What do you think?
Rate this book
Så här upphör världen
Försommargrönskan skälver omkring Erik och Julia när de stuvar in barnen i bilen och påbörjar färden mot stugan vid havet i Österbotten. Utifrån: en kärnfamilj mitt i livet
som ska få en lång sommar tillsammans. Men tiden kan också verka i motsatt riktning, blottlägga sprickorna i det som förut verkade stadigt. Andra personer dyker upp och komplicerar tillvaron: Julias barndomsvän Marika och hennes karismatiske man Chris, som leder Rörelsen. En grupp miljöaktivister som gett upp hoppet om jorden och som istället övar sig i att leva primitivt och sörja den värld som redan gått förlorad. I utkanten finns en ensam kvinna i ett hus vid stranden som bär på en stor sorg.
Kring dessa människor, en sommar, spinner Philip Teir en finstämd berättelse om livsval och lögner, om barndom och vuxenhet. Hur lever vi, om vi vet att världen snart kommer att upphöra?
Philip Teir (född 1980) är författare och tidigare kulturchef på Hufvudstadsbladet. Han skriver om politik och kultur för Dagens Nyheter och driver festivalen Helsinki Lit.
Debutromanen "Vinterkriget" översattes till flera språk. Det brittiska förlaget Serpents Tail utkorade honom till #scanzen, en samtidsskildrare likt Jonathan Franzen men med nordiskt temperament
som ska få en lång sommar tillsammans. Men tiden kan också verka i motsatt riktning, blottlägga sprickorna i det som förut verkade stadigt. Andra personer dyker upp och komplicerar tillvaron: Julias barndomsvän Marika och hennes karismatiske man Chris, som leder Rörelsen. En grupp miljöaktivister som gett upp hoppet om jorden och som istället övar sig i att leva primitivt och sörja den värld som redan gått förlorad. I utkanten finns en ensam kvinna i ett hus vid stranden som bär på en stor sorg.
Kring dessa människor, en sommar, spinner Philip Teir en finstämd berättelse om livsval och lögner, om barndom och vuxenhet. Hur lever vi, om vi vet att världen snart kommer att upphöra?
Philip Teir (född 1980) är författare och tidigare kulturchef på Hufvudstadsbladet. Han skriver om politik och kultur för Dagens Nyheter och driver festivalen Helsinki Lit.
Debutromanen "Vinterkriget" översattes till flera språk. Det brittiska förlaget Serpents Tail utkorade honom till #scanzen, en samtidsskildrare likt Jonathan Franzen men med nordiskt temperament
300 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2017
12 people are currently reading
403 people want to read
About the author
Philip Teir
12 books20 followersPhilip Teir (s. 1980 Pietarsaaressa) on Hufvudstadsbladetin kulttuuritoimituksen päällikkö, joka kirjoittaa itse mm. kirjallisuus-, musiikki- ja televisiokritiikkiä. Hän on toimittanut useita kirjallisuusantologioita ja kirjoittaa myös ruotsalaiseen sanomalehti Expresseniin.
Teirin esikoisteos, runokokoelma Någonting ur hennes mun faller i min mun, ilmestyi 2007. Novellikokoelmassa Donner-ryhmä yhdistyvät urbaani arki ja absurdit sävyt.
Teirin esikoisteos, runokokoelma Någonting ur hennes mun faller i min mun, ilmestyi 2007. Novellikokoelmassa Donner-ryhmä yhdistyvät urbaani arki ja absurdit sävyt.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
January 9, 2019
This book is about a family, Erik and Julia, going to their summer house in the seaside of Finland to spend the summer there with their 2 kids. But, they are not trouble free in their minds. There, they meet some neighbours, including some familiar faces from the past. Along the way, we get to know other characters and some secrets from the history pops in. Since, we spend several weeks in this summer neighbourhood, relations and some happenings emerge.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s an easygoing summer read. What was most attractive for me is to be introduced to Finnish culture, summer house styles, how the environment was described. I admit, I’m very attracted to these summer houses with saunas in them, so you get warm before and after jumping into the cold water 🙂
So, the setting and atmosphere was really enchanting. There was a really good mix of characters as well. Very diverse and interesting people to read about. It's a slow book, not much happens, but at the same time it somehow captivates you. There's not a clear plot, but the story turns around the lives of these people. It's also a short one, so there's no time to get bored.
I think this book would be better if it was a bit longer adding more depth to the characters and what happened to them in the end after the events. Also, the end felt rushed and I would have liked to know more of what happened, how these people developed or came out of their individual situations.
But, all in all, it was an enjoyable read for summer. Thanks a lot to the publisher Serpent's Tail for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s an easygoing summer read. What was most attractive for me is to be introduced to Finnish culture, summer house styles, how the environment was described. I admit, I’m very attracted to these summer houses with saunas in them, so you get warm before and after jumping into the cold water 🙂
So, the setting and atmosphere was really enchanting. There was a really good mix of characters as well. Very diverse and interesting people to read about. It's a slow book, not much happens, but at the same time it somehow captivates you. There's not a clear plot, but the story turns around the lives of these people. It's also a short one, so there's no time to get bored.
I think this book would be better if it was a bit longer adding more depth to the characters and what happened to them in the end after the events. Also, the end felt rushed and I would have liked to know more of what happened, how these people developed or came out of their individual situations.
But, all in all, it was an enjoyable read for summer. Thanks a lot to the publisher Serpent's Tail for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
March 25, 2019
Philip Teir's The Summer House, which was first published in 2018, has been translated from its original Swedish by Tiina Nunnally. The Telegraph regards Finnish-Swedish author Teir as 'Scandinavia's answer to Jonathan Franzen', and says that he has a 'remarkable eye for human behaviour'.
In the novel, married couple Erik and Julia 'marshal their children into the car and start the drive towards the house by the sea on the west coast of Finland where they will spend their summer.' They are going to be staying at the summer house in Mjölkviken which belonged to Julia's grandparents, the first time in which the family have stayed there all together. Outwardly, Julia and Erik, along with their twelve-year-old daughter Alice and ten-year-old son Anton, appear to be a 'happy young family looking forward to a long holiday together.' However, each character is rather apprehensive about what the summer may hold. When focusing on Anton's perspective, Teir writes: 'Two whole months. That was an unimaginable length of time for Anton. When he thought about how it would seem when they came to the end of their holiday, he couldn't really picture it. The summer months quickly flickered past before his eyes.'
Beneath the surface, unspoken things are simmering. The threat of unemployment hovers over Erik, who oversees the IT of a department store, and he feels unable to tell his wife. The arrival of novelist Julia's childhood friend, Marika, at a summer house closeby, 'deepens the hairline cracks that had so far remained invisible.' There are also hints of Julia's struggle to write a new novel. Alice and Anton are beginning to have a growing awareness of how complicated the world around them is, and have to learn to deal with it in their own ways. Alice is becoming increasingly self-conscious, and Anton has many anxieties about the world, and his relationship with his mother. Each concern which Teir gives about the family members feels realistic: Anton not knowing whether he enjoys being out in nature; Alice's lack of connection to the Internet, and by extension her friends, in a place with so little mobile phone coverage; the parents' awareness of themselves and how they behave when in the company of others.
I found the novel's short prologue, in which a young and as yet unnamed boy is sitting in the car, the 'safest place to be' during a thunderstorm, with his mother, and the opening line of the first chapter intriguing. The Summer House proper begins: 'Julia would turn thirty-six in the autumn, yet she had never truly managed to escape her mother's voice.' Julia's mother appears as a secondary character later on in the novel. Other characters - for example, Erik's brother who has been travelling in Vietnam - are added into the mix, and add heightened tension to both the novel as a whole, and the relationships which it depicts.
At first, Teir has left things unsaid, and unexplained. There is a clever building of tension, and of a foreshadowing of things to come, however. When focusing on Julia in an early chapter, Teir writes: 'As she walked through the hall, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and was surprised to realise she looked good in a rather stern sort of way. So this was how a single mother looked, this was how she would look from now on, when they became a family of three.' She is continually surprised by her husband, and also dismayed by the way in which their relationship has shifted. Of her husband, Teir observes: 'She was always struck by how real Erik was when he was at home, as if there were two Eriks: one she would be cross with in her fantasies, and a real Erik, who talked to her and had opinions that required her attention.'
The sense of place in The Summer House has a vivacity and sensuality to it. Such emphasis has been given to the plants and animals which now surround the family, who feel such a world away from their flat in Helsinki. Teir writes, for instance, 'Anton looked around. Everywhere he saw blueberries and lingonberries growing. The trunks of the slender pine trees shifted from grey to reddish-brown where animals had gnawed away at the bark.' There is a real sense of atmosphere which develops in the novel, both with Mjölkviken and its nature, and within the family. Teir focuses on the ways in which each family member interacts with the world around them. When writing about Alice, he says: 'The water was cold, but Alice didn't care, because so much was going on inside her body. She moved slowly, languidly, like in a film, as if surrounded by some sort of membrane that protected her from everything.'
The structure of The Summer House is simple, yet effective. Teir follows each of the family members in turn, alternating between them. Each chapter is quite revealing in its way. The backstory of Julia and Erik has been well developed, and the way in which their marriage has changed over time appears believable. Interesting and complex relationships are demonstrated between family members, as well as with Marika and her family. The Summer House has been well situated socially, too; through the use of Marika and her husband Chris, who are 'eco-warriors', he manages to ask a series of searching questions about the environment, climate change, and other global concerns. Again, he situates each character within a wider scope: 'Erik liked to think of himself as a progressive optimist, but lately it felt like everyone around him had become pessimists. The climate crisis, the financial crisis, the refugee crisis, the euro crisis, the newspaper crisis, the crisis in Ukraine, in the EU, the crisis within the Social Democratic party... There was no area of society that wasn't in crisis. And in Finland people were especially good at crises, as if they didn't feel truly comfortable unless everything was going to hell.'
I was wholly engrossed within The Summer House, a short novel which runs to less than 250 pages. Teir really seems to understand each of his characters and their motivations, and the ways in which they interact with one another feel true to life. Teir's prose has been well translated, and the story is a highly accessible one. The Summer House is a relatively quiet novel, in that not a great deal of action occurs. It is, instead, focused upon a cast of three-dimensional, emotionally complex characters, and how they connect with one another.
In the novel, married couple Erik and Julia 'marshal their children into the car and start the drive towards the house by the sea on the west coast of Finland where they will spend their summer.' They are going to be staying at the summer house in Mjölkviken which belonged to Julia's grandparents, the first time in which the family have stayed there all together. Outwardly, Julia and Erik, along with their twelve-year-old daughter Alice and ten-year-old son Anton, appear to be a 'happy young family looking forward to a long holiday together.' However, each character is rather apprehensive about what the summer may hold. When focusing on Anton's perspective, Teir writes: 'Two whole months. That was an unimaginable length of time for Anton. When he thought about how it would seem when they came to the end of their holiday, he couldn't really picture it. The summer months quickly flickered past before his eyes.'
Beneath the surface, unspoken things are simmering. The threat of unemployment hovers over Erik, who oversees the IT of a department store, and he feels unable to tell his wife. The arrival of novelist Julia's childhood friend, Marika, at a summer house closeby, 'deepens the hairline cracks that had so far remained invisible.' There are also hints of Julia's struggle to write a new novel. Alice and Anton are beginning to have a growing awareness of how complicated the world around them is, and have to learn to deal with it in their own ways. Alice is becoming increasingly self-conscious, and Anton has many anxieties about the world, and his relationship with his mother. Each concern which Teir gives about the family members feels realistic: Anton not knowing whether he enjoys being out in nature; Alice's lack of connection to the Internet, and by extension her friends, in a place with so little mobile phone coverage; the parents' awareness of themselves and how they behave when in the company of others.
I found the novel's short prologue, in which a young and as yet unnamed boy is sitting in the car, the 'safest place to be' during a thunderstorm, with his mother, and the opening line of the first chapter intriguing. The Summer House proper begins: 'Julia would turn thirty-six in the autumn, yet she had never truly managed to escape her mother's voice.' Julia's mother appears as a secondary character later on in the novel. Other characters - for example, Erik's brother who has been travelling in Vietnam - are added into the mix, and add heightened tension to both the novel as a whole, and the relationships which it depicts.
At first, Teir has left things unsaid, and unexplained. There is a clever building of tension, and of a foreshadowing of things to come, however. When focusing on Julia in an early chapter, Teir writes: 'As she walked through the hall, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and was surprised to realise she looked good in a rather stern sort of way. So this was how a single mother looked, this was how she would look from now on, when they became a family of three.' She is continually surprised by her husband, and also dismayed by the way in which their relationship has shifted. Of her husband, Teir observes: 'She was always struck by how real Erik was when he was at home, as if there were two Eriks: one she would be cross with in her fantasies, and a real Erik, who talked to her and had opinions that required her attention.'
The sense of place in The Summer House has a vivacity and sensuality to it. Such emphasis has been given to the plants and animals which now surround the family, who feel such a world away from their flat in Helsinki. Teir writes, for instance, 'Anton looked around. Everywhere he saw blueberries and lingonberries growing. The trunks of the slender pine trees shifted from grey to reddish-brown where animals had gnawed away at the bark.' There is a real sense of atmosphere which develops in the novel, both with Mjölkviken and its nature, and within the family. Teir focuses on the ways in which each family member interacts with the world around them. When writing about Alice, he says: 'The water was cold, but Alice didn't care, because so much was going on inside her body. She moved slowly, languidly, like in a film, as if surrounded by some sort of membrane that protected her from everything.'
The structure of The Summer House is simple, yet effective. Teir follows each of the family members in turn, alternating between them. Each chapter is quite revealing in its way. The backstory of Julia and Erik has been well developed, and the way in which their marriage has changed over time appears believable. Interesting and complex relationships are demonstrated between family members, as well as with Marika and her family. The Summer House has been well situated socially, too; through the use of Marika and her husband Chris, who are 'eco-warriors', he manages to ask a series of searching questions about the environment, climate change, and other global concerns. Again, he situates each character within a wider scope: 'Erik liked to think of himself as a progressive optimist, but lately it felt like everyone around him had become pessimists. The climate crisis, the financial crisis, the refugee crisis, the euro crisis, the newspaper crisis, the crisis in Ukraine, in the EU, the crisis within the Social Democratic party... There was no area of society that wasn't in crisis. And in Finland people were especially good at crises, as if they didn't feel truly comfortable unless everything was going to hell.'
