The Year of the Hare

Reviews

“Paasilinna has been amusing Finns for thirty years and readers in twenty-five languages.”

“His protagonists…are like Vatanen, strong—some very strong—eccentric and often loners. He makes sardonic fun of Finnish bureaucrats, German tourists, the Finnish military and selfish young people.”

“When Mr. Paasilinna’s novel appears in this country for the first time next month, it might just prove the perfect way into the actual Year of the Hare, which begins, according to many an Eastern calendar, in January.”

“Paasilinna’s style is all Finn—a sly sense of humor, a simplicity, a moral compass that points firmly north and out of doors, away from cities…Readers root for Vatanen as he leaps off the mad merry-go-round.”

“A fable of the joys of freedom…The hare proves to be a delightful, undemanding, and loyal companion, who can laugh, listen, and feel embarrassment.”

“Amazing…It can be read over a long winter afternoon and will leave you feeling a little warmer inside.”

“Compelling…You might just find yourself wishing for a hare to enter your life in the near future.”

“Step out of the domestic gulag and into The Year of the Hare, a novel that depicts the confident freedom of the journeyman. I loved it.”

“I love The Year of the Hare…Which of us wouldn’t secretly want to live in a novel as fresh and as full of events as this one?”

“Escapism at its best…Just pure fun—a fantasy of what might happen if one day you just said, ‘Oh, the hell with it.’”

“Beguiling, gently ironic…[an] ode to spontaneity and serendipity.”

“Hilarious…With its fiercely independent protagonist and its depiction of Finland’s wild northland, this comic novel will offer readers a rare opportunity to experience Finland and read one of that country’s most popular authors.”

“This picaresque novel could simply depict a middle-age crisis, but it reaches beyond fantasy or fiction, becoming mythic in its universal themes. The story is inventive, satirical, and quite humorous.”

“Paasilinna’s story is somehow plausible…and it feels as though we, too, could so easily desert our responsibilities to others to follow what fulfills us. The glory of the outdoors is celebrated here, through each season, and we can nearly smell the early clover and meadow vetchling of the hare’s diet. Vatanen is who we want to be…No, scratch that—Vatanen is who we yearn to be brave enough to become, as soon as we stop waiting for the timing to be right.”

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