Orig. Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi, 2000. Translated by Herbert Lomas. The book is originally published in 2003 in GB under the title Not Before Sundown.
This edition, Troll: A Love Story by title, is published in 2004 by Grove Press, NY. Paperback, 278 pages.


From library sale, and in excellent condition!

Back cover: Winner of the Finlandia Award, “Troll” is an enchanting novel that has become an international sensation. Angel, a young photographer, comes home from a night of carousing to find a group of drunken teenagers in the courtyard of his apartment building, taunting a wounded, helpless young troll. He takes it in, not suspecting the dramatic consequences of this decision. What does one do with a troll in the city? As the troll’s presence influences Angel’s life in ways he could never have predicted, it becomes clear that the creature is the familiar of man’s most forbidden feelings. “Troll” is a wry, beguiling story of nature and man’s relationship to wild things, and of the dark power of the wildness in ourselves.


Could be categorized as Science Fiction & Fantasy, but I prefer Literature & Fiction.

I loved this book as soon as I had perceived its plaintive beauty and its elegant method of work. The storyline itself is economically written; the characters, each in turn, briefly tell what happens. The action-packed plot is stopped by interwoven elements: quotations, or “quotations”, from Finnish literature, folklore, myths, and “facts”. The interrupting add-ons might be annoying for a plot-dependent reader, but I found them essential.
Several themes can be found. Questioning the civilization, the author reveals the thin line between man and other animals, and shows the macabre side of man’s model role. The book also deals with the wide variety of eroticism, and I greatly appreciated the naturalness and equality with which the queer characters were described. Another issue is a feministic one, presented by an imported Filipino concubine.

I can, and I think I will, reread the book in Finnish, so I’m offering this copy for a bookray book.


-ruzena

Bookray:
Arvores (Portugal)
Ossiefry (Portugal, int'l)
earthcaroleanne (UK, prefer mailing to EU)
Vekiki (UK, prefer EU)
greenbadger (UK, EU)
flambard (UK, int'l)
Tsjara (NL, prefer EU)
VictoriaWagtail (Swe, int'l)
Dancesports (Australia, int'l)
azuki (US, US or CAN)
innae (US, int'l)
Kally93 (Canada)

then free to go anywhere. Thank you all for participating and comments!

Happy Reading, Arvores!

It has arrived today!
Thanks a lot. And thanks for all the info on the National Urban Park. Sounds like lots of fun :)

I must apologize for taking so long to post this JE. The thing is that I have spent some time in a summer cottage, here in Finland, and I didn´t have access to Internet there. Besides that, you know how people go so crazy, during Finnish summer :)
The best thing about this book is that I read it in the middle of Finnish forest, in Northern Finland, the perfect scenario for Trolls :) But, I must say that, after a very promising beginning, the book somehow turned out to be a little disappointing. I liked very much the way Johanna Sinisalo made the approach on Finnish society, some of the “big issues” that I found here, myself. And, of course, her approach on Finnish Mythology was really interesting. I felt like “googling” all the time, to find out if all those things were there, on the web. I guess, most of them weren´t, which makes it much more interesting. But, somehow, there was something missing in this book.
Anyway, I´m very grateful for this chance to read a Finnish author. And I will follow their track :)
Kiitos, ruzena. The book will be on its way to the next reader, as soon as I get back home (next week)

Sent to ossiefry this morning.
Happy travelling and happy readings!

Thanks again, ruzena. I'll keep on track of Finnish authors.
Kiitos!

Book arrived safly and I will read it as soon as I have finished the one I am reading at the moment.
Thanks for this bookray! :)

I enjoyed this book, but yes, I did find the "interrupting add-ons" a bit annoying!
PMing the next reader.

On it's way to the next reader!

Waiting for me when I got home yesterday. Good timing - started it on the bus this morning.

I can't remember why this book ended up in my wishlist. Was it recommended, did I read a review, I don't know? So I started reading this book not knowing what it was about and there were a few surprises at the beginning and a few more suprises when I read the blurb on the back of the book. That said, I did enjoy it, in a slightly guilty way at first. I really needed to know what was going to happen next.

Arvores was really lucky to be reading this in a Finnish forest, a perfect setting which I think would have added to the atmosphere especially towards the end. I do disagree with ruzena on a couple of points though. Like Ossiefry, I did find the "add-ons" annoying and I began skimming them towards the end when I wanted to follow the story. Also I don't understand why the imported Filipino concubine was important. It wasn't really part of the love story and there wasn't enough of it to make an issue. Any neighbour could have been the necessary distraction. Much as I loved the book and it had a kind of happy ending, there did seem to be something missing but I don't know what.

Off to the next person in the ray.

arrived today :) why do bookrays always arrive in a glut?

a simple but beautiful and powerfully told story. Unputdownable. Thank you so much for sharing!

posted to next person yesterday

Received this as part of a book ray.

I couldn't put this down! The way the narrative is interwoven with quoted articles from various sources is very clever and really draws you in - I found myself starting to doubt that trolls are folklore.

Posted to flambard as part of a bookray.

Arrived! Thank you greenbadger and ruzena!

Odd and disturbing. Not so much a love story, more a lust story with unsettling undertones of bestiality which the folk-tale references to maidens being lured into the woods by, or kidnapped by male trolls as their 'wives', did little to assuage. Rather lightweight, but entertaining nonetheless. Ready to pass on.

To Tsjara

Received the book today (with some very nice stamps on the package). Thanks Flambard!
Great timing, as I just finished the book I was reading, so I will start with this tonight. It does sound very interesting.. Thanks a lot for sharing ruzena!

This was a bit unusual, but I really liked it and read it in 2 (or 3?) days.. (I just had to keep reading to find out what would happen next). The way it is told and the bits of information or quotes, makes you doubt whether trolls really do exist or not.. and I didn't find them annoying actually. But it did make me want to read the story about Pessi and Illusia :p (I wonder if there is an English or Dutch translation?). The ending was a bit unsettling though.

Will send it to Victoriawagtail tomorrow.

On its way to Sweden now :)

Happy reading!

The book is with me now, thanks Tsjara for sending it to me and to all of you for keeping the book travelling :) I look forward to read this one, it looks very interesting!

I used to read quite a lot of fantasy when I was younger but mostly the kind of traditional fantasy set in a medieval-like world inhabited by knights, kings and magicans (some of my favourite authours in this genre are David Eddings, Katherine Kerr and Cynthia Voigt). But I havn't read books in this fantasy genre in a long time now, most probably because I'm a little bit bored with it now.

This book on the other hand is completely different from this kind of fantasy (which is also what most people think of when they think of fantasy) and representative of a kind of fantasy that I've come to like more and more during the last couple of years. It involves our modern world instead of distancing it self from it and combines the magic with our everyday life.

I've always maintained that well written fantasy hasn't got anything to do with escapism or rejection of the "real world". It's rather to be viewed as a sort of metaphor for our own reality, never mind the outworldish setting, and can actually sometimes describe "the human condition" just as well as ordinary fiction does. But this book and this form of fantasy (is this what's refered to as "urban fantasy"?) takes it all a little bit further and applies the fantasy to the world we're actually living in, and that makes it all just a little bit more interesting I think. It's a very strong story about love, specially about the dark aspects of love, when it hurts people and breaks them down.

Thanks to Ruzena for sharing this book and to all of you who have sent it on making its travels possible. And thank you for your patiance with me for keeping the book a bit longer than I should have. Sorry but now the book will soon travel on, I'll pm the next person in line now.

This book is now finally moving on to its next reader, Danceports in Australia :)

Thanks all for being patient with me.

I support The Swedish Cancer Society with a Pink Ribbon

Thank you VictoriaWagtail for sending this book on to me, I'm just finishing off another bookring - an Australia story called 'The Slap' by Christos Tsiolkas its eight chapters have been made into a TV series which has been quite popular. Also thank you for the delicious chocolate bar.

We also have pink ribbon day in Australia.

NB, This book arrived at the same time as a book from Calgary Canada posted on the same day.

My apology for the long delay on this book,, it got lost in my book pile and it wasn''t until Ruzena prompted me that I realised I still had the book. Once I started it, it didn't take long to read. I liked the style in short chapters, the story line was fast moving and along the way it triggered all emotions, humour, sadness, anger, fear. Thank you for sharing it with me.,

Skipping the next person by request,, now on the way to the US. Enjoy

This book arrived over a week ago, but I was out of town, and afterwards it took a few days to settle down and started journaling books I've received.
Looks like a very interesting read. I just started on a book so will read this when I'm done.

It is a rather unusual story. I like how the different voices merge together into the story, it has a profound overtone of sadness, nobody seems to be able to love whom he/she wants to love, and a tension that threatens to break at any minute. The ending is too open to my liking - there are stories with open end, and stories that feel like a few pages missing, and this one is like the latter. I would like to hear Palomita's voice once more before the story ends.

Thanks for sharing this book, as it most likely is not something I would have discovered on my own. Now this will head to the next reader.

ARRGG..this book has been with me for a bit now, I had misplaced it and it took me a while to find it. It is safe and sound in Colorado, and I will be reading it soonly.

Thanks ruzena for the bookring!!

An interesting story. A love story indeed -- highlight the rest to see what I thought of the love story -- I don't want to spoil it for anyone...
Seems the story was about several who "loved" our hero Angel (aka Michael) -- Dr. Spiderman wanted him, so did Ecke, and Marti -- and then there was Palomita who saw him as her savior. But in reality, the only one who really seemed to love him was Pessi. Now it wasn't an unconditional sort of animal love, no, Pessi wanted something to be certain, but not in the same way the others seemed to. I am still not sure if I liked the story, but I know I enjoyed reading it...

I have Kally93's address and will be getting this into the mail asap.

This book arrived at a perfect time; just before Halloween. Thank you for sending it to me, innae, and thank you ruzena for sharing. :)