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A review by aotora
The Forest of the Hanged Foxes by Arto Paasilinna
3.0
I remember that this was my second book read by Paasilinna all the way back in high school, and it was one of my favourite books. So I was really excited when I managed to snag a pretty cheap used copy from a second hand bookstore.
And I read it and I still like it but it's by no means my favourite book by this author.
The thing that I didn't really like about this book is pacing because at around the middle of the book the story becomes kinda slow and nothing really happens and I also didn't like the fact that there are three main characters, the third one (Naska) comes into the story around 100 or so pages before the end of said story, and because of that and because of the fact that she actually passes away before the end of the book she doesn't really get developed beyond: "She ran away from people that wanted to put her into the retirement home and she walked for hours in the snow and cold even though she was 90 years old". She does get some story and development but she isn't really vital to the story because she is mainly the grandmother/maid for the main two characters which is a shame because she had so much potential and same goes for the wild fox, he had so much potential but he is barely in the story.
The main two characters were interesting but they too suffer from barely any development whatsoever and the main vilian of the story went down way too easily in my opinion, and I didn't really like the random ending that came out of nowhere that the traps meant for foxes were full of tourists and that their bodies became bones and are now hanging in the forest for the rest of the eternity, that came out of nowhere and was really unexpected and kinda... pointless.
Overall I still like the story, I still like the main three characters and I will definitely read this book again in the future, but it's not the best Paasilinna's book but at the same time it's not the worst either. It's still a really great book if you like good dark humor and his style of writing.
2019: I finally got around to rereading this one and man do I still love this book. The complaints are stil somewhat valid- the pacing isn't as good as some other books but I love the characters in this one- It has it's charm like all Paasillina's books do. The ending still felt a little bit rushed though.
And I read it and I still like it but it's by no means my favourite book by this author.
The thing that I didn't really like about this book is pacing because at around the middle of the book the story becomes kinda slow and nothing really happens and I also didn't like the fact that there are three main characters, the third one (Naska) comes into the story around 100 or so pages before the end of said story, and because of that and because of the fact that she actually passes away before the end of the book she doesn't really get developed beyond: "She ran away from people that wanted to put her into the retirement home and she walked for hours in the snow and cold even though she was 90 years old". She does get some story and development but she isn't really vital to the story because she is mainly the grandmother/maid for the main two characters which is a shame because she had so much potential and same goes for the wild fox, he had so much potential but he is barely in the story.
The main two characters were interesting but they too suffer from barely any development whatsoever and the main vilian of the story went down way too easily in my opinion, and I didn't really like the random ending that came out of nowhere that the traps meant for foxes were full of tourists and that their bodies became bones and are now hanging in the forest for the rest of the eternity, that came out of nowhere and was really unexpected and kinda... pointless.
Overall I still like the story, I still like the main three characters and I will definitely read this book again in the future, but it's not the best Paasilinna's book but at the same time it's not the worst either. It's still a really great book if you like good dark humor and his style of writing.
2019: I finally got around to rereading this one and man do I still love this book. The complaints are stil somewhat valid- the pacing isn't as good as some other books but I love the characters in this one- It has it's charm like all Paasillina's books do. The ending still felt a little bit rushed though.