I was wholly engrossed within The Summer House, a short novel which runs to less than 250 pages. Teir really seems to understand each of his characters and their motivations, and the ways in which they interact with one another feel true to life. Teir's prose has been well translated, and the story is a highly accessible one. The Summer House is a relatively quiet novel, in that not a great deal of action occurs. It is, instead, focused upon a cast of three-dimensional, emotionally complex characters, and how they connect with one another.
Read
April 18, 2017"Hauskanhaikea romaani kesästä, perheestä ja maailmanlopusta", lupaa takakansi. Sitä tämä romaani kyllä on, kieltämättä. Tunnelma on samaan aikaan kepeä ja vakava, kirjan henkilöt enemmän ja vähemmän hukassa. Kesä maalla on käännekohta monella tapaa. Pidän Theirin tavasta rakentaa tarinaa, paljastaa uusia näkökulmia, näyttää ja salata.
June 30, 2018
this is a translation from swedish. i was attracted by the subject - adults and teenagers on vacation in a summer house in finland, different contemporary themes from the loss of a job, environmental issues, first love, and many more. and all of them are found in the book, and i enjoyed parts of it... but somehow it did not really work for me.
the prose is partially disappointing, stating obvious things, using uninspired adjectives etc - i wondered whether it might also be a problem of the translation, it‘s very difficult to say. one thing i found disturbing was the change in title - the original title would be „this is how the world ends“ or something along that line (and the german version went with that), whereas the english title is very far from it.
wrapping it up - a book with an interesting subject, in a prose which could have easily been improved and which considerably reduced the pleasure it promised. 2.5 stars, actually.
the prose is partially disappointing, stating obvious things, using uninspired adjectives etc - i wondered whether it might also be a problem of the translation, it‘s very difficult to say. one thing i found disturbing was the change in title - the original title would be „this is how the world ends“ or something along that line (and the german version went with that), whereas the english title is very far from it.
wrapping it up - a book with an interesting subject, in a prose which could have easily been improved and which considerably reduced the pleasure it promised. 2.5 stars, actually.
June 16, 2018
An unremarkable story that didn’t really engage me beyond the unfamiliar and fascinating landscape and seasons of rural Finland. I did enjoy this aspect of the novel very much, the characters and their interaction less so. Of the group of people gathered in the area for the summer, I found Julia and Marike’s relationship the most interesting - women who hadn’t seen each other since shared childhood holidays 20 years ago, but who hadn’t ceased to have an effect on each other. So much so that Julia used Marike as the model for a character in her first novel, drawing on their friendship and rivalry to such an extent that she is embarrassed now to find themselves neighbours for the holiday. As the story progresses, we see how the two women remember things very differently. In fact they have very different views of their current lives, too, with plenty of secrets under the surface to be discovered over the course of the summer.
The writing was a joy when it came to descriptions of the landscape. My biggest disappointment was with the often clunky dialogue - far too much ‘he said, she said’, though reading in translation might not have helped. Imploding marriages, a little bit of coming-of-age for the children, a tentative romance, a wealth of climate change apocalypse speculation and there you have it - a satisfying read, if not particularly memorable.
With thanks to Serpent's Tail/Profile via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
The writing was a joy when it came to descriptions of the landscape. My biggest disappointment was with the often clunky dialogue - far too much ‘he said, she said’, though reading in translation might not have helped. Imploding marriages, a little bit of coming-of-age for the children, a tentative romance, a wealth of climate change apocalypse speculation and there you have it - a satisfying read, if not particularly memorable.
With thanks to Serpent's Tail/Profile via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
June 9, 2018
After Scandi Noir, is the next big thing Scandi Angst? Philip Teir’s first novel, ‘The Winter War’, drew much praise and comparisons to the likes of Jonathan Franzen and Julian Barnes. Now with this, his second novel, Teir continues his exploration of family, relationships and wider society.
Julia and Erik, with their two children in tow, head out of Helsinki for a long summer staying in Julia’s parents’ long-disused summer house. Unbeknownst to his family, Erik has just been made redundant from his job in IT with a large department store, and as the novel develops the summer house and its locations becomes an arena for Teir to explore ‘where we are now’ in a series of events and visits that become almost set-piece explorations of human relationships and wider social concerns. There is Erik’s brother, home from travelling in Vietnam, aimless and going nowhere with his life; there is the mysterious neighbour Kati, recently widowed and dealing with grief; and there is the ‘neo-hippie’ commune next door, where Julia meets her childhood-friend and discovers a family secret relating to her own parents.
Teir is very good at the detail, the minutiae of relationships and family life. Julia’s and Erik’s marriage is creaking, and by the end of the novel we are unsure where they stand. Although we see the events through many different perspectives it is perhaps through the experiences of the two children that we judge the others: Anton, the younger son, who wants to play video games and enjoy the summer but seems forced to face an adult world that confuses and bewilders; and Alice, just turning thirteen and experiencing boys and love for the first time. Ultimately, however, there is no ‘social norm’, each of the various relationships are failing or have failed (there are open relationships, past affairs, summer flings, and, of course, the ‘nuclear family unit’). The unspoken question is clear: how do we live together in a 21st century world as we slide ever closer to environmental, economic and social devastation?
Whilst I did enjoy the book – I firmly believe Teir is an author to watch for the future – some of the symbolism tended on the heavy-handed: as the family leave at the end of the book there is a ���hint of autumn in the air’; as Julia learns of her mother’s affair and her husband losing his job it is in the middle of a thunderstorm with full-on lightning at appropriate moments; the summer house itself is rotting away with water seeping in through the basement….. It works, yes, but I feel there could be more nuance. However, I’m quibbling, because I did enjoy this book very much. More than his first novel? I’m not sure, but together the two of them announce a bold new voice in international fiction. And as for a Scandi Angst? Well, we’ll see…
Julia and Erik, with their two children in tow, head out of Helsinki for a long summer staying in Julia’s parents’ long-disused summer house. Unbeknownst to his family, Erik has just been made redundant from his job in IT with a large department store, and as the novel develops the summer house and its locations becomes an arena for Teir to explore ‘where we are now’ in a series of events and visits that become almost set-piece explorations of human relationships and wider social concerns. There is Erik’s brother, home from travelling in Vietnam, aimless and going nowhere with his life; there is the mysterious neighbour Kati, recently widowed and dealing with grief; and there is the ‘neo-hippie’ commune next door, where Julia meets her childhood-friend and discovers a family secret relating to her own parents.
