I liked this strange book that examined the effects of a dystopia that required strict gender roles. The plot was slow and translation felt a bit dry, but the overall effect was interesting and I liked the chili pepper woowoo. ( )

Hey guys. This book was like riding a rollercoaster and it's nice and smooth at first so you get overconfident about how not fucked up you're going to get on that first drop - and then suddenly it hits, your ass leaves the seat, you're clawing at the harness, and swearing you will NEVER ride another coaster again. And when it's done you're like HOLY FUCK THAT WAS COOL.

So yeah. I liked it. There were moments where I was like "this could be more interesting" and in other places I thought the translation maybe seemed lacking although it's hard to tell, but once I finished I think I would've been less stunned after being punched in the face.

I'd definitely recommend for people that like modern dystopian settings mixed with a bit of the unbelievable.

Ending spoilers ahead:

I loved how the end was open to interpretation. If you think the spirit possession was real you can attribute this idea into how spiritualism/ritualism is discriminated against by "polite" society and that the chilis here represent other means of trance inducement from other cultures, such as peyote.

And if you don't believe that the spirit possession was real it can be explained by the fact that Vera is a very intelligent woman and once she had the background information on Harri and his gambling, plus the information he told her in the bathroom, that she could've deduced the human trafficking scenario and hallucinated that she saved Mira's spirit and keeps it safe inside her mind, either to ease her own guilt or a way to keep Mira in her thoughts always etc.

In the end I do like how the message is that humans will always corrupt - no matter how strict, well meaning, and kind those in power are (even though the Authority here really is NOT), there will always be others that take advantage of the unseen places and gouge out 'seedy underbellies'. ( )

Interesting premise, but the characters didn’t hold me and the epistolary structure annoyed me. ( )

I wanted to like this book a lot, since it won the Prometheus Award, but it was really 3.5 and I'm being generous. It does accurately describe a new type of dystopia (leftist, health and safety, combined with misogyny), but aside from the really weird hot pepper angle, it just felt like a rehash of Handmaid's Tale crossed with Brave New World. I think some of Sinisalo's other books (Troll?) are better. ( )

Well, the beginning of this book is unlike anything you've read, guaranteed (ouch). I didn't really buy the premise and none of the characters really stood out -- but page to page there were some interesting scenes and ideas, so I did skim it. She's often a very striking writer, but the whole was too far-fetched for me. Beautifully translated! ( )