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115th out of 514 books
—
501 voters
The Howling Miller
When Gunnar Huttenen turns up in a small village to restore a dilapidated mill, its inhabitants are instinctively wary. He's big. He's a bit odd. And he's a stranger. Everyone loves is brilliant animal impressions but these feelings soon sour when he starts to howl wildly at night.
And once the mean-spirited, small-minded locals realise Gunnar won't conform, they conclude h...more
And once the mean-spirited, small-minded locals realise Gunnar won't conform, they conclude h...more
Paperback, 284 pages
Published
2007
by Canongate Books
(first published 1981)
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no moomins here!
so this is a book written in finnish, translated into french and then translated from that into american, so who knows what kind of stew i just read. whatever flavor it was, i liked it, but i can't help but wonder how far removed it was from the original. to complicate things further, to me it feels very eastern european, in tone and subject matter - it just feels gombrowicz-y or like a somewhat wackier kundera or kafka. just in bits, though. and i usually ignore translator/tion...more
so this is a book written in finnish, translated into french and then translated from that into american, so who knows what kind of stew i just read. whatever flavor it was, i liked it, but i can't help but wonder how far removed it was from the original. to complicate things further, to me it feels very eastern european, in tone and subject matter - it just feels gombrowicz-y or like a somewhat wackier kundera or kafka. just in bits, though. and i usually ignore translator/tion...more
Gunner Huttunen è un mugnaio. Non si sa da dove viene, ma si sa che nei lavori manuali è bravo.
Non si sa cosa gli passa per la testa, ma si sa che quando è felice imita gli animali della foresta, e quando è triste e si sente oppresso ulula.
Queste poche caratteristiche sono sufficienti perché il paesino bigotto in cui vive, lo tacci di pazzia.
Adesso per un attimo estraniamoci dalla storia.
Paasilinna è finlandese. Se per caso pensate di trovarvi davanti, un uomo dagli occhi di ghiaccio, dallo st...more
Non si sa cosa gli passa per la testa, ma si sa che quando è felice imita gli animali della foresta, e quando è triste e si sente oppresso ulula.
Queste poche caratteristiche sono sufficienti perché il paesino bigotto in cui vive, lo tacci di pazzia.
Adesso per un attimo estraniamoci dalla storia.
Paasilinna è finlandese. Se per caso pensate di trovarvi davanti, un uomo dagli occhi di ghiaccio, dallo st...more
I've never read a book - or perhaps fable is the more appropriate word - quite like this one. The blurb on the back compares our protagonist, Gunnar Huttunen, to Ignatius Reilly, but the comparison is inapt. Huttunen is an eccentric, to be sure, but is not as malicious in nature as Reilly. Huttunen howls (hence the title) which is surely annoying, but not dangerous. He is a productive member of society, running the mill which had become dilapidated when he bought it. But the main problem seems t...more
Finlandesità
Ho visto proprio ieri il bel film “Miracolo a Le Havre” di Aki Kaurismaki [il più noto regista finlandese in attività] e, sebbene l’ambientazione sia totalmente diversa svolgendosi nel porto francese di cui al titolo, vi ho ritrovato sottili affinità con le opere di Arto Paasilinna [il più noto scrittore finlandese in attività].
Il denominatore comune è quel modo di affrontare e descrivere la vita che, ad una trama semplice e ad essere severi un pochino banale, aggiunge il marchio di...more
Ho visto proprio ieri il bel film “Miracolo a Le Havre” di Aki Kaurismaki [il più noto regista finlandese in attività] e, sebbene l’ambientazione sia totalmente diversa svolgendosi nel porto francese di cui al titolo, vi ho ritrovato sottili affinità con le opere di Arto Paasilinna [il più noto scrittore finlandese in attività].
Il denominatore comune è quel modo di affrontare e descrivere la vita che, ad una trama semplice e ad essere severi un pochino banale, aggiunge il marchio di...more
A great modern(ish) fable! I wanted to howl a few times with the miller!
From the very beginning, though not related at all plot-wise, I felt like this was Dogville: close-minded villagers alienate, use, and provoke the somewhat ill-adjusted newcomer. They drive him away, far far away, and eventually... Well, don't want to give away the ending, but the poor chap has very little going for him. Interestingly, he is very hardworking, honest, and rather enthusiastic about his mill. He is also a very...more
From the very beginning, though not related at all plot-wise, I felt like this was Dogville: close-minded villagers alienate, use, and provoke the somewhat ill-adjusted newcomer. They drive him away, far far away, and eventually... Well, don't want to give away the ending, but the poor chap has very little going for him. Interestingly, he is very hardworking, honest, and rather enthusiastic about his mill. He is also a very...more
I really enjoyed this book, there’s a simple innocence to it. I’m not sure whether that is just because of the simpler time and place that it is set (a small woodside village in Finland just after WWII) or because it has been translated from Finnish, which could mean that the language has been made more simple due to translation.
Whatever the reason, it was perfectly charming even though it was dealing with a quite difficult subject.
An ‘outsider’ moves into the mill in this small village, and sta...more
Whatever the reason, it was perfectly charming even though it was dealing with a quite difficult subject.
An ‘outsider’ moves into the mill in this small village, and sta...more
With the recent translation of The Howling Miller, the English speaking world at last can read the work of Finland's most important novelist, Arto Paasilinna. Although one other book, The Year of the Hare, had previously been translated, only The Howling Miller is easily available to any North American.
Gunnar Huttunen, ex-Finnish soldier of the recent Second World War, wants nothing more than to establish himself once again as a miller in northern part of the country. Buying a dilapidated old mi...more
Gunnar Huttunen, ex-Finnish soldier of the recent Second World War, wants nothing more than to establish himself once again as a miller in northern part of the country. Buying a dilapidated old mi...more
Having looked through some other reviews, I'd have to say that it would appear that this book probably does suffer in translation. Not in its central message, necessarily, but in the nuances of the understory. The emphases that the villagers and (to a lesser extent) the author place on certain aspects Gunnar's behaviour are very strange to a Western eye, I think - the things he does are impulsive but not remotely "crazy", and even taking into account contextual factors (backwards rural setting,...more
Gunnar Huttunen moves to a village in Northern Finland, an outsider bringing with him a tragic past and a small complex of eccentricities, including an irresistible need to sometimes howl for long periods during the night. Before very long, the village leaders turn against him and do everything they can to forcibly expel the odd man. Against his will, Gunnar is cast in the roll of pariah and takes to the wooded hills surrounding the village, intent on recovering, in time, his honor, his mill wor...more
A stranger buy a run-down mill in a small Finnish town. He refurbishes it and repairs it. Meanwhile, the townspeople notice that he is a little strange. Soon enough, they start to persecute him.
The howling miller is a fairly easy novel to read. The Finnish names do add an element of quirkiness purely on account of being Finnish, but the novel itself, a fable/parable is reasonably interesting. Throughout the book, the hero turns out to be not much more crazy, or perhaps even rather less so, than...more
The howling miller is a fairly easy novel to read. The Finnish names do add an element of quirkiness purely on account of being Finnish, but the novel itself, a fable/parable is reasonably interesting. Throughout the book, the hero turns out to be not much more crazy, or perhaps even rather less so, than...more
The Howling Miller is a Finnish novel, but translated to English through the French version. I wonder how much is lost from the original this way? Never the less – no matter how it is translated, I found this book to be well written and it had me chuckling throughout.
The book is set shortly after the second world war and Gunnar Huttenen has appeared in the small town to open the mill. He is a big hit with the villagers at first until he starts this business of howling in middle of the night for...more
The book is set shortly after the second world war and Gunnar Huttenen has appeared in the small town to open the mill. He is a big hit with the villagers at first until he starts this business of howling in middle of the night for...more
I'd recently read "The year of the Hare" by the same author and found it a very disappointing, underdeveloped novel. I didn't hold out much hope for this one, but I was proved wrong. This is a far better read, and the characters are more fully formed. There's still the simplistic writing style, and the female characters are again rather cliched and lacking in depth. However it's a highly enjoyable yarn, and the bi-polar howling miller Gunnar, is an intriguing central character. I had to keep re...more
All the books written by Paasilina that I have read are amazing, but this was my first, that's why I consider it a very special one. The whole story is like a strange fairy tale, where characters are almost real but perhaps, too human to be real. Gunnar Huttumen, the miller, is special because he doesn't care about being different and behaving the way he feels, no matter what his "normal" neighbours think. He paints his mill the colour that he wants, he doesn't talk if he doesn't think it is nec...more
What an enjoyable read!
I liked how for Huttenen the knowledge found in 'books' is of no use to him: the 4H promotional pamphlets on growing vegetables don't explain the actual process, the scholarly tomes on mental illness fail to identify his particular malaise, the study-by-post business course -despite his best intentions- is utterly wasted on him out there in the wilderness. And ironically, even though he's not much of a Bible reader, JC still 'speaks' to him.
There's always a part of our s...more
I liked how for Huttenen the knowledge found in 'books' is of no use to him: the 4H promotional pamphlets on growing vegetables don't explain the actual process, the scholarly tomes on mental illness fail to identify his particular malaise, the study-by-post business course -despite his best intentions- is utterly wasted on him out there in the wilderness. And ironically, even though he's not much of a Bible reader, JC still 'speaks' to him.
There's always a part of our s...more
Withdrawn from Oldham Metro Library Service.
Translated by Will Hobson from the French of Anne Colin du Terrail. (wonder how this will work out)
Bookmark here is a thank you notelet fron flister Esther.
Opening: Soon after the wars, a tall fellow appeared in the canton who said his name was Gunnar Huttunen. Unlike most of the drifters who came up from the south, he didn't go to the forestry department looking for work digging ditches, but bought the old mill on the Suukoski rapids on the Kemijoki R...more
Translated by Will Hobson from the French of Anne Colin du Terrail. (wonder how this will work out)
Bookmark here is a thank you notelet fron flister Esther.
Opening: Soon after the wars, a tall fellow appeared in the canton who said his name was Gunnar Huttunen. Unlike most of the drifters who came up from the south, he didn't go to the forestry department looking for work digging ditches, but bought the old mill on the Suukoski rapids on the Kemijoki R...more
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"Poco dopo le guerre, arrivò nel comune un uomo molto alto che disse di chiamarsi Gunnar Huttunen. Contrariamente a quasi tutti i vagabondi venuti dal Sud, non andò a chiedere lavori di spalatura all'Amministrazione delle Acque, ma comprò il vecchio mulino delle Rapide della Foce, sulla riva del Kemijoki. L'operazione fu giudicata folle, dato che il mulino era rimasto inutilizzato fin dagli anni '30 ed era in pessime condizioni."
Gunnar, o Kunnari come viene chiamato, non è un uomo comune: di lui...more
Gunnar, o Kunnari come viene chiamato, non è un uomo comune: di lui...more
OK, it might not be exactly amazing, but trying pretty hard to find something written about Finland by a Fin in English this is what I came up with. Yes, it is translated twice so who knows what is left from the original, but I was delightfully surprised. This is a Funny, Finnish Fable or Folktale like book. So amazingly different what I have been reading for a long time that I have to give it rare 5 *. It was upbeat and clean, witch also was a big positive from the Finnish books I remember from...more
Ce roman part d'un personnage un peu à part, qui vit tranquille en retapant son moulin. Il ne se comporte pas toujours comme tout le monde, mais il ne fait de mal à personne. Pourtant, les évènements, et la haine des gens pour ce qui est différent, vont conduire le reste du village à le déclarer fou, en interprétant toutes ses actions de travers!
S'en suit les aventures de Gunnar, seul contre tous (ou presque). Comme d'habitude, Arto Paasilina nous propose une histoire dynamique, drôle parfois, e...more
S'en suit les aventures de Gunnar, seul contre tous (ou presque). Comme d'habitude, Arto Paasilina nous propose une histoire dynamique, drôle parfois, e...more
So my local Indy bookshop in Bath (Mr B's) loved this old book so much they ran a limited edition run to bring it to the attention of their customers. I'm so thankful they did. It wasn't my typical read and I would never have chosen it without the whole hearted recommendation of Nic. This book is a 20th century Finnish folktale with a one-of-kind anti-hero the howling miller. It's very well written and clever, it's quick and wonderful. To best describe its style I'd say it belongs somewhere betw...more
Akin to Enemy of the People, Paasilinna's miller has some idiosyncracies that annoy his neighbors. By turns a howling hermit and socially inept storyteller, the miller defies the comfortable village categories. The concise and sharp-toothed writing operates in a stark psychological landscape that mimics the frozen black and whites of the Finnish winter. Contrast his fugitive nature story, with the American tradition from Thoreau to "Into the Wild," and you learn how particular the mythology of A...more
This book was pretty amazing, and different. I'm still brooding over the ending. It's not exactly a happy one, but neither it is sad. It has the same small touch of fantasy as the entire novel.
Except for the description of how a mill works, which bored me a little, the rest of the novel is gripping, the kind of story which makes me live inside it, suffering and rejoicing along with the characters.
A mysterious, tall man buys the old mill in a northern Finnish village. His past is unknown and hi...more
Except for the description of how a mill works, which bored me a little, the rest of the novel is gripping, the kind of story which makes me live inside it, suffering and rejoicing along with the characters.
A mysterious, tall man buys the old mill in a northern Finnish village. His past is unknown and hi...more
Bello questo romanzo di Paalisinna. Mi era stato consigliato dopo la lettura di “Piccoli suicidi tra amici” e devo dire che è stat un’ottima segnalazione. Sono presenti molti aspetti tipici delle fiabe e delle leggende dei paesi scandinavi, con i cattivi che in realtà dovrebbero essere i buoni e viceversa. Questo libro presenta situazioni diverse legate a paesaggi e contesti differenti tra loro; ciò si riflette in un diverso ritmo di lettura, sembra di ascoltare un brano musicale con diversi cam...more
I read an enthusiastic review to this book, so I was pretty much influenced; I am vulnerable when the person that's recommending it is someone I trust.
Putting that aside, I'll try to put down a few ideas in a coherent way:
This book shouldn't be taken very seriously. It's a little satirical, as it's mentioned on the 4th cover of my edition. There's a lot of banter here. The church, the mental institutions, the police, the bank, the society-they're all joshed more or less.
The relativity of mental...more
Putting that aside, I'll try to put down a few ideas in a coherent way:
This book shouldn't be taken very seriously. It's a little satirical, as it's mentioned on the 4th cover of my edition. There's a lot of banter here. The church, the mental institutions, the police, the bank, the society-they're all joshed more or less.
The relativity of mental...more
Un roman contant les ennuis d'un meunier dans son village, en Finlande. Celui-ci est déclaré fou par les habitants de son village, parce qu'il a pris la fâcheuse habitude de hurler quand le cœur lui en dit. La situation peu donner à réfléchir sur la rigidité d'une société dans laquelle les différences et les excentricités ne sont pas tolérées et gênent ceux qui se disent ou pensent "normaux". Lecture très touchante et agréable.
Miller Gunnar Huttunen's short fuse and odd behaviour (including howling and animal mimicry) prompt local Finnish officials to apply sanctions...but Gunnar is sustained by his survival skills and hopes of a better life with the girl of his dreams. Excellent storytelling with likeable central characters and a good ending.
While it lacks the havok I so enjoy, this piece about a weird hermit and his affect on others has touched my red jello heart. I constantly expected him to garrote a town local but it never happened and yet I was very satisfied with it all. Well translated, well written and well, it was very worth the short read.
Nov 22, 2012
Nelleke
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who like stories from the northern europe
A sad fairytale in the modern world. A story about a miller who like to howl like a wolf. Because he doesn't behave normal the villagers think he is insane and they want to get rid of this 'terrible' man. How mean people can be when someone is different from the rest?
A wonderful story in a beautiful surrounding. Easy to read, I can definitely recommend this book.
A wonderful story in a beautiful surrounding. Easy to read, I can definitely recommend this book.
Paasilinna was one of my dad's favorite authors, but I've never been able to read them (especially because of the language). I guess I was kind of expecting something among the lines of Drifting Clouds by Kaurismaki in a book form. Not as crazy as that, but enjoyable nevertheless.
A lovely book. Strange characters and a lovely sense of timeliness about it all. Main character definitely an odd one, but I found myself routing for him throughout. And I liked the endinng, which is where books often let me down.
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Arto Tapio Paasilinna is a Finnish writer, being a former journalist turned comic novelist. One of Finland's most successful novelists, he has won a broad readership outside of Finland in a way few other Finnish authors have before. Translated into 27 languages, over seven million copies of his books have been sold worldwide, and he has been claimed as "instrumental in generating the current level...more
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“You've got to know how to howl to give yourself an escape route.”
—
3 people liked it
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May 29, 2010 09:37am
the russians sure know how to eat.
alice made me this warm beet borscht with beef in it??
so so good.
May 29, 2010 09:40am