Teir is very good at the detail, the minutiae of relationships and family life. Julia’s and Erik’s marriage is creaking, and by the end of the novel we are unsure where they stand. Although we see the events through many different perspectives it is perhaps through the experiences of the two children that we judge the others: Anton, the younger son, who wants to play video games and enjoy the summer but seems forced to face an adult world that confuses and bewilders; and Alice, just turning thirteen and experiencing boys and love for the first time. Ultimately, however, there is no ‘social norm’, each of the various relationships are failing or have failed (there are open relationships, past affairs, summer flings, and, of course, the ‘nuclear family unit’). The unspoken question is clear: how do we live together in a 21st century world as we slide ever closer to environmental, economic and social devastation?
Whilst I did enjoy the book – I firmly believe Teir is an author to watch for the future – some of the symbolism tended on the heavy-handed: as the family leave at the end of the book there is a ���hint of autumn in the air’; as Julia learns of her mother’s affair and her husband losing his job it is in the middle of a thunderstorm with full-on lightning at appropriate moments; the summer house itself is rotting away with water seeping in through the basement….. It works, yes, but I feel there could be more nuance. However, I’m quibbling, because I did enjoy this book very much. More than his first novel? I’m not sure, but together the two of them announce a bold new voice in international fiction. And as for a Scandi Angst? Well, we’ll see…
July 16, 2018
Travel to the locations in the book
A nice little break at a summer house sounds nice doesn’t it? Depends on who you go with I suppose, but the family in this novel are the kind you’d want to escape. It’s dysfunctional but the relationships between the various members is what makes it so fascinating. The house acts like a magnifying glass putting emphasis on each and every one. They all come with their problems and, boy, do they have problems. Secrets and lies have also packed their cases. There’s enough baggage already in the summer house!
The setting is a cool calm place which contrasts beautifully with the trauma and chaos within. The various viewpoints add to the variety and randomness of it all.
Oh and didn’t I say before the outside world seems calm by comparison to the randomness within? The book becomes a study of how all people, in the house and those in the world at large, try and fail to live together, speak with each other and adapt to the changes around them.
The house is rotting too – falling to bits. The imagery is loud and clear.
It’s an interesting look at the world and the people within.
June 26, 2020
That book met none of my expectations. It wasn't rly eventful (yes plenty of "a day in the life of a random person", but no true story arch as such), nor was it cosy/happy/sad/scary or mysterious or any other adjective that I would've been OK with, as long as anything happened. Plenty of character stories were introduced and none of them was rly developed to an end or at least a mid-conclusion. There was no character development, nor at least sufficiently detailed descriptions of the areas where the story took place so one could at least enjoy it as a postcard. The only reason for giving it 2 stars and not just one, is that it was short enough to actually read it through and not dump it. I kept expecting something to happen, or someone of the characters to reach some new emotional/mental state, but nothing.
April 28, 2017
Sträckläste i princip. Snabbläst och ganska kort.
Jag tyckte om att boken inte hade ngn egentlig huvudperson och att man får följa flera personer. Det blir inte splittrat trots att de är ganska många och speciella.
När jag läste den tyckte jag den var bra men nu när jag läst färdigt så känner jag att den inte lämnade några spår hos mig. Porträtt och beskrivningar som egentligen inte kom någon vart. Illustration över människans ensamhet? Trots att man lever varandra nära så känner man varandra inte? Kanske handlade den om det men jag vet inte.
Jag tyckte om att boken inte hade ngn egentlig huvudperson och att man får följa flera personer. Det blir inte splittrat trots att de är ganska många och speciella.
När jag läste den tyckte jag den var bra men nu när jag läst färdigt så känner jag att den inte lämnade några spår hos mig. Porträtt och beskrivningar som egentligen inte kom någon vart. Illustration över människans ensamhet? Trots att man lever varandra nära så känner man varandra inte? Kanske handlade den om det men jag vet inte.
May 23, 2019
Jag läste fort ut boken – alltså är den extremt läsvänlig – men ändå saknade jag nåt. Den första delen av boken gillade jag mer, den kändes klarare och som om att jag kom närmare karaktärerna.
Jag blev lite överraskad när en ny person (med nytt perspektiv) plötsligt introducerades ungefär 150 sidor in i boken.
Boken är ändå definitivt läsvärd och det finns en hel del träffsäkra beskrivningar, vissa som jag skrattade högt åt. :)
Jag blev lite överraskad när en ny person (med nytt perspektiv) plötsligt introducerades ungefär 150 sidor in i boken.
Boken är ändå definitivt läsvärd och det finns en hel del träffsäkra beskrivningar, vissa som jag skrattade högt åt. :)
April 10, 2017
"Han kunde se det så tydligt plötsligt, att hon var en person också, inte bara hans mamma. I sättet som hon rörde sig kunde han se den person hon en gång varit, hennes liv, innan honom. Och när hon vände sig mot honom och log, kunde han se att hon var bekymrad och han tänkte på alla de saker hon kunde vara bekymrad för som inte hade med honom att göra."
August 15, 2022
This is the story of a family who leave the city to head to the summer home for the entire summer. The home belongs to Julia's family and she has not been to this summer home in over 20 years. She is now 36 and she is an author. She is thinking she might write her second book while on summer vacation. Her husband, Erik, as the IT guy at a huge department store and has just found out he has been laid off from his job. For some reason he can't tell his wife this fact. They have two children a girl who is turning 13 and a boy who is 10.
They head to the summer home which is really in not good shape since no one has been there in over 20 years but they make the best of a bad situation. They meet some of the neighbours who are kind of modern day hippies. The father in that family is trying to establish some kind or "following" related to the fact that we are killing the environment. He does not want to do anything about stopping the death of the environment since nobody is listening but he is trying to create some kind of survival group. The mother is an old friend of Julia's. They used to hang around together when they were children. They have a 13 year old son.
Also living next door is a single woman who plays tennis by herself every night.
A brother to Erik arrives and he has no aim in life.
So there you have it. That is about as exciting as the story gets. Various things happen to various members of the family. Everyone is running around with their head buried in the sand and not really talking to one another but at one another.
There is a lot of angst, dysfunctional family activities, people cheating on people, unhappiness, 13 year old's coming of age, a mental health break down, lots of drinking and a lot of time in the saunas.
I did finish the story and really nothing happened in this story except for the 13 year old's running away and coming back and Erik having a midlife crisis.
They head to the summer home which is really in not good shape since no one has been there in over 20 years but they make the best of a bad situation. They meet some of the neighbours who are kind of modern day hippies. The father in that family is trying to establish some kind or "following" related to the fact that we are killing the environment. He does not want to do anything about stopping the death of the environment since nobody is listening but he is trying to create some kind of survival group. The mother is an old friend of Julia's. They used to hang around together when they were children. They have a 13 year old son.
Also living next door is a single woman who plays tennis by herself every night.
A brother to Erik arrives and he has no aim in life.
So there you have it. That is about as exciting as the story gets. Various things happen to various members of the family. Everyone is running around with their head buried in the sand and not really talking to one another but at one another.
There is a lot of angst, dysfunctional family activities, people cheating on people, unhappiness, 13 year old's coming of age, a mental health break down, lots of drinking and a lot of time in the saunas.
I did finish the story and really nothing happened in this story except for the 13 year old's running away and coming back and Erik having a midlife crisis.
