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hannahcramp's review
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
pravia9's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
teawhale's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
nhnabass's review against another edition
4.0
The Year of the Hare reads like a fantastical fever dream in the best way possible. The story follows a journalist who, after accidentally hitting a wild hare with his car, has a sudden awakening of the mundanity of modern society and denies complying to its demands any longer by literally following the hare into the forest and leaving his life behind. We follow their adventures through this collection of eccentric vignettes and I found myself surprisingly enthralled through the humor of Paasilinna (that seemed wonderfully translated in English) and the sheer absurdity of the some of the situations the duo find themselves in. It was especially wonderful watching as the narrator slowly attributed more and more of a personality to the hare and examining its responses to the different situations they are put in.
The protagonist almost seems selfish at first in leaving everything behind but unplugs in such a way that feels almost unattainable to do nowadays and again in a way that I feel many of us yearn for. I really enjoyed feeling through this chaos alongside the journalist and watching him try to detach from society yet continuously finding himself reliant on the good will of others. It left me with that "life is short so enjoy it" feeling that is unnameable. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed.
The protagonist almost seems selfish at first in leaving everything behind but unplugs in such a way that feels almost unattainable to do nowadays and again in a way that I feel many of us yearn for. I really enjoyed feeling through this chaos alongside the journalist and watching him try to detach from society yet continuously finding himself reliant on the good will of others. It left me with that "life is short so enjoy it" feeling that is unnameable. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed.
kristinvdt's review against another edition
2.0
Dette var ikke boka for meg, til tross for at mange liker den veldig godt. Jeg ble ikke engasjert, ikke min type humor.
anieeereads's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
filipsf92's review against another edition
3.0
Got exactly as expected - an absurd story with a random line of events and happenings. An easy fun reading. Paasilinna is good at writing simple and straightforward.
ellaconnors's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
annevoi's review against another edition
2.0
My friend Thelma and I have been studying Norwegian by reading books in that language. My Norwegian sister-in-law sent me The Year of the Hare (having not read it herself), and so a year or so ago--we meet once a week; it's a slow process--Thelma and I gamely took it on. Published in 1975 in Finnish, it tells the story of a dyspeptic journalist who adopts a wild hare—after he hits it with his car on a forest road—and then proceeds to leave life as he knows it (including his wife) behind, running through a series of little adventures, mostly in the far north of Finland. It's an episodic novel in which the hero, Vatanen, fights fires, cuts down trees, stumbles on German war booty, overturns a corpse, goes fishing, gets drunk, is arrested by the Soviet authorities, etc. He meets various people who might have somehow changed Vatanen (for the better, one keeps wishing), but in fact he doesn't change. The hare plays virtually no role except to be his constant companion (indeed, at moments you wonder if he'll survive, Vatanen does so little to watch out for him), and this is no animal lover's story, because over its course he metes out a gruesome death to two other animals.
The cover of the Norwegian translation calls the book a "whimsical fable from the Finnish forest," and apparently the author, Paasilinna, himself a journalist, was beloved in Scandinavia back in the 70s. Perhaps I don't share those northern sensibilities.
There is something to be said for the self-discovery, self-reinvention novel, which is ostensibly what this is. And it's possible that Vatanen ended up happier after his year of carefree vagabondage. But me, I didn't like the man: he started out selfish and unhappy, and ended up merely selfish.
As for Norwegian, after a year of struggling through this book, I feel barely more competent than before. That's a little depressing too. But masochists that we are, we're currently considering what the next book will be. Doctor Proktor's Fart Powder by Jo Nesbø is in strong contention.
The cover of the Norwegian translation calls the book a "whimsical fable from the Finnish forest," and apparently the author, Paasilinna, himself a journalist, was beloved in Scandinavia back in the 70s. Perhaps I don't share those northern sensibilities.
There is something to be said for the self-discovery, self-reinvention novel, which is ostensibly what this is. And it's possible that Vatanen ended up happier after his year of carefree vagabondage. But me, I didn't like the man: he started out selfish and unhappy, and ended up merely selfish.
As for Norwegian, after a year of struggling through this book, I feel barely more competent than before. That's a little depressing too. But masochists that we are, we're currently considering what the next book will be. Doctor Proktor's Fart Powder by Jo Nesbø is in strong contention.