, and Abel asks him about Bible verses. The visitor asks Abel how far to the next town--nine miles--dotted “a”s--Jarvenkyla. Ivar goes to see about food.

Ivar has a daughter, Irja, school-age, a son, Bert, who in winter was skiing after the reindeer herd. The older sister is married, living elsewhere. Ivar and his wife argue loudly. A woman servant, Selma, comes in from the barn. The mother is sick in bed. Ivar looks at the stew pot. Irja calls him Isa, two dots on the “a”. Irja disobeys her fathers wishes that no more food than what he said--she brings out a sauce made of cloudberries that grow in the swamp. The visitor eats and compliments Irja on her braids--he tells her on that matter--her hair, she should listen to her father.

the bunners here often have long hair, the women and girls not cutting it....and they place doillies on their head--the women do, in church for prayer...so it goes.

chapter II pp 20-46
Kauko is named, the traveler. He awakes from a restless sleep. This, I take it, is the past (realize later on, no, it is not)…Aiti, a she, is busy w/her morning chores. Aili, a sister & Auku, a brother. Yes, the past, here Kauko is 14, and must go to Vaarakyla. Liisa, the youngest, is on the other bed. They call her Liisu. She is 1. Isa is the father and has seen her twice. The Sammalsuo family. Another bed, w/Anni and Vaino, 5. Maija (Aiti= mom, mother) Sammalsuo, mother
Part II p29
Only Aili & Auku attend public school. Kauko graduated Auku says they might go to Ylikyla w/Junnu to look for a fight after school. They ski to school. On the windows, fantasy flowers of frost. Vaino plays w/reindeer figures carved by Kauko. One falls. He uses his puukko to trim one leg. Vaino wants a bigger reindeer that Jatka Olkiwaawa hath. Isa, it seems, the father, is dead. A logger? Ice blossoms=frost on the window. Kauko laves. Stop at Little Tiina’s mokki.
Part III p33
Kauko skiing passes oncomer. A strip of linen, no bells on horse, linen flapping from the hames, = transporting a corpse. Tied to the left, linen=female. Meets another not from area. Removes socks over his boots so no one will laugh. Just enters, no knock, on door of pirtti. (I noticed this, too, in Dicken’s Bleak House…the one lady made the rounds, just walking in, w/o knocking.) Petti is the isanta of this pirtti, and his emanta (wife) is a large person, ‘we all know what that business is…you’re going to bankrupt the community.” Those in the other room discuss Kauko’s family. Irja Saakilampi, one of them. Kauko flees to the outhouse, crying. This is not the past…this is the present…ha! Kauko reads. Abel comes in. Bert is gone w/the reindeer. Abel naps. Ivar gives him a slip for flour, as he has done before, but for 30 kgrams instead of 60, like the times before. Kauko has a watch from Isa, his father.

chapter III, pp 47-64
Kaukko on skis, water sled on shoulder, for Naavala store on far side of Jarvenkyla, north shore of the lake. The road is graveled, autos have made their appearance in this eastern selko. No autos in winter. “The painted village” = city of Oulu. There is a river that flows to the Gulf of Bothnia. Walkers are an oddity. Natives travel on skis. The storekeeper is surprised/angry (and not one of the devout) that Ivar gave a slip for only half. He wonders what passage of Scripture Ivar was observing. There are no signs (advertisement). Kauko is given a full sack, come and dig potatoes for me in the fall. He also receives five kilos (asked for 2) oatmeal and some stuffed korppuja…’take these to those young clowns.’ (the young children, sweetbread). The storekeeper tells him to come in and warm up. The s.k. is a reader, daily papers from Oulu the capital, periodicals, Finland Pictorial and the Halberdier


4 daughters in the house. Two renkis alongside the isanta. Hilja calls him into the kitchen. Jennie, the oldest, is at the loom, and another is working the treadle, Elisa. They talk. They talk too, of a shipwreck, the Kuru, went down in the fall of ‘29, the 1st year they were in school, Hilja and Kauko. The emanta comes, gives licorice, give to your mother…meaning tobacco I think.

Part II p 55
The Susikoro Logging Camp. Maata-Reete, Nestori Olkivaara’s cutter, had struck leg w/ace. A stranger enters. Nestoria burns his meat, gets more, Toivo his son, laughs. The strangers is looking for work. Nestoria says, ‘bringing trees crashing down…trimming limbs, sawing trees into logs, hoisting the logs onto bunks of the sled, and that’s the end of it. Nothing more complicated than that.
Nestoria Malinen, known as Olkivaara from his torppa…a small farm rental. He says the strangers shoes are good for nada…hey, is that Tetlaus Loso snoring away over there?…pair of felt boots won in the traveling peddler’s drawing?….prejudice…a true logger would wear only well-greased Lapland boots w/a curled-up toe. The stranger is from Tampere….all they needed to know, they did not know his name, nor did the visitor reveal it….come along, Tampere boy…etc.

Moon w/a ring around it=soon have a storm….the horned owl too starts calling, sure sign the snow will fly.

Laukki hauled a mntn of logs. To stable…Vaaralainen’s mare is a kicker…Laukki is a horse. Sleep.

Chapter IV pp65-87
Auku wants to miss school to check snares, etc w/Kauko. Nyyrikki from Emma Olkivaara. Auku sees some ptarmigan, hook-beaked…but they have no gun. Kauko says qqc bout a permit…who cares about permits? If I can’t get a permit to carry a gun, then I’ll drag it along behind me. Do you need a permit for that too? Smell/hands/snares: real trappers rub their hands on a spruce tree to catch the smell of pitch. They investigate abandoned houses…cut into a log, ‘frost killed grain 1857.…elsewhere, Reta and Jaakko They get a grouse from one snare, and an ermine/weasel from a trap…70-80 marks for the pelt=half a sack of flour. Trap at Murhaniemi.

Part II p 78
Maija Sammalso skiing toward Olkivaara. She meets the emanta of Olkivaara…God’s greetings…right hand on left shoulder from Mari and Maija’s left hand on right shoulder of Mari. A little dog w/a curled up tail. Maija/Mari go inside…there is a meeting tonight, but qqc won’t want Mari to go?…They smoke pipes.
Nestoria…Toivo, another son, Jaska. Nestoria gives her some Strong-John (tobacco0 a dog will run out of piss sooner that I run out of tobacco. The stranger can give you board feet of the biggest tree…he has a (slide-rule)

Part III p 82
Nestoria Olkivaara, almost 40. Born Nestoria Malinen. Bid for auction when parents died. He appeared there a few years before the civil war. Mari already pregnant when they marry…so those who troubled did not go unrewarded. Now known as he is, and Nekki too for Nestori. When Toivo born, unrest in the south. Famine ensued. Bread from pine bark. Army. Mokkilainen…shanty dweller, derogatory term, too, at times. Toive, 17. Ten children. Elma, oldest girl, 16. After death of Jaako, Mari sent to the Sammalsuo family. Mari had to live on tiptoe at home.

Part III p 84
Mari Olkivaara made coffee, in Maija. Nestori w/the younger children. Nisu? No markka says Mari. Nestoria peels off a hundred-markka note…send one of the kids. Elma is gone to the painted town for papers. Maiji asks, Nestoria says yes until he learn where..no…the whole tribe of shoulder-touchers makes me sick Mari gives 2 loaves of bread, as Maiji had none…was going to do both on the Word trip.

Chapter v PP89-104
Revival meeting. Planks over blocks of pine trees. Men on one side, women on the other. Every head was bare, even the men. 3 preachers sit at back…another making the Word audible. This all at Saaskilampi. Ivar reads text chosen by preacher

Maiji delayed by sauna….Petti, Ija, keeping food going.

At all revivals, unbelievers present, mostly men and boys. They stood at the back and at times laughed, argued. Maija feels bad because she put off asking for flour. A hand on her shoulder from behind and word calm her, from the emanta of Naavala. A usually quiet mokkilainen silences all. She tells a preacher that she needs a slip for flour. Jaako was not converted when he died. This time he writes a slip for a full sack. A preachers asks about the young isanta…Ivar seems to be hedging….Bert is being discussed. Abel, the renki, too is gone.

Part II p 98
Drink up! The young isanta Saaskilampi---Bert, I take it. 3 men, drinking. One man kids Bert who doesn’t take it well…Veeti. Veeti Ryti’s mokki is remote. Reindeer have brands on their ears. Veeti Ryti has ashes in his balls. The 3rd is called Latvasuo’s boy, though he is not a boy. He too was at meeting w/Bert but they snuck away…Veeti sent word to Ahma-Juuso, bootlegger…They drink, eat reindeer meat. The 3rd said he served with Finland’s ‘heavies’ Bert says the heavies are in Viipuri. Kuopio barracks. Bert says he is in the Guard. Latasuo’s boy sings…8-line song here…one earlier, too. About a rose…where, asks. Veeti says his wife, Kaisa Ryti, when she was young. Bert gets put to bed drunk.

Chapter VI pp 105-133
Kauko in pine tree, gathering cones. The timber barons in the church village are buying. He hears qqc felling trees, moving, falling trees, closer. Toivo Olkivaara…picking pine cones! Toivo’s cones are on a sled, a bulging jute sack….price is a quarter a liter, the sack contains a hecto, 100 liters in a hecto…25 markkas. Government forests. Permits are required in government forests for twigs. No permits are given.
Depression all over, says Kauko, England and America. The workers have taken over in Russia, says Toivo. Russia here I come, says Toivo, talks of the Tampere Boy, who walks away when the others talk politics or other bullshit. Kauko asks what is his name? Tampere Boy. Toivo tells Kauko not to tell about cones, Russia.

Part 2 p 110
Maija Sammalsuo to barn…little fodder left for cows, sheep. Someone has been there, left a mark on yeanling’s head, no marks on udders of cows. She goes to get Kauko. Auku comes too. Someone sheared the sheep’s head…was it the Easter witch, asks Auku. Maija finds the cow’s tails clipped, too. Auku tells Kauko that next Easter they’ll stay in the barn, etc.

Part 3 p113
Jarvenkyla, people divided into 2 groups, believers and the wanderers in the board ways of sin. The latter gather at the Tormala house, illicit dances. Sokko, a game is played…drink/dance/Sokko. Fights. (Moccasin Square Garden) Samppa, son-in-law of Tormala, a fighter. Puukko-Samppa.

Kauko going out…Auku asks where…Toivo and Nestori Olkivaara. Me too, says Auku. Sauna there still. The isanta comes from the sauna on the shore, completely nude, except for a bundle of clothing. Talk. The Easter witch. Olkivaara asks Vante to bring tobacco and paper, the weekly Nyyrikki and the Strong-John Nestori says no more work till whenever…he doesn’t cut wood for the fire at home. Leaves that to the women. Toivo smokes openly, has for years, around Nestori. Toivo also swears. Elma the eldest girl appears…she’s one of few girls in community who cuts braids. She’s used a heated poker to curl her hair. Elma asks about the papers, torn for smokes…asks Kauko about the serial, ‘if only Irene would believe that Paul isn’t the thief. Alarantas borrowed the latest picture magazine. Kauko feels self-conscious about ‘reading’ in front of Toivo, who glances at him Toivo puts on a factory shirt, going to Tormala’s. Shoemaker Renne is supposed to bring his phonograph. Elma wants to go, too. Nestori goes to feed Laukki, water…the river Ii Kauko will go w/Toivo and Elma.

The phonograph, “Emma” Dancing.. Samppa is sharpening his puukko. Samppa Naatamaa. He has served on jail term. The dance, too, is unlicensed. Apparently there are licensed dances in barns that get broken up when the faithful get wind of them. Kauko is by the stove, alone. Bert shows up w/others. Even the hicks made it. Bert is wearing new clothes. High-topped boots, a sign of wealth. Trousers that flared out at the thigh. Two drunks come, hear Bert holler, push, shove, knife, Bert is cut….no, the knife wielder, a switchblade that closed on the hand that held it. 3 join in as the isanta tosses one to floor and holds him. Samppa comes, ‘bright blades, and scales!’ Samppa cuts two of them. One man goes thru the window…soon Kauko goes thru as well ‘corner of the man’s mouth and a part of his cheek folded down over one side of his chin.’

Chapter VII pp 135-172
Early spring, ice gone on Murhajarvi where a river flowed out of the lake. Auku Sammalsuo, sitting on skis, gripping a large crossbow. Waterfowl. Kauko has set off for Naavala. Earlier, got Aili out of bed as he made arrows. Woodstove, keep the fire going. Two golden-eyes land, he shoots, misses. He jumps on his arrows, smashing them….a person can’t even have a real gun. Aiti goes to look for him. Sees him, gets a birch branch ready. She lets him have it

Part 2 p 144
Toivo Olkivaara, drinking rye water brewed by Aiti-Mari. Toivo Malinen. Skiing along w/pack, he tries to make a cigarette, no papers, uses a ten-mark note. Sees elk tracks…government, etc, illegal. If he had a gun, like Auku above…he must have one, though he didn’t bring it. He has the same general thought about some birds…he’d have to hide one if he got it…the buttonheads, always the buttonheads.

Kauko, not yet 5, arrives in the yard at Naavala. Hillja. Higher social status than Elma. There are 3 hectos of Toivo’s on the sled there. Toivo meets the Naavala storekeeper leading a stallion. Going to the painted town. Coffee first. Under a buck reindeer hide on sled, the antlers still attached, pointing to the rear, as if on guard against evil spirits lurking behind. Alseli Naavala let the horse maintain its own pace. Jaako, Kauko’s deceased father, believed only in logging--family would have been better off had he cleared land as Alseli has.

There is a “real object” to this trip, a meeting. Asks food for animals? Almost gone.

less and less as i add more and more above.

there's more, but this is all i had room for

[Chris Aylott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deeply prosaic novel about life in the backwoods of Finland in the mid-1930s. Almost everyone is cold and hungry and sad, from 14-year-old Kauko (the fictional analogue of Päätalo, who grew up in this region) to the "Tampere poika" who has walked northeast almost to the Russian border looking for work. Life is hard and a lot of terrible things happen to more or less decent people, but there's also a thread of wit and hope running through the story that I find heartening.

The story ends with no clear conclusion, probably because Päätalo already had the series of sequels that followed in mind. (The sequels are harder to find in English, so I may have to wait a bit to see what happens next.) But as a slice-of-life exploration of character, it works just fine.

[Kirjasieppo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lajissaan ainutlaatuista luettavaa. Päätalo on kansanelämän kuvaajana mestari. Tämä Koillismaa-sarjan aloitus on ikäänkuin elämäkerrallisen Iijoki-sarjan siloiteltu esikuva: näin Päätalo olisi varmaan asioiden toivonut menneen. Tässä romaanissa paha saa palkkansa, nuori Kauko saa huomiota ja tunnustusta sekä pääsee näyttämään taitojaan ilman itseruoskintaa ja ainaista köyhyydessä rypeytymistä. Toki elämä on rankkaa tässäkin kirjassa, muttei aivan niin raadollista kuin Iijoki-sarjassa. Kerronta toki paikoitellen vähän ontuu, mutta hyvin luettavaa ja mukaansatempaavaa tarinaa Päätalo suoltaa.

[Lars Johanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very good description of the people and places in the forested wilderness of northeast Finland in the 1930s. The characters are described with a careful eye to detail so that it shows their strengths and shortcomings. Such an eye for detail comes only from a writer who has evidently lived in the area and heard the stories of its residents. However, this type of book may only appeal to those who have an interest in Finland or the lives of people who struggle for their existence.

[Ronkeli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sukellus 1930-luvulle. Hyvin verkkainen kirja, jossa ei lopulta ehdi paljoa tapahtua. Päätalo kuvailee kiireettä kaikkea toimintaa, jokaista tapahtumapaikkaa, ilmanalaa, käytettyjä välineitä, vallitsevia mielialoja. Sopii mummolan pihakeinussa luettavaksi tai kuunneltavaksi sukkaa kutoessa, särkiä peratessa, piippua rassatessa.

[Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good and interesting book. The translation is good, very readable. I haven't read the original to compare.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

While searching for books in the library,this book caught my eye because it concerns my ancestors, the Finns. It is a Finnish novel written in 1960 and translated into English and it gives an excellent picture of how the northern Finns lived in the 1930's and how they survived the Depression. It's written in a way that reminds me of the English speaking Finns I remember from my youth. Surprising to me were the passages concerning the Laestadians because they believed the same way I do today.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Translation: Our Daily Bread. As a Finnish-American it was fascinating not only to understand what life was like in Northern, rural Finland during the Great Depression, but it was very interesting to see the differences in Finnish Novel structure. The narration is told from many a multitude of perspectives, but not in first-person.

[Olli-Pekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yksityiskohtaisen kerronnan ansiosta kirja tulee luettua todella kiireettömästi ja nautiskellen läpi. Kiirehtimään ei halua ryhtyä, ettei menettäisi hippustakaan siitä tiedosta mitä kirjalla on lukijalle annettavana. Kirjailijasta on kovaa vauhtia tulossa yksi omista suosikeistani, vaikka tämä oli itselleni järjestyksessään vasta toinen Päätalo.

[Matti]

Good antitode for current first-world problems.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Finnish history about home life during the Great Depression.