May 26, 2025
I really loved this summer escape to the Finnish seaside through this family of four: Julia and Erik and their two children, Alice and Anton. Like every family, they come with baggage. Erik has been sacked from his mediocre job at a department store but hasn't told his wife. Julia is a novelist who will spend her summer writing her next book. She had written one before about her childhood at this same summer home, which the family hasn't visited in years, and her childhood friend Marika. She had somehow felt oppressed by Marika as a child; Julia hadn't been in touch with her in years. But the family discovers that Marika is visiting her family home with her husband, Chris, who has some strong beliefs about the environment. Chris and Marika had been environmental activists but now "formed a loose-knit group in Scotland whose purpose - and the whole thing sounded a bit vague to Julia - was to prepare for living in the world after climate change. And they had decided that Mjölkviken was the perfect place from which to welcome the apocalypse."
This is NOT a futuristic or dystopian book. It is a book relevant to the current times, though it was published in 2018. The cast of characters also include some random people who are part of the "movement," Kati, a grieving woman therapist, Chris's 13-year-old son Leo, and Erik's brother Anders. All of them are struggling with personal failures or dilemmas or life decisions, both past and present. I really love this kind of slow-moving book that explores the issues of the day and personal struggles of the characters.
This is NOT a futuristic or dystopian book. It is a book relevant to the current times, though it was published in 2018. The cast of characters also include some random people who are part of the "movement," Kati, a grieving woman therapist, Chris's 13-year-old son Leo, and Erik's brother Anders. All of them are struggling with personal failures or dilemmas or life decisions, both past and present. I really love this kind of slow-moving book that explores the issues of the day and personal struggles of the characters.
Read
October 9, 2017Utuinen tarina perhesuhteista, maailmanlopun odottamisesta ja siitä, miten emme kuitenkaan voi nähdä kaikkea toisesta ihmisestä. Teir kirjoittaa hienosti monesta näkökulmasta ja ruotsiaan on miellyttävä lukea, mutta vaihtuvat kertojat aiheuttavat sen että kukaan ei oikein tule kovin läheiseksi tarinan edetessä.
(ps. Miten nämä finlandssvenska böcker joita luen tapahtuvat aina meren rannalla?)
(ps. Miten nämä finlandssvenska böcker joita luen tapahtuvat aina meren rannalla?)
September 26, 2019
You will love it if you’re familiar with Nordic pace of life, mindset and ways. More so if you’re a Nordic person who in their lifetime has had several akward passive aggressive relationship talks in the sauna.
You will not get it if you have never been to an actual summer house and for you sauna is just a hot room in a spa complex.
You will not get it if you have never been to an actual summer house and for you sauna is just a hot room in a spa complex.
April 6, 2018
Read this as an e-book. A really fun little book with light symbolism and moments that made me laugh. Philip Teir is from the same small city, Pietarsaari, where I'm from and that added a new layer to the book for me. I felt like some of the subjects could've been explored more broadly, but maybe this way there's room for imagination and interpretation. Somehow the setting and topics threw: the jobs, smartphones, Pokémon, Stockmann...
Also: there were a few good reading tips hidden inside this book!
I love the cover of the book, by the way!
Also: there were a few good reading tips hidden inside this book!
I love the cover of the book, by the way!
December 12, 2018
Ei tämä maailmaa muuttanut, mutta oli jotenkin sopivan kevyt, vaikkakin raskaista aiheista.
Kerrankin myös kirja, jossa lapsen näkökulma oli uskottava.
Kerrankin myös kirja, jossa lapsen näkökulma oli uskottava.
December 21, 2017
Töksähtelevästi kirjoitettu, melko mitäänsanomaton tapaus mielestäni. Kahlasin läpi jotenkuten.
March 19, 2019
Ajattelin alkuun, että tämä olisi joku käännösjenkkiopus, mutta Teir onkin suomalainen.. Se yllätys oli hauska.
Tällä tavoin maailma loppuu on kirja tästä ajasta. Ollaan luovalla alalla tai kelpo duuneissa, mutta kelpo duunitkin epävarmoja ja luova ala ei muuta olekaan. Etsitään itseä loppuun asti, mennään Pohjanmaan rannikolle viettämään perheen kanssa kesää kaapit täynnä luurankoja. Tämä tarina on samastuttavampi kenties siksi että sitä toistellaan ja tälle kohdeyleisölle kirjoitetaan selfhelppiä ja nytliitteitä kuin siksi, että se elämänkokemus kovinkaan syvällisesti osuisi. Tai kai kaikkia nykyisin ahdistaa. Miksi ei ahdistaisi.
Siellä mökkinaapurustossa hengaa sitten monikulttuurinen ympäristökriisiä odottava jengi. Hippejä. No nämä ekoahdistuneet ovat aika sivuosassa ja enemmänkin manipuloinnista kärsivä stereotyyppinen karismaattinen kultti, mutta ajatus uhkaavasta ilmastokatastrofista heitetään ikään kuin varjoksi kaiken päälle. Kaikki päämäärättömyys, stressailu urasta, seksistä, avioliitosta, menneistä valinnoista, vanhemmista, alkoholinkäytöstä, annetuista vaikutelmista on juuri niin perinjuurin nihilististä, samaistuttavaa ja tuttua kuin se nyt aina on, mutta sitten on se sekava poppoo, jonka kautta henkilökohtainen ja todellinen (?) maailmanloppu asettuvat rinnan. Tekisi mieli sanoa, että kirja ei ehkä kerronnaltaan ime mukanaan (kertoja tietää liikaa, ja rakenne on liian selostava mun imaistuksitulemismakuuni), mutta ehkä näin jälkikäteen juuri tää hienovarainen ilmastokatastrofilla koko juonen tahraaminen onkin aika taitava jippo. Kaikessa tutussa onkin jotain outoa.
Tällä tavoin maailma loppuu on kirja tästä ajasta. Ollaan luovalla alalla tai kelpo duuneissa, mutta kelpo duunitkin epävarmoja ja luova ala ei muuta olekaan. Etsitään itseä loppuun asti, mennään Pohjanmaan rannikolle viettämään perheen kanssa kesää kaapit täynnä luurankoja. Tämä tarina on samastuttavampi kenties siksi että sitä toistellaan ja tälle kohdeyleisölle kirjoitetaan selfhelppiä ja nytliitteitä kuin siksi, että se elämänkokemus kovinkaan syvällisesti osuisi. Tai kai kaikkia nykyisin ahdistaa. Miksi ei ahdistaisi.
Siellä mökkinaapurustossa hengaa sitten monikulttuurinen ympäristökriisiä odottava jengi. Hippejä. No nämä ekoahdistuneet ovat aika sivuosassa ja enemmänkin manipuloinnista kärsivä stereotyyppinen karismaattinen kultti, mutta ajatus uhkaavasta ilmastokatastrofista heitetään ikään kuin varjoksi kaiken päälle. Kaikki päämäärättömyys, stressailu urasta, seksistä, avioliitosta, menneistä valinnoista, vanhemmista, alkoholinkäytöstä, annetuista vaikutelmista on juuri niin perinjuurin nihilististä, samaistuttavaa ja tuttua kuin se nyt aina on, mutta sitten on se sekava poppoo, jonka kautta henkilökohtainen ja todellinen (?) maailmanloppu asettuvat rinnan. Tekisi mieli sanoa, että kirja ei ehkä kerronnaltaan ime mukanaan (kertoja tietää liikaa, ja rakenne on liian selostava mun imaistuksitulemismakuuni), mutta ehkä näin jälkikäteen juuri tää hienovarainen ilmastokatastrofilla koko juonen tahraaminen onkin aika taitava jippo. Kaikessa tutussa onkin jotain outoa.
