A burnt-out author, who can no longer mine material from his own life for his novels, "buys" the life of an elderly woman he meets at a book fair. In exchange for his last few thousand euros, the woman, Salme Malmikunnas, a retired yarn and button saleswoman, relates her life story over the course of two interviews held in a secluded highway cafe. The author is instantly reinvigorated, but the two soon come into conflict over the degree to which he may embellish Salme's reminiscences. His imagination begins to run wild with the lives of her three children, and as they all lurch from crisis to crisis, Salme founders in the shifting sands of the little white lies they have told her, and the fabrications of her new friend. The Human Part is at once an absurdist meditation on the relationship between truth and falsehood in fiction and a panoramic state-of-the-nation novel. Racism, communism, the global financial crisis and the literary legacies of Finland's finest writers are all dissected. There are shades of George Pennac's masterpiece, Life: A User's Manual, in the subtly oblique angle of Hotakainen's approach.
Pitääkö olla huolissaan? – Elämänkoulun kymppiluokka on paneelikirja, jossa kysytään Suomen kansan moninaisia huolenaiheita ja vastataan niihin – huolella.
Román Na domácí frontě již od prvních stránek rozpoutává tragikomickou bitvu Mattiho, muže, který podstupuje absurdní závod, jen aby opatřil dům se zahrádkou na dobré adrese. Snaží se tak zabránit krizi ve své rodině, jíž kvůli neporozumění a parodicky zobrazené „tradiční“ mužské a ženské roli hrozí rozpad. Vybaven dalekohledem, magnetofonem, zápisníkem a skládací stoličkou se vydává na téměř špionážní akce, domy v okolí podrobuje detailní analýze a tajně proniká do soukromí jejich obyvatel – ti se oddávají „rodinné pohodě“ za vrčení sekaček na trávu a v kouři domácího grilu. Matti propadá hektickému shánění peněz, přeprodává kradenou elektroniku, poskytuje erotické masáže, neváhá vydírat a pomlouvat, po svém si osvojuje obchodní taje a dovednosti realitních agentů a s cigaretou v ústech se mstí svým sousedům v činžovním domě. Je zkušeným běžcem a posedle válčí o každý kousek území se svými nepřáteli, které rovněž žene touha po relativním štěstí a kteří vyprávějí společný groteskní příběh – ten v horečnatém tempu Mattiho úsilí graduje právě tam, kde si běžec dopřává oddechu. Román obdržel prestižní cenu Finlandia a v roce 2004 získal Cenu Severské rady pro literaturu.
A burnt-out author, who can no longer mine material from his own life for his novels, "buys" the life of an elderly woman he meets at a book fair. In exchange for his last few thousand euros, the woman, Salme Malmikunnas, a retired yarn and button saleswoman, relates her life story over the course of two interviews held in a secluded highway cafe. The author is instantly reinvigorated, but the two soon come into conflict over the degree to which he may embellish Salme's reminiscences. His imagination begins to run wild with the lives of her three children, and as they all lurch from crisis to crisis, Salme founders in the shifting sands of the little white lies they have told her, and the fabrications of her new friend. The Human Part is at once an absurdist meditation on the relationship between truth and falsehood in fiction and a panoramic state-of-the-nation novel. Racism, communism, the global financial crisis and the literary legacies of Finland's finest writers are all dissected. There are shades of George Pennac's masterpiece, Life: A User's Manual, in the subtly oblique angle of Hotakainen's approach.
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