Riikka Pulkkinen
Raja
Gummerus 2007, 399 pages
English: The Limit (translated by Lola Rogers)
German: Die Ruhelose (translated by Elina Kritzokat)
Anja, a 53-year old professor of literature, has promised her husband that she will help him die when Alzheimer has destroyed his memory. Feeling unable to keep her promise when this does happen, she obtains enough sleeping pills for her own suicide.
At the same time, Anja’s 16-year
old niece, Mari, who spends a lot of time thinking about her own death and how people would react to it, has fallen in love with her Finnish teacher and they begin an affair - an all-encompassing
obsession for Mari and an erotic diversion for Julian. Julian’s six-year old daughter Anni observes the sometimes odd behaviour of the adults around her while knowing when to keep silent about
what she sees.
The word ‘raja’ in Finnish means border, boundary, or limit, and much of this book is about boundaries which one thinks one should or should not cross and those which one then actually does (or not), the limits to which one will go…
Luckily for me, this book had been in a little ‘discard’ pile at my 80-year old aunt’s house when I visited her in January. She didn’t like the book, so I got to take it with me, and I do like it very much, so it now has a home in Northern Germany.
Riikka Pulkkinen
Totta
Otava 2010, 333 pages
English: True (translated by Lola Rogers)
German: Wahr (translated by Elina Kritzokat)
Totta, was a gift from my friend Liisa in Lapland, and I read it in October 2012.
Elsa is dying and her husband Matti and daughter Eleonoora are fighting with the thought of having to live without her. Her granddaughter Anna chances upon a long-forgotten dress at the back of Elsa’s closet, a dress which belonged to Eeva, who had been Eleonoora’s nanny in the sixties, and whose name hasn’t been mentioned in decades…
Suosittelen molempia! (I recommend both!)
I have a third one by the same author (Vieras from 2012), which is still waiting on the to-be-read shelf.
Write a comment
Michell Digirolamo (Thursday, 02 February 2017 15:51)
Hey would you mind sharing which blog platform you're working with? I'm planning to start my own blog in the near future but I'm having a tough time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I'm looking for something unique. P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
Carissa Tollett (Saturday, 04 February 2017 23:59)
Admiring the dedication you put into your site and in depth information you offer. It's good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn't the same unwanted rehashed material. Wonderful read! I've saved your site and I'm including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Del Lever (Sunday, 05 February 2017 03:08)
I constantly emailed this weblog post page to all my friends, because if like to read it afterward my links will too.
Katie Zipp (Sunday, 05 February 2017 07:52)
I every time used to study paragraph in news papers but now as I am a user of web thus from now I am using net for articles, thanks to web.
Kelsie Hermanson (Monday, 06 February 2017 02:58)
Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It's on a totally different topic but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
Dacia Renninger (Monday, 06 February 2017 13:53)
I visited multiple sites however the audio quality for audio songs present at this website is genuinely wonderful.
Carry Tubb (Tuesday, 07 February 2017 11:03)
Hello there, I found your website by way of Google while searching for a related matter, your website got here up, it appears good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hello there, simply turned into alert to your weblog thru Google, and found that it's really informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I'll appreciate when you proceed this in future. Lots of people will be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!
Monte Buhl (Tuesday, 07 February 2017 13:01)
If you want to get a good deal from this article then you have to apply these methods to your won weblog.
Lee Dowless (Tuesday, 07 February 2017 14:01)
I will right away snatch your rss as I can not in finding your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you've any? Kindly allow me recognize so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Cyndy Maly (Wednesday, 08 February 2017 23:59)
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your webpage? My blog is in the very same area of interest as yours and my users would really benefit from some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Thanks!
Anna Groover (Thursday, 09 February 2017 10:14)
Hi friends, fastidious piece of writing and pleasant arguments commented here, I am actually enjoying by these.
Yun Kennerson (Thursday, 09 February 2017 18:07)
Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!
Isela Chaudhry (Thursday, 09 February 2017 22:18)
Everyone loves it when individuals get together and share opinions. Great blog, keep it up!