May 11, 2021
Hmm, vet inte riktigt vad jag ska skriva om denna. Den började bra, men ganska snabbt gick det utför. Jag tyckte att historien inte höll ihop så värst bra, det blev hackigt och ryckigt och jag tror (?) att det hoppade lite i tid också, men detta blev väldigt otydligt. Lite för mycket domedag över berättelsen, och karaktärerna utvecklades inte genom boken. Och sen plötsligt var den slut, och inget hade egentligen hänt. Många lösa trådar i slutet, och det drar alltid ner betyget för min del. Mysigt ändå att det utspelas i Österbotten, och en viss igenkänning kommer ändå från det.
May 20, 2017
2,5
Hade hög igenkänningsfaktor när det gäller miljön och det vardagliga finlandssvenska livet, men jag upplever att det egentligen inte hände så mycket. Det fanns en inre spänning som alltid bubblade under ytan, men som aldrig riktigt kom fram. Vissa saker kändes också ganska "random" så att säga, och många saker hände utan att det var nåt stort i det, typ "jaha nu gör en person så här ok". Boken saknade med andra ord något stort.
Hade hög igenkänningsfaktor när det gäller miljön och det vardagliga finlandssvenska livet, men jag upplever att det egentligen inte hände så mycket. Det fanns en inre spänning som alltid bubblade under ytan, men som aldrig riktigt kom fram. Vissa saker kändes också ganska "random" så att säga, och många saker hände utan att det var nåt stort i det, typ "jaha nu gör en person så här ok". Boken saknade med andra ord något stort.
January 27, 2019
Man skulle kanske kunna säga att det här är en ekokritisk roman, men jag vill hellre säga att det här är en relationsroman. Teir förmår fånga det högkänsliga barnet, det slentrianbaserade äktenskapet och den tonårigas inre värld på ett oerhört trovärdigt sätt. Jag blir väldigt berörd av särskilt den elvaårige sonen Antons perspektiv på händelserna vid Mjölkviken. Väldigt fin läsning!
June 28, 2018
Rezension von Melanie zu So also endet die Welt: Roman von Philip Teir
4 von 5 🌟eine gut ausgearbeitete Familiengeschichte
Klappentext
"Julia und Erik, Mitte dreißig, verbringen die Ferien mit ihren Kindern im Sommerhaus an der Westküste Finnlands. Die Atmosphäre zwischen den Eheleuten ist angespannt: Julia, Autorin eines erfolgreichen Romandebüts, quält sich mit einer Schreibblockade und hadert damit, sich zu früh gebunden zu haben. Erik bangt um seinen Job als Informatiker, mit dem er die Familie ernährt, und wird unter dem Druck zum Lügner. Während Tochter Alice ihre erste Liebe erlebt, spitzen sich die Konflikte zwischen den Eheleuten in den zehn Wochen Urlaub dramatisch zu.
Mit großer Kunstfertigkeit und einer sanften Intensität, die den Leser nicht mehr loslässt, erzählt Philip Teir von einer scheinbar ganz normalen Familie und vermag die Risse in ihrem Zusammenleben mit atemberaubender und verstörender Präzision zu schildern."
Quelle: Amazon Verlag
Meinung
Eine ganz normale Familie. Vater ist ein Informatiker, die Mutter hat einen Bestseller geschrieben und arbeitet an ihrer nächsten Geschichte; die beiden Kinder das Mädchen Alice in der Pupertät und der Junge Anton, er ist ein ausgezeichneter Beobachter mit seinen 10 Jahren drei Jahre jünger als seine Schwester.
Man kann dieses idyllische Familienleben. Und es könnte so schön sein, aber da gibt es die reale Sichtweise hinter der Fassade sehen.
Der Job des Vaters ist nicht mehr sicher, sein Arbeitgeber ist in den Miesen, die Mutter kommt mit dem Schreiben null voran. Die 13 jährige Tochter ist verliebt und Anton habert mit den "alten" Dingen traut sich dies aber nicht zu sagen, wenn seine Oma ihn beschenkt.
Das ganze friedliche Familienleben gerät aus den Fugen. Die Unruhe nimmt immer mehr zu.
Hinzu kommt das beide Eltern schnurstracks auf die vierzig zugehen, und mit mit ihrem Leben und damit wo sie stehen unzufrieden sind.
Dieser Zweifel der Beiden zueinander als auch zu Ihrem Leben steht dabei eindeutig im Vordergrund.
In dieser angespannten Situation fährt die ganze Familie in den Urlaub; ein Sommerhaus in Finnland ist das Ziel. Die Nachbarn sind Aussteiger und führen ein ganz anderes Leben. Die Mutter ist mit der Nachbarin bekannt, waren sogar enge Freundinnen.
Die Risse bei Julia und Erik nehmen immer mehr zu, die Spannungen immer größer.
Dann erscheinen auch noch Julias Eltern auf denen das Haus gehört. Diese machen es nicht besser, denn auch bei denen kriselt es.
Philip Teir versteht es ausgezeichnet die Figuren glaubwürdig und klar zu zeichnen, so das man gut nachvollziehen kann was sie bewegt und warum. Die Lage spitzt sich immer mehr zu.
In der Enge des Sommerhauses mit drei Generationen bleibt kein Geheimnis schlussendlich verborgen.
Dazu neigt die Story allerdings ab und an zu einigen Längen. Aber Teir legt seinen Finger auf Wunden, die im Tiefen schlummern und bringt sie nach und nach ans Licht. Und alles scheint so selbstverständlich, das es wirklich überall hinter der Gardinen passieren kann.
Fakten
304 Seiten
HC 20,00 €
Ebook 15,99 €
Erschienen im Blessing Karl Verlag GmbH
Kaufen kann man das Buch direkt beim Verlag und bei jeder Plattform, welche Bücher und Ebooks anbietet.
Ich möchte mich bei RandomHouse für die Verfügung Stellung des Rezensionsexemplars bedanken.
Dies hat keinerlei Einfluss auf meine persönliche Meinung!
Ihr findet diese Rezension auch wie immer auf unserem Blog:
http://ourfavorbooks.blogspot.de/?m=1
4 von 5 🌟eine gut ausgearbeitete Familiengeschichte
Klappentext
"Julia und Erik, Mitte dreißig, verbringen die Ferien mit ihren Kindern im Sommerhaus an der Westküste Finnlands. Die Atmosphäre zwischen den Eheleuten ist angespannt: Julia, Autorin eines erfolgreichen Romandebüts, quält sich mit einer Schreibblockade und hadert damit, sich zu früh gebunden zu haben. Erik bangt um seinen Job als Informatiker, mit dem er die Familie ernährt, und wird unter dem Druck zum Lügner. Während Tochter Alice ihre erste Liebe erlebt, spitzen sich die Konflikte zwischen den Eheleuten in den zehn Wochen Urlaub dramatisch zu.
