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Little Fingers

by Filip Florian

3.28 · rating details · 57 ratings · 12 reviews

In a little town in Romania, a mass grave is discovered near the excavations of a Roman fort. Are the dead the victims of a medieval plague or, perhaps, of a Communist firing squad? And why are finger bones disappearing from the pit each night? Petrus, a young archaeologist, decides to do some investigating of his own. Meanwhile, an Orthodox monk in the surrounding mountai...more

Hardcover, 202 pages

Published July 23rd 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published 2005)

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Sep 14, 2008

Lavinia rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: ro, 2007, fiction

despre degete mici citisem recenzii foarte bune si stiam ca autorul a luat si ceva premiu pentru debut in proza.

cel mai mult mi-a placut la florian limbajul. desi e un autor tinar [n. 1968], si m-as fi asteptat sa aud din gura lui [pana, mai concret] modernisme, englezisme si de ce nu, niscai obscenitati, am avut placuta surpriza sa descopar un limbaj neaos, provincial, usor arhaic. episoadele care-l descriu pe calugarul onufrie poarta cu ele ceva special, aducind a basm si m-au dus ...more

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Oct 06, 2009

Monica Carter rated it

This debut novel by Romanian writer, Filip Florian, is a novel that begins with children discovering a mass grave while they are out playing. Set in a small Romanian town post-Communism, Little Fingers is a mystery with no answer. This is a novel I expected would engage me, leaving me waiting for more of his work to be translated into English. It did engage me, and I do want see more, but definitely not in the way that I thought it would. There is a lack of focus and unsettling d...more

This debut novel by Romanian writer, Filip Florian, is a novel that begins with children discovering a mass grave while they are out playing. Set in a small Romanian town post-Communism, Little Fingers is a mystery with no answer. This