The Parson's Widow

This book by Finnish author [[Marja-Liisa Vartio]] was not easy to love, but in the end I think it's a solid contribution to Scandinavian literature. The novel explores a few people in a rural area of Finland and is probably set somewhere in the first half of the 20th century. The narrative centers around the parson's widow, Adele, and her maid, Alma. The other main characters are Adele's sisters' in law - Elsa and Teodolinda - and their husbands. Adele and Alma are both hard to like. Adele is whining and a bit mentally unhinged; Alma thinks everyone is out to get her and feels under-appreciated. The two women replay the same conversations over and over, fussing about the details, but actually revealing some important events. There is a show more lot going on under the surface of this quiet town: family inheritance squabbles, drug abuse, infidelity, and rape. It's all told in the quiet-on-the-surface manner that I've come to expect from Scandinavian literature.

I appreciated this book and may try reading it again some day, but I had a hard time connecting to it. The characters are intentionally hard people to like and the book dwells in dialogue so the reader only gets the characters' perspectives which makes it hard to escape their annoying habits and perceptions. I'm glad I read it though and think it deserves to be more widely read. There are interesting themes and it has a creative way of exploring the characters. show less

This novel is set in a small Finnish village in the early 20th century. Most of the story consists of two women, the older Adele (the parson's widow) and her younger maid Alma arguing. Each has a different recollection of the past, sometimes of minor details (the color of an apron) but also about the major events of their lives, the lives of their relatives, and the lives of their fellow villagers. Since the two often disagree with each other, we basically have a novel with two unreliable narrators telling the story as an argumentative conversation.

There is a lot of humor in this book. One of the recurring disagreements between the women is how to care for the extensive stuffed bird collection left to Adele by her husband--what is the show more best way to dust a stuffed owl? Despite these injections of humor, the novel nevertheless has serious themes. The Parson's family is in constant conflict with Adele, over property ownership and other issues. Adele has addiction issues. Alma is not entirely stable either. There are issues of sexual abuse and class issues. There is also the question of the Parson's sanity and deteriorating reputation in the years before his death. (In fact the novel opens with a fire in the parsonage several years before the parson's death, when he is running around yelling for Adele to "save the birds", as others are trying to save the church records.)

This is considered the best novel of respected Finnish writer Vartio. I highly recommend it. show less