Mit großer Kunstfertigkeit und einer sanften Intensität, die den Leser nicht mehr loslässt, erzählt Philip Teir von einer scheinbar ganz normalen Familie und vermag die Risse in ihrem Zusammenleben mit atemberaubender und verstörender Präzision zu schildern."
Quelle: Amazon Verlag
Meinung
Eine ganz normale Familie. Vater ist ein Informatiker, die Mutter hat einen Bestseller geschrieben und arbeitet an ihrer nächsten Geschichte; die beiden Kinder das Mädchen Alice in der Pupertät und der Junge Anton, er ist ein ausgezeichneter Beobachter mit seinen 10 Jahren drei Jahre jünger als seine Schwester.
Man kann dieses idyllische Familienleben. Und es könnte so schön sein, aber da gibt es die reale Sichtweise hinter der Fassade sehen.
Der Job des Vaters ist nicht mehr sicher, sein Arbeitgeber ist in den Miesen, die Mutter kommt mit dem Schreiben null voran. Die 13 jährige Tochter ist verliebt und Anton habert mit den "alten" Dingen traut sich dies aber nicht zu sagen, wenn seine Oma ihn beschenkt.
Das ganze friedliche Familienleben gerät aus den Fugen. Die Unruhe nimmt immer mehr zu.
Hinzu kommt das beide Eltern schnurstracks auf die vierzig zugehen, und mit mit ihrem Leben und damit wo sie stehen unzufrieden sind.
Dieser Zweifel der Beiden zueinander als auch zu Ihrem Leben steht dabei eindeutig im Vordergrund.
In dieser angespannten Situation fährt die ganze Familie in den Urlaub; ein Sommerhaus in Finnland ist das Ziel. Die Nachbarn sind Aussteiger und führen ein ganz anderes Leben. Die Mutter ist mit der Nachbarin bekannt, waren sogar enge Freundinnen.
Die Risse bei Julia und Erik nehmen immer mehr zu, die Spannungen immer größer.
Dann erscheinen auch noch Julias Eltern auf denen das Haus gehört. Diese machen es nicht besser, denn auch bei denen kriselt es.
Philip Teir versteht es ausgezeichnet die Figuren glaubwürdig und klar zu zeichnen, so das man gut nachvollziehen kann was sie bewegt und warum. Die Lage spitzt sich immer mehr zu.
In der Enge des Sommerhauses mit drei Generationen bleibt kein Geheimnis schlussendlich verborgen.
Dazu neigt die Story allerdings ab und an zu einigen Längen. Aber Teir legt seinen Finger auf Wunden, die im Tiefen schlummern und bringt sie nach und nach ans Licht. Und alles scheint so selbstverständlich, das es wirklich überall hinter der Gardinen passieren kann.
Fakten
304 Seiten
HC 20,00 €
Ebook 15,99 €
Erschienen im Blessing Karl Verlag GmbH
Kaufen kann man das Buch direkt beim Verlag und bei jeder Plattform, welche Bücher und Ebooks anbietet.
Ich möchte mich bei RandomHouse für die Verfügung Stellung des Rezensionsexemplars bedanken.
Dies hat keinerlei Einfluss auf meine persönliche Meinung!
Ihr findet diese Rezension auch wie immer auf unserem Blog:
http://ourfavorbooks.blogspot.de/?m=1
July 10, 2018
Having been sent this Book by Serpents tail, I loved the look of this book. It looked like the perfect Summer read, and the Blerb sounded Intriguing.
Unfortunately, this book was not for me.
Initially the story felt slow, and I’m sorry to say it didn’t appear to really get going. There are beautifully written descriptions, and I was glad for the insight into Finland, the descriptions making me yearn to go and see the sights for myself, but that was where my interest stopped.
I couldn’t engage with the Characters at all, it felt like I didn’t really get to know any of them, and whilst there were several themes, including marriage complications, coming-of-age and a bit of romance, the pace and lack of engagement made this all seem a bit muddled. This gave the feeling that the Author hadn’t fully decided what direction he wanted the story to follow, and so wound up getting nowhere.
There was a lot of Dialogue. As much as I LOVE conversations, after a while it becomes more like a theatre script than a story, and makes it difficult to really engage with the conversations. This was not helped by the repetitions of “he said” “she said” however this could be a translation issue?
In short... the Beautiful descriptions are the books savings grace. I would love to see Finland after reading this book, but the story itself isn’t for me.
Unfortunately, this book was not for me.
Initially the story felt slow, and I’m sorry to say it didn’t appear to really get going. There are beautifully written descriptions, and I was glad for the insight into Finland, the descriptions making me yearn to go and see the sights for myself, but that was where my interest stopped.
I couldn’t engage with the Characters at all, it felt like I didn’t really get to know any of them, and whilst there were several themes, including marriage complications, coming-of-age and a bit of romance, the pace and lack of engagement made this all seem a bit muddled. This gave the feeling that the Author hadn’t fully decided what direction he wanted the story to follow, and so wound up getting nowhere.
There was a lot of Dialogue. As much as I LOVE conversations, after a while it becomes more like a theatre script than a story, and makes it difficult to really engage with the conversations. This was not helped by the repetitions of “he said” “she said” however this could be a translation issue?
In short... the Beautiful descriptions are the books savings grace. I would love to see Finland after reading this book, but the story itself isn’t for me.
May 5, 2020
Finnish-Swedish. Summer. Skeletons in the family.
Story: Husband and wife Julia and Erik, and their two children head out to their summer cottage for a long holiday. Julia last visited the family cottage as a teenager and had written about it in her first novel.
Charaters: Julia and Erik are thirty-something Swedish-speaking Finns. Julia is a writer a longs for a nice family life. Erik works IT at the city's largest department store and on the day before his vacation is meant to start, there is a meeting forecasting cutbacks and layoffs.
Language: Set in southwest Finland during the 2000's. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different family member, including the children. Anton is a young boy who goes with the flow of family life around him, while still being slightly too young to fully comprehend the people and situations around him. Alice is on the cusp of being a teenager and is mostly interested in sharing photos on Instagram in dramatic ways.
There were lot of thought provoking and interconnected moments in this book which I enjoyed. However this book is filled with a pet peeve of mine in books or movies, which is poor communication. If the characters would just talk to one another, rather than wandering around ghost-like in their own thoughts, perhaps things could have been different. Very well written, just not my cup of tea.
Story: Husband and wife Julia and Erik, and their two children head out to their summer cottage for a long holiday. Julia last visited the family cottage as a teenager and had written about it in her first novel.
Charaters: Julia and Erik are thirty-something Swedish-speaking Finns. Julia is a writer a longs for a nice family life. Erik works IT at the city's largest department store and on the day before his vacation is meant to start, there is a meeting forecasting cutbacks and layoffs.
Language: Set in southwest Finland during the 2000's. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different family member, including the children. Anton is a young boy who goes with the flow of family life around him, while still being slightly too young to fully comprehend the people and situations around him. Alice is on the cusp of being a teenager and is mostly interested in sharing photos on Instagram in dramatic ways.
There were lot of thought provoking and interconnected moments in this book which I enjoyed. However this book is filled with a pet peeve of mine in books or movies, which is poor communication. If the characters would just talk to one another, rather than wandering around ghost-like in their own thoughts, perhaps things could have been different. Very well written, just not my cup of tea.
May 4, 2023
Julie, Erik and their two children head to the coast for the long summer holidays. The holiday house is that of Julie's family and childhood. During the summer Julie meets with memories and a friend from the past. The various members of the family meet with other holiday makers. Some secrets are exposed but never followed through.
Told from the multiple perspectives of those who inhabit the novel this book was for me snippets of various lives, all of them with issues of one kind or another. Most of them hiding things, or dealing with sorrow or inadequacies. I grew weary reading this novel. From the environmentalists who promote love and preach the end of the world as they dump rubbish, burn bonfires and commit abuse, to Erik who hides a secret behind alcohol, these characters frustrated me. As one of them says "People are always putting on an act, displaying a façade". And for me this might be the message of this novel but it was lost in the meandering of the telling and the lack of development of the characters. Not sure what I missed, perhaps something was lost in translation (although I read a lot of translated novels) or in my lack of understanding of the culture, but basically, I was disappointed. What I thought was a building of tension, and examples of foreshadowing just didn't live up to the promise.
Told from the multiple perspectives of those who inhabit the novel this book was for me snippets of various lives, all of them with issues of one kind or another. Most of them hiding things, or dealing with sorrow or inadequacies. I grew weary reading this novel. From the environmentalists who promote love and preach the end of the world as they dump rubbish, burn bonfires and commit abuse, to Erik who hides a secret behind alcohol, these characters frustrated me. As one of them says "People are always putting on an act, displaying a façade". And for me this might be the message of this novel but it was lost in the meandering of the telling and the lack of development of the characters. Not sure what I missed, perhaps something was lost in translation (although I read a lot of translated novels) or in my lack of understanding of the culture, but basically, I was disappointed. What I thought was a building of tension, and examples of foreshadowing just didn't live up to the promise.
April 4, 2020
Kirjassa on kaikkitietävä kertoja, mutta narraation näkökulma vaihtuu tarinan perusyksikön, keskiluokkaisen kaksilapsisen perheen, jäseneltä toiselle. Perheen näkökulmat on selvästi rakenneltu tarinankuljettamisen näkökulmasta, mikä on hieman kaavamaista, mennään dramaturgia edellä, vaikka tarina panttaa varsinaisia tapahtumia pitkään. Kirja sopisi hyvin näyttämölle tai elokuvaksi.
Molempiin tarinan viesti on myös sopivan "porvarillinen": kirjassa on kyse usean kriisin leikkauspisteestä, mutta traagisuuden sijaan kriisien lopputulema on selvästi arkinen, proosallinen. Elämä jatkuu, ehkä masentavastikin, entisellään, ja varsinainen draamallinen erehdys näyttäisi olevan tämän elämän "pienuutta" koskevan perimmäisen totuuden väärintunnistaminen. Siihen lankeaa fanaattisesti ilmastonmuutokseen suhtautuva lahkolaishenkinen skottimies, joka etsii menetettyä lapsuuttaan eikä tunnista aikuisuuden haasteita. Lopussa poliisi vie hänet. Vaihtoehtojen etsiminen näyttääkin liittyvän häiritsevästi yhteen narsismin kanssa, ja lukija voi lopussa siunata perheen estynyttä kirjailija-äitiä siitä, ettei tämä langennut karismaattisen kusipään matkaan oman aviokriisinsä keskellä. Hipeille Teir ei anna kertojuutta, tämä vaikuttaa harkitulta.
Molempiin tarinan viesti on myös sopivan "porvarillinen": kirjassa on kyse usean kriisin leikkauspisteestä, mutta traagisuuden sijaan kriisien lopputulema on selvästi arkinen, proosallinen. Elämä jatkuu, ehkä masentavastikin, entisellään, ja varsinainen draamallinen erehdys näyttäisi olevan tämän elämän "pienuutta" koskevan perimmäisen totuuden väärintunnistaminen. Siihen lankeaa fanaattisesti ilmastonmuutokseen suhtautuva lahkolaishenkinen skottimies, joka etsii menetettyä lapsuuttaan eikä tunnista aikuisuuden haasteita. Lopussa poliisi vie hänet. Vaihtoehtojen etsiminen näyttääkin liittyvän häiritsevästi yhteen narsismin kanssa, ja lukija voi lopussa siunata perheen estynyttä kirjailija-äitiä siitä, ettei tämä langennut karismaattisen kusipään matkaan oman aviokriisinsä keskellä. Hipeille Teir ei anna kertojuutta, tämä vaikuttaa harkitulta.
July 6, 2018
I don't often leave reviews but felt like it was only fair to explain the low rating (which is closer to 2.5 stars), as I don't think this is necessarily a bad book. I was just personally left feeling a bit empty by it.
On paper it looked brilliant to me: Scandi setting, slow burning family drama, a bit of coming of age. So I really wanted to love this book.
However for me it just never quite got going. Normally I wouldn't mind a book with lots of strands, without it all leading to one big climax or resolution. I often really enjoy books that are slow, more about the characters and their relationships. However unfortunately I couldn't really feel much for the characters either. There were some nice details here and there, particularly for Alice and Anders. But ultimately I just didn't feel like I got to know them enough.
That said, it probably didn't help that I didn't love the way it was written/translated, whereas someone else might not have the same view. So don't let my review put you off.
And to finish on a positive, I did enjoy the insight in to Finish lifestyle and culture, and descriptions of the landscape.
On paper it looked brilliant to me: Scandi setting, slow burning family drama, a bit of coming of age. So I really wanted to love this book.
However for me it just never quite got going. Normally I wouldn't mind a book with lots of strands, without it all leading to one big climax or resolution. I often really enjoy books that are slow, more about the characters and their relationships. However unfortunately I couldn't really feel much for the characters either. There were some nice details here and there, particularly for Alice and Anders. But ultimately I just didn't feel like I got to know them enough.
That said, it probably didn't help that I didn't love the way it was written/translated, whereas someone else might not have the same view. So don't let my review put you off.
And to finish on a positive, I did enjoy the insight in to Finish lifestyle and culture, and descriptions of the landscape.
July 29, 2019
I picked up this book in Helsinki airport with a thought that I’d like to read something by a contemporary Finnish author. And the book is exactly this: a novel by an author of my age about people of my age living in a country almost neighboring my own and certainly with a similar climate and temperament. So lots of things to identify with. The story is about an average couple in their mid thirties and their early teenage children. Not a perfectly happy couple, but also not facing dramatic problems. And about other people surrounding this family, some of them less ordinary and going though more dramatic experiences. Some of them suffer depression and some actually might. Lots of coffee is being consumed. Nobody is perfectly happy, but also nobody dies. The pace of the book is slow, but not boring. Generally, I liked it, because it somehow corresponded to my mood this summer. A typical Latvian mood for the summer.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews