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beatrice_giglio's review against another edition
5.0
Esilarante dalla prima pagina, questo romanzo è qualcosa di unico. Le descrizioni di Paasilinna dei paesaggi finlandesi sono comparabili solo a quelle d’amore per un proprio partner. Le avventure del protagonista e della sua lepre hanno un che di ridicolo e allo stesso tempo di profondo.
Vorrei poterlo rileggere di nuovo per la prima volta.
Vorrei poterlo rileggere di nuovo per la prima volta.
smit1286's review against another edition
3.0
Fun little book in which the protagonist has the harebrained idea to ditch conventional life and chase after a wild hare.
ebokhyllami's review against another edition
4.0
Komplett omtale ligger her:
http://ebokhyllami.blogspot.no/2013/01/bokomtale-harens-ar-av-arto-paasilinna.html
http://ebokhyllami.blogspot.no/2013/01/bokomtale-harens-ar-av-arto-paasilinna.html
mooseformayor's review against another edition
5.0
What a brilliant book. I wish I had stumbled upon it earlier.
julesreadsallsorts's review against another edition
2.0
Well this book was a trip! The Adventures of Vatanen it should’ve been called - the dude goes from one random story to another whilst traversing the length of Finland and highlighting its historical events. The book is random but would’ve been OK if it wasn’t for somewhat a lacklustre prose - it just didn’t connect with me, not sure if it’s the translation.
naria_'s review against another edition
5.0
Un inno alla libertà, a fare ciò che si vuole. In linea con le persone e le atmosfere incontrate durante il mio viaggio in Finlandia.
hanguangjun's review against another edition
just wasnt enjoying it much sorry mum and dad
f4iryj's review against another edition
3.0
A review of The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna.
I found this book in the box of books in my English class. I don’t usually read Finnish authors translated into English but the cover caught my interest. My cover is a blue and yellow one with a black drawn hare. Anyways, I usually either read Finnish books in Finnish or foreign books translated into Finnish so this is very odd. But the fact that this is translated from Finnish shows in the prose. It is super obvious. English is just a super different language, it just doesn’t work. Either that or the translator didn’t do enough to make the transition smoother. The past tense is janky and odd and I imagine makes much more sense in Finnish. The flavour is definitely lost in translation. I tried to make it not take away from my enjoyment of the book but I imagine it definitely did factor into my thoughts at the end.
The book starts with our protagonist named Vatanen, a journalist, and his companion, a photographer hitting a hare with a car and then Vatanen nursing it back to health. He leaves his wife and job to be with the rabbit because he is dissatisfied with his life. He sells his boat and gets the money to travel around Finland. This story is definitely about the journey instead of the destination as he goes through many places meeting interesting people. People are interested in the hare and they interact with him and his furry companion, helping him out in taking care of it. He goes from Helsinki to all around Finland doing odd forestry jobs and other things. I missed some things because this was set in the 70s and I don’t know anything further than Kehä 3. Also, the ending was wild like WHAT. This whole book sounded like something someone could only come up with if they were drunk.
3.5 stars but rounded down.
Fun facts:
Apparently, my maths teacher likes this author. Wow, you learn something new every day.
I found this book in the box of books in my English class. I don’t usually read Finnish authors translated into English but the cover caught my interest. My cover is a blue and yellow one with a black drawn hare. Anyways, I usually either read Finnish books in Finnish or foreign books translated into Finnish so this is very odd. But the fact that this is translated from Finnish shows in the prose. It is super obvious. English is just a super different language, it just doesn’t work. Either that or the translator didn’t do enough to make the transition smoother. The past tense is janky and odd and I imagine makes much more sense in Finnish. The flavour is definitely lost in translation. I tried to make it not take away from my enjoyment of the book but I imagine it definitely did factor into my thoughts at the end.
The book starts with our protagonist named Vatanen, a journalist, and his companion, a photographer hitting a hare with a car and then Vatanen nursing it back to health. He leaves his wife and job to be with the rabbit because he is dissatisfied with his life. He sells his boat and gets the money to travel around Finland. This story is definitely about the journey instead of the destination as he goes through many places meeting interesting people. People are interested in the hare and they interact with him and his furry companion, helping him out in taking care of it. He goes from Helsinki to all around Finland doing odd forestry jobs and other things. I missed some things because this was set in the 70s and I don’t know anything further than Kehä 3. Also, the ending was wild like WHAT. This whole book sounded like something someone could only come up with if they were drunk.
3.5 stars but rounded down.
Fun facts:
Apparently, my maths teacher likes this author. Wow, you learn something new every day.
liberrydude's review against another edition
4.0
A weird, beautiful, wonderful, funny story that only gets a little dark toward the end. It flowed well until the point Vatenen, the main character, was going to have a sandwich with a professor. The next thing we know Vatenen's life has dramatically changed even more! Until that point Vatenen and his buddy the hare had led an interesting quest of just living free. It's a road trip book. It's an epiphany book. It's a funny story with very deep meanings. It's like Tim Cahill and Thoreau went on a walk in the woods over an entire country. It's a real shame more people don't know about this book. I'm going to have to see the movie now.
pino_sabatelli's review against another edition
2.0
Una storia piuttosto inverosimile, e vagamente edificante, narrata con una scrittura piana, elementare. La fuga dalla civiltà di Vatanen si sviluppa attraverso una serie di episodi abbastanza scollegati fra loro, che mi hanno fatto pensare alla Pippi Calzelunghe della Lindgren.
L'intento di denuncia della insensatezza del modello di vita occidentale è piuttosto evidente, ma viene condotto con una ingenuità e una schematicità davvero eccessive.
Come possa essere considerato un libro di culto da lettori adulti è, per me, un mistero.
L'intento di denuncia della insensatezza del modello di vita occidentale è piuttosto evidente, ma viene condotto con una ingenuità e una schematicità davvero eccessive.
Come possa essere considerato un libro di culto da lettori adulti è, per me, un mistero.