Status
Available
Call number
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Collections
Publication
Helsinki : Suuri suomalainen kirjakerho, 1990.
Description
Thousands of Finnish people kill themselves every year. On the day of St John, Onni Relonen, a businessman in crisis, decides to end his life. But just when he finds an isolated farmhouse, a noise stops him in his tracks. Onni saves the life of another, Colonel Kemppaine. A wonderful friendship is born
User reviews
LibraryThing member Mikalina
I have come to see Paasilinna as a nordic variant of Wodehouse. The comparison is of course not due to the subject matter, which could not be further apart, Wodehouse dealing with the English upper class and Paasilinna with the Finnish folk-character. But the matter-of-fact-statement applied to the
In this book Paasilinna makes the reader laugh heartily at the suicidal person and his project at the same time as he stirs deep compassion both for him, and for the fragility of the human self. The strength of sharing becomes evident as never before, and the power of humor, obvious.
Rumour tells that the statistical number of persons committing suicide in Finland per year fell to half the year after this book was released. I can easily believe that.
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most burlesque situation gives the same surprise and instant laughter and the same delightful aftertaste - an aftertaste of pleasure in the language itself, and in how pure wit is a vehicle that transports the immediate fun to a reflection of the human comedy on a deeper level. Comedy is the most difficult genre, it so often falls into either slapstick or sentimentality - to avoid both demands a combination of wit and deep acceptance of man. In this book Paasilinna makes the reader laugh heartily at the suicidal person and his project at the same time as he stirs deep compassion both for him, and for the fragility of the human self. The strength of sharing becomes evident as never before, and the power of humor, obvious.
Rumour tells that the statistical number of persons committing suicide in Finland per year fell to half the year after this book was released. I can easily believe that.
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LibraryThing member emhromp2
What a nice book! It is about a group of thirty people who travel together in a touring car to the perfect destination to commit suicide together. At every destination, they find a reason to travel further until, at the end, no one really wants to die anymore. You must be a gifted author to write a
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comical story about such a topic. But Paasilinna makes it happen. Loved it! Show Less
LibraryThing member mojacobs
Arto Paasilinna is a succesful Finnish writer. This book starts with a suicidal man happening on another trying to hang himself. They get talking, start looking for the best way to end it all, and end up with a whole group setting off on a bus trip to the North, where they will kill themselves by
The story is well-written, grabbed my interest and kept it for a long time. Some passages are written so well you can't help but reread them immediately. The sarcastic tone is often funny (when the writer tells about all the reasons Finnish people have to take their own lives, i.e.), but sometimes a bit too heavy-handed. Paasilinna does not go for subtlety. And he takes just a bit too long to finish his story, the plot is a bit too thin for 230 pages. But this book is just strange enough to keep you reading.
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driving the bus off the cliffs at top speed. The story is well-written, grabbed my interest and kept it for a long time. Some passages are written so well you can't help but reread them immediately. The sarcastic tone is often funny (when the writer tells about all the reasons Finnish people have to take their own lives, i.e.), but sometimes a bit too heavy-handed. Paasilinna does not go for subtlety. And he takes just a bit too long to finish his story, the plot is a bit too thin for 230 pages. But this book is just strange enough to keep you reading.
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LibraryThing member petterw
Not very well hidden behind this ridiculous and witty fairy tale about a busload of suicide candidates travelling through Finland, Norway, France, Switzerland and Portugal, lies a life-enhancing philosophy full of hope. I am sure the novel must be particularly hilarious for Finnsih readers who pick
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up all the local references, but even for me this story is enjoyable and worth reading. However, the style and genre do create a distance to the characters and their problems, so it is hard to be very moved by anything Paasilinna writes. Any emotion the novel creates comes from the thought processes it may start in the reader. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
Finnish
Original publication date
1990
Physical description
280 p.; 21.5 cm
ISBN
951643388X / 9789516433885