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Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen
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Little Siberia (original 2018; edition 2019)

by Antti Tuomainen

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1129241,706 (3.46)6
"A man is racing along the remote snowy roads of Hurmevaara in Finland, when there is flash in the sky and something crashes into the car. That something turns about to be a highly valuable meteorite. With euro signs lighting up the eyes of the locals, the treasure is temporarily placed in a neighborhood museum, under the watchful eye of a priest named Joel. But Joel has a lot more on his mind than simply protecting the riches that have apparently rained down from heaven. His wife has just revealed that she is pregnant. Unfortunately Joel has strong reason to think the baby isn't his. As Joel tries to fend off repeated and bungled attempts to steal the meteorite, he must also come to terms with his own situation, and discover who the father of the baby really is."--Publisher description.… (more)
Member:rick_saenz
Title:Little Siberia
Authors:Antti Tuomainen
Info:Orenda Books, Kindle Edition, 300 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:to-read

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Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen (2018)

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English (8)  German (1)  All languages (9)
Showing 1-5 of 8 (next | show all)
I bought 'Little Siberia' (2018) with great enthusiasm after having enjoyed Antti Tuomainen's previous dark comedy, 'Palm Beach Finland' (2017).

To my surprise, I'm setting it aside at the 29% mark because the book is going to places that I don't want to visit and I'm increasingly feeling like a passenger who has gotten on the wrong train.

I was expecting dark, quirky, distinctly Finnish humour. That may be exactly what I got but if it is, then the 'Finnish humour' has flown over my head.

'Little Siberia' strikes me as more angry than funny. It's definitely quirky but in a way that feels pathological rather than amusing. The main character is a Pastor but he's very far from a serene man of God bringing peace and hope to his community. He's a man consumed by jealousy and doubt who is giving way to rage and violence. Given what has been done to him, I can see what pushed him into these reactions but that doesn't mean I have any sympathy with him.

The story is told mostly from within the Pastor's head, showing me how he flips from rationalising and justifying his reactions, to being consumed by them, to knowing that what he is doing is wrong but that he's going to do it anyway.

The storyi is well told. It's dark and quirky and distinctively Finnish but I have the sense that I failing to connect with an important part of the book, that there's a nuance that I'm missing, so I'm watching a 3D movie without the glasses that would let me see what the director intended.

I'm sure the problem is my expectations rather than the attributes of the book but I'm setting it aside anyway.

I'm not done with Antti Tuomainen. I'm planning on reading 'The Rabbit Factor' (2020), the first book in his trilogy, next year.
  MikeFinnFiction | Nov 23, 2023 |
Okay, but nowhere near as good as "The Man Who Died."

> Afghanistan took a lot out of me. But it also taught me to remain focussed in exceptional circumstances. As the giant pulls a knife out of his boot, all my training and everything I have learned crystallizes before me. I know exactly what to do. I run for it. ( )
  breic | Apr 10, 2022 |
Having enjoyed The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen, I wanted more. This was not quite as funny, but reflects his zany sense of humor. A small meteorite crashes through a race car driver's personal vehicle while he is racing home on icy roads drinking vodka. It is moved to a town museum pending transfer to a more permanent home, when opportunists decide that they can cash in by stealing it. Rare minerals and a per gram valuation for collectors makes the meteorite worth a million or more Euros. A local pastor becomes its guardian, whose life is unbalanced by his wife's announcement she is pregnant even though a war injury has left him sterile -- a fact he has withheld from her out of cowardice since she desperately wants children. Great cover. ( )
  skipstern | Jul 11, 2021 |
LITTLE SIBERIA is a peculiar Scandinavian noir novel about a meteorite crashing into the passenger seat of a drunken rally driver’s car. The falling rock proves to be worth a lot, so it naturally attracts unsavory characters who want to steal it. Relying on his combat experience in Afghanistan, the village priest sets out to protect the meteorite while uncovering the culprits. If he had left it there, Tuomainen would have had a pretty standard, if a little strange crime novel. But he explores much more by giving Joel Huhta, his priest/narrator, solid evidence that his wife has been unfaithful while also having him struggle with his own faith in God.

The setting is the Northern Finnish village of Hurmevaara in the dead of winter. Darkness, cold and isolation give the novel a nightmarish and claustrophobic feel. Tuomainen exploits this mood with witty descriptions of many strange places and people. He gives us a bar where the laconic townsfolk hang out gossiping, a parishioner who fears Armageddon, a sexy femme fatale bartender with an eye for a fast buck, Russian mobsters in town and up to no good, a shootout in an abattoir, a spooky museum in the middle of the night, an exploding WWII artefact, and lots more. Just when you think you know what to expect next, the ground shifts under you.

Joel is dedicated to his wife, Krista. She wants a family, but he can’t give her children because he is infertile due to an injury he acquired in Afghanistan. Because he has kept this shortcoming to himself (strange?), she is excited to share with him the exciting news that she is pregnant. Needless to say, Joel finds her news quite disconcerting.

Joel faces two questions: Who is trying to steal the meteor? Who is the father of Krista’s child? Tuomainen gives the reader plenty of suspects for both. The former provides abundant opportunities of action scenes, while the latter gives Joel occasion to consider multiple moral dilemmas surrounding God, faith, marriage, infidelity, forgiveness, family, and love. Despite giving the story an unusual intellectual flavor for a crime novel, Joel’s introspective obsessions risk a dry and maudlin narrative. Yet Tuomainen manages to keep the storytelling light by injecting a lot of dry and ironic humor. Joel is undeniably the only character in the book who is fully realized. The rest seem to be just scenery. Nonetheless, Tuomainen handles his character with empathy and understanding. Joel is not perfect by any means, but he is easy to admire and follow. ( )
  ozzer | Sep 4, 2020 |
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"A man is racing along the remote snowy roads of Hurmevaara in Finland, when there is flash in the sky and something crashes into the car. That something turns about to be a highly valuable meteorite. With euro signs lighting up the eyes of the locals, the treasure is temporarily placed in a neighborhood museum, under the watchful eye of a priest named Joel. But Joel has a lot more on his mind than simply protecting the riches that have apparently rained down from heaven. His wife has just revealed that she is pregnant. Unfortunately Joel has strong reason to think the baby isn't his. As Joel tries to fend off repeated and bungled attempts to steal the meteorite, he must also come to terms with his own situation, and discover who the father of the baby really is."--Publisher description.

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