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A review by nataliecoyne
The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I really wanted to love this book, and at the very least, I wanted to like it more than I did. I was really looking forward to reading a book that deals with the colonization of the Sámi people as a main focal point. Unfortunately, for some reason, this book just didn't live up to what I had hoped (though I did learn about some of the history and culture of the Sámi people, which was interesting to learn). If there was one word I would use to describe this book it would be "forgettable," and let me get into that.
Listen, I don't expect every single book to necessarily be a book that I continue to think about for days, weeks, months (or even years) afterward. I would say there are only probably a handful of books that leave that kind of impression on me that they are truly unforgettable. Still, I would probably be able to describe some of what happens in most books I've read (writing reviews helps with this). But I literally just finished this book and have already forgotten most of it. I wouldn't be able to tell you much of anything that happened. That's not good. I think, as another review said, this book has the fault of having too many characters, and therefore having things just get very muddled. Maybe some things just flew over my head, I always like to give authors the benefit of the doubt in that way, but I am reviewing based on my own reading experience and this was my reading experience.
Additionally, I almost thought that I was really enjoying this for a while, before I realized that I wasn't. The reason for this is that, when I would pick up to read the book, I kept wanting to continue reading because I wanted to make progress. But then I realized something. Whenever I had time to read, I actually would hold off on picking this book immediately up, instead, I would spend a good bit of time just doing anything else before finally resigning myself to picking it up and making progress. This made me realize that the operative phrase in what I was doing was "making progress"/"make progress." I wasn't wanting to read it for the sake of continuing the story or wanting to see what happens next. I was just reading it for the sake of getting through it. Even then, this book took me a total of 9 different reading sessions to fully get through it. This is a lot for me, especially for a book that is only 368 pages long.
Still, I wouldn't say that this is necessarily terrible. As I said, I did learn about some of the history and culture of the Sámi people, which was interesting and very much appreciated. I also don't think that this book is necessarily offensive in any way (though I would be interested in learning some more Sámi perspectives on that front, since it appears that Hanna Pylväinen is not Sámi herself, but it also appears she did consult a lot of Sámi people when researching and writing this book).
So I won't necessarily say that people shouldn't pick up this book, especially since it is very possible that things just flew over my head and this just wasn't the right book for me right now. But I wouldn't personally go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.
Listen, I don't expect every single book to necessarily be a book that I continue to think about for days, weeks, months (or even years) afterward. I would say there are only probably a handful of books that leave that kind of impression on me that they are truly unforgettable. Still, I would probably be able to describe some of what happens in most books I've read (writing reviews helps with this). But I literally just finished this book and have already forgotten most of it. I wouldn't be able to tell you much of anything that happened. That's not good. I think, as another review said, this book has the fault of having too many characters, and therefore having things just get very muddled. Maybe some things just flew over my head, I always like to give authors the benefit of the doubt in that way, but I am reviewing based on my own reading experience and this was my reading experience.
Additionally, I almost thought that I was really enjoying this for a while, before I realized that I wasn't. The reason for this is that, when I would pick up to read the book, I kept wanting to continue reading because I wanted to make progress. But then I realized something. Whenever I had time to read, I actually would hold off on picking this book immediately up, instead, I would spend a good bit of time just doing anything else before finally resigning myself to picking it up and making progress. This made me realize that the operative phrase in what I was doing was "making progress"/"make progress." I wasn't wanting to read it for the sake of continuing the story or wanting to see what happens next. I was just reading it for the sake of getting through it. Even then, this book took me a total of 9 different reading sessions to fully get through it. This is a lot for me, especially for a book that is only 368 pages long.
Still, I wouldn't say that this is necessarily terrible. As I said, I did learn about some of the history and culture of the Sámi people, which was interesting and very much appreciated. I also don't think that this book is necessarily offensive in any way (though I would be interested in learning some more Sámi perspectives on that front, since it appears that Hanna Pylväinen is not Sámi herself, but it also appears she did consult a lot of Sámi people when researching and writing this book).
So I won't necessarily say that people shouldn't pick up this book, especially since it is very possible that things just flew over my head and this just wasn't the right book for me right now. But I wouldn't personally go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Grief, Sexual harassment
Minor: Misogyny, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury