Popular Music from Vittula

A funny, odd, interesting novel made up of interlocking short stories about growing up in the far north. Often the stories segue into tall tales (e.g. two rough brothers in a laconic family begin to fight and, after being ordered outdoors, they exchange blows and gradually grow fur and fangs and turn into bears). The author makes gentle fun of the perceived backwardness of the residents of this remote part of Sweden while telling the story of two boys growing up and discovering alcohol, sex, and rock and roll. Funny and touching and more than a little weird.

POPULAR MUSIC FROM VITTULA is, quite simply, a terrific book! As a coming of age story, Mikael Niemi's novel often brought to mind another book from Scandinavia titled simply, BEATLES, by Lars Saabye Christensen, which I also loved. Originally published in Swedish, I am quite confident that PMfV lost nothing in its excellent translation into English by Laurie Thompson. The book is full of humor and all the special poignancy that comes with tales of childhood and the tortured rituals of adolescence. There is even a chapter on the air rifle wars amongst the not-really-so-violent-or-evil teenage 'gangs' of Pajala, a town located inside the Arctic circle in the northernmost reaches of Sweden near the Finnish border. The BB gun story also show more brought to mind, naturally, Jean Shepherd's classic story (into classic film), "A Christmas Story." There are other wonderful, funny stories about relatives, weddings and funerals, and various local "characters." I got a good chuckle in reading about what things are 'manly,' as well as comments on "the most dangerous thing of all," according to the father of Matti (the book's narrator), which "was reading books ... Lunatic asylums were overflowing with folk who'd been reading too much."

Perhaps, however, it was the Beatles connection that made the book stand out for me. Because, like the Christensen book, the storyline also portrays four young boys who are electrified by their discovery of rock music and depicts, often in howlingly funny scenes, how mesmerized they are by their first exposure to the Beatles, in the form of the 45 rpm single, "Rock 'n' Roll Music." Matti, the book's narrator, soon forms a musical alliance with his friends Niila, Erkki and Holgeri that will catapult them into local notoriety and a new popularity with girls - a time they will always remember.

A more personal connection for me between the Niemi and Christensen books is found in the references to Radio Luxembourg, often the only link between remote areas of the world and popular music. As a young man in the US Army, I was stationed on a mountain top in northern Turkey in 1963-64, and one of the greatest pleasures for me and my comrades was to sneak a listen to the top tunes on Radio Luxembourg, when we should have been practicing our spycraft of electronic eavesdropping. In fact, I first heard the Beatles on Radio Luxembourg, not long before their first two Parlophone LPs made it to the local PX. Having grown up on Elvis (also mentioned in the Niemi book - Matti's sister had "Jailhouse Rock"), Ricky Nelson and other American pop, we didn't at first quite know what to make of the Beatles, but quickly decided we liked them. A year later, I was a hanger-on with a GI cover band in Germany, who played many of the Beatles tunes as part of their repertoire. In fact, when The Panics' lead singer was injured for a brief time, I got my own chance to be a "rock-n-roll star" for a few shining moments of my youth. (It's all in my own book, SOLDIER BOY.) So maybe that's why I was so caught up in Matti's story that had many of the same ingredients as mine - small towns, sex, drinking, rock & roll. The fact that the story was set in the most remote region of northern Sweden, inside the ARCTIC CIRCLE, for cripes sake, didn't seem to matter. This was just a great story! There, I'm back where I started. I'm so very glad I read Popular Music in Vittula, and plan to tell other folks about it at every opportunity. show less

I first read it back in 2005/2006. Now, 15 years later, it was almost like reading a new book to me in terms that I did not remember much of the stories, but my overall impression, I think, is the same. I really liked it, the storytelling is vivid. There are places when dreams, nightmares, and tales mingle with the reality. Pajala is very authentic with their hard-working and hard-drinking men who are afraid to be knapsu (unmanly) and strong women who not only need to deal with all the household jobs, but also with their men. The Northern nostalgia is very peculiar and I share it to some extent as I also grew up in Northern Europe. The descriptions of cold, snow, ice in winter or midnight sun, calm evenings, mosquitos in summer also show more make me nostalgic. However, I believe a bit got lost in the English translation (I still own a copy in Swedish, which I might attempt to read later) and not understanding the Tornedalen Finnish. If I were from Northern Sweden, I would probably give it all five stars.

For me, the rock'n'roll music played a supporting role in the novel. It is more a coming-of-age story and an ethnographic tale of the Torne valley. The best stories were about the gruesome summer job, Niila's grandmother's funeral, and actually all the descriptions of social gatherings featuring lots of shnapps and moonshine. show less

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.

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 show more 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.

http://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com/2010/06/popular-music-from-vittula-by-mikael.... show less

This book contains some really racist language. It’s totally unnecessary. The author was born in 1959, so I don’t think his age is any excuse. The book was published in Swedish in 2000 and the English translation published in 2003, so I’m really surprised it wasn’t taken out.

Apart from that, it was a bit of an insight into growing up in a very cold and remote place.

Bogen er fuld af fantastisk gode historier, der kunne være sande - næsten - og den har en både barsk og varm humor, som jeg slet ikke kan stå for.