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A review by balinkili
Populærmusikk fra Vittula by Mikael Niemi
1.0
This is the sort of book that I rarely read. To begin with, it’s almost surprising to see how little newer Scandinavian literature I actually do read. Furthermore, I do not read many books in Norwegian now. In other words, this is the sort of book that I would not have picked up unless I had to, but then again, I did. I read it for my Norwegian class, and to be fair, knowing that we had to finish it was the only thing that made me finish it.
The story itself is about Matti’s life, and how it was for him to grow up in a small town. You get to hear about both smaller and bigger events, but everything seems to have an impact on the boy who grows into a younger man. To hear about the events that happened instead of just telling the story alone, I think, is one of the few strong elements of the book. If I had liked the various stories, I think I really would have favoured the way of telling them.
However, I did not. There were too many strange scenes, and there were often details I found rather gross and just plainly disgusting. Furthermore, several of the scenes in the book are quite strange, and although the metaphors are the most important elements, I disliked them. Yes, as metaphors alone, they are good. I, however, just found the strange and creepy. It made me feel uncomfortable while reading, and when the whole book is like that; then it’s not good.
Furthermore, there are many who claims that this book was supposed to be funny. I didn’t even laugh once. I just found the plot grim, and the scenes didn’t manage to grab my interest. Of course, I hoped that it would get better after a while, but nope, I was disappointed. The same thing applies to the characters. If a story is going to be any good (in my opinion), it should have interesting characters because I know that I like a book if I care about any of the characters. Again, this was not the case for Niemi’s book.
Then again, I suppose some people like this book because of the setting. Yes, everything happens north of the Polar Circle, and yes, I can see why people would find it interesting. I, however, live north of the circle; so again, the setting didn’t do much for me. There was nothing exotic, nothing exciting and just... It was rather boring. The same thing applies to the narrator since I found him more annoying than interesting.
So yes, I cannot say that I have much more because this book was, in my opinion, bad. I did not like it at all, even though I tried. To me, it was too strange, and I could not sit and enjoy it. That is also why I am only giving this one star; when nothing captivated me and I only wanted to quit reading, it’s obvious that I cannot give it anything else.
The story itself is about Matti’s life, and how it was for him to grow up in a small town. You get to hear about both smaller and bigger events, but everything seems to have an impact on the boy who grows into a younger man. To hear about the events that happened instead of just telling the story alone, I think, is one of the few strong elements of the book. If I had liked the various stories, I think I really would have favoured the way of telling them.
However, I did not. There were too many strange scenes, and there were often details I found rather gross and just plainly disgusting. Furthermore, several of the scenes in the book are quite strange, and although the metaphors are the most important elements, I disliked them. Yes, as metaphors alone, they are good. I, however, just found the strange and creepy. It made me feel uncomfortable while reading, and when the whole book is like that; then it’s not good.
Furthermore, there are many who claims that this book was supposed to be funny. I didn’t even laugh once. I just found the plot grim, and the scenes didn’t manage to grab my interest. Of course, I hoped that it would get better after a while, but nope, I was disappointed. The same thing applies to the characters. If a story is going to be any good (in my opinion), it should have interesting characters because I know that I like a book if I care about any of the characters. Again, this was not the case for Niemi’s book.
Then again, I suppose some people like this book because of the setting. Yes, everything happens north of the Polar Circle, and yes, I can see why people would find it interesting. I, however, live north of the circle; so again, the setting didn’t do much for me. There was nothing exotic, nothing exciting and just... It was rather boring. The same thing applies to the narrator since I found him more annoying than interesting.
So yes, I cannot say that I have much more because this book was, in my opinion, bad. I did not like it at all, even though I tried. To me, it was too strange, and I could not sit and enjoy it. That is also why I am only giving this one star; when nothing captivated me and I only wanted to quit reading, it’s obvious that I cannot give it anything else.