“Everyone knew that they didn’t need any special reason, much less any evidence for their arbitrary, completely imaginary accusations.”

The story opens in 1992, with Zara, a young Russian woman, collapsing in the yard of Aliide, an older woman who lives alone on a farm in the Estonian countryside. Each woman is wary of the other, and it is clear each is hiding something. A third main character, Hans, Aliide’s brother-in-law, appears via diary entries. Hans was a freedom fighter in the “Free Estonia” movement in the 1940s-1950s. The Soviet authorities were hunting for him. The novel starts at a critical juncture, then flashes back to show how each participant reached this point.

This novel depicts the Soviet occupation of Estonia, which started in 1940 and continued after the German occupation during WWII. It also portrays the time period just after Estonia regained independence in 1991, and the associated social upheavals. These time periods are important to keep in mind to get the full impact of the story.

It is a complex mix of jealousy, torture, sex trafficking, collaboration, survival, betrayal, guilt, and Estonian history. I found it a disturbing read, but effective in capturing the mental, political, and social issues that accompany a despotic regime (in this case, Stalin). Be forewarned there are scenes involving sexual abuse which are described in explicit detail. Sofi Oksanen is a Finnish-Estonian writer. She has written a powerful novel of a period and place in history with which many (especially western) readers will not be familiar. The ending, and really the entire book, provides lots of opportunity for discussion.

“There would always be chrome-tanned boots, some new boots would arrive, the same or different, but a boot on your neck nevertheless. The foxholes had been closed up, the shell casings in the woods had tarnished, the secret dugouts had collapsed, the fallen had rotted away, but certain things repeated themselves.”

4.5 ( )

Interesting to learn more about the Russian occupation of Estonia and also about the appalling sex trafficking industry. I listened to this as an audiobook and it did become confusing as it jumped between time periods. By the end, I was totally confused. I need someone to read the text and explain the ending to me now. ( )

An elderly woman living alone in the Estonian countryside one day discovers a overly made up, disheveled young woman in her front yard, and she takes her in despite her misgivings. A photo the girl carries will show that they are actually aunt and niece, but this is not revealed to the woman early on. Zara is a sex-traffic victim who has fled from her keepers and seeks a place to hide. Aliide is a bit of folksy, grumpy, old woman who has her own resentments and shame to live with.

Moving back and forth in time, this story of war and family are woven together in a storied tapestry of the past, the present, of obsession, compromise, complicity, resentment, danger, survival, and love…the reader cannot help being pulled in and wrapped up in it. And despite the awards this book has won and been nominated for, it’s not a book for everyone. The translated prose is easy to read, the story mesmerizing, but the movement back and forth in time may irritate some readers, while others may understand how that movement in the story is weirdly (and wonderfully) akin to what a soundtrack is for a movie. I think it’s an important novel about history, suffering and what it means to survive such history. ( )

Am on-the-run sex slave turns up at the remote Estonian home of an old woman, who takes her in.
Switching between the modern day (1992) and the war years, the reader follows two lives: Russian Zara, lured into "well paid work" in Europe; and (the main part of the story) the now-age Aliide, caught between the Communists and the Germans; between unrequited love and a prudent marriage (wasnt her lucrative choice of spouse just "legalized prostitution, not a million miles from Zara's work?)
Keeps you reading. ( )

An older Estonian woman takes in a stranger—a young Russian woman—and this is their stories mixed and mingled over time and place—both confronting shame forced upon them by awful human beings. But it’s in large part boring interspersed with excruciatingly detailed sex scenes. Followed by sheer confusion—I have no idea how it ended. This book was not for me. I tried so hard to like it. But the ending sealed its fate for me. I just haven’t any idea what that ending was about. ( )