Suomalaiset: People of the Marsh

by Mark Munger, Mark A. Munger

A historical novel based upon the lynching of a Finnish dockworker in Duluth, Minnesota. A love story. A story of the labor movement. A story of immigration.

Genres: Fiction

504 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Mark Munger is a life-long resident of Northeastern Minnesota. Mark, his wife Rene', and one of their four sons live on the banks of the wild and scenic Cloquet River north of Duluth. When not writing fiction, Mark enjoys hunting, fishing, skiing, and working as a District Court Judge.

Reviews

[Heidi Bakk-Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me forever to finish this book, because Munger insisted on self-publishing this monster on his own. It suffers, as a result, from not having a proper edit. Especially his quirky use of full names rather than following literary convention is clunky and disruptive. The historical research is (mostly) impeccable and thorough. (Only an expert like myself would notice the few errors, I'm sure.) I doubt most people would muscle through this book as is, but local history buffs might manage it. I had fantasies of editing as I read. A talented editor could have made it a local classic. Maybe someday someone will persuade the Judge to let that happen.

[Kaisa Ferrier · Rating 5 out of 5]

INCREDIBLE book. As a Minnesota gal with Finnish ancestry and relatives from Michigan that moved to Minnesota. It felt as though this could have been one of my ancestors. Beautiful storytelling and realistic representations of life during the era of the book. Lovingly careful with the personalities and immigrant stories. I loved it! I gave it to my mom to read, she loved it. I gave it to my dad to read, and he loved it!

[George Host · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read. I particularly like the way Munger weaves the fictional part of the book into the geography of northern Minnesota. As a resident I'm familiar with Island Lake, the Cloquet River, Lester Park, but imagining how the Finns adapted to these places in the early logging and settlement days was pretty fascinating. I also appreciate the interplay of real historical figures with non-fiction characters, cool plot device and clearly took quite a bit of research.

[Myrna Howes · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a granddaughter of Finnish immigrants who met, married, and are now buried in northern Minnesota, I couldn’t put this novel down. From the ship “Polaris”, to Palo, to walking the streets of Aurora, to Finnish newspapers and hunting knives, my own memories came alive. And even generations later, I think Munger has portrayed the Finlander quite well.

[Heidi Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book. Knowing the areas of MN spoken of in the book, and having Finnish heritage made me think of people who were like those characters in the book. Munger does a good job of marrying the personalities, places and time period. I’m looking forward to starting the next one.

[Faye Sleeper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical fiction set in northeastern Minnesota. The struggles of Finnish immigrants and their mistreatment, Finnish culture all set in that time and events of that time.

[River · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-researched & excellent book!

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading Historical Fiction and this book was so full of interesting information, and with an easy to read story. A lot of research certainly went into the writing of this book. Highly recommended! I am soon going to start the follow up to this book.

[Sharon Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book; it gave an in depth background of the hardships and trials endured by early Finns (and other nationalities) in the early 1900s in Northern Minnesota (Duluth and the Iron Range). I got involved with the characters in the story and look forward to reading the next book, Sukulaiset: The Kindred (a sequel to this story). I will have to look for more books by this author.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the references to the area where I've lived and grown up, I found myself skimming through half of the book where the story, written almost too descriptive, felt more like a filler. I did enjoy the characters and the underlying storyline, just felt like a lot of it read almost too much like a classic where I didn't need so much description and explanation.

[Dennis Gerwing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction, I think, at its best. The "history" component is very interesting and informative and appears to be well researched and the "fiction" component is very entertaining and woven nicely into the historical context. Highly recommended.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that really started my hunger for finnish-american lit. Even Ron Maki liked it!

[Beth Shaughnessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was stranded in the Duluth airport and picked up this book. What an incredible find. A wonderful historical fiction.

[Ardys Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it very much. Gave me a picture of what the early people of Duluth would have encountered.