Recommended by a friend who knows I like both Swedish books and young adult/coming of age books. This was unlike any book I'd read before and by the time I finished it, I'd fallen in love. Niemi's writing, or at least the translation was amazing. The book was full of wonder and ... I don't even know how to describe it. I just loved it and found it both hilarious and moving. ( )

What a very unusual piece of work! We're here in the far north of Sweden, getting a very close acquaintance with Matti, a young teenage boy whose exposure to Western pop culture must come from a Finnish radio station.

This book is partly a series of tall tales, part gothic horror, and all coming-of-age story. I thoroughly enjoyed the unfamiliar setting married to the universal themes of exploration and discovery when coming of age. Additionally, this work has some exotic features which add spice, like Scandinavian folk tales, and the electrifying effect when Elvis Presley's #1 hits reach town. Laurie Thompson's translation (from the Swedish, I think) is seamless, transparent, and wonderful.

I took note, while reading this, of the question of why music should come from female reproductive parts. Because vittula, the name of the town from across the border, is a Finnish word for ... well, let's just say the boy is an adolescent.

I recommend this book very highly. It's a quick, easy-to-read, very different and diverting romp. ( )

Hauskahan se. ( )

Fabulous. I had so much fun reading this. ( )

This is a truly rare thing - a novel that revisits and reinvents the genre, constantly knocking the reader off balance without resorting to the crude techniques lesser authors will employ (ie sex and violence - although the book has plenty of both). Northern rural readers (I am Canadian) will especially enjoy the peerless decriptions of climate, alcohol and hockey, touchstones of the northern experience. Look out for the chapters on church services and weddings, both of which could stand alone as short stories. Delightfully idiosyncratic and deeply universal, all at the same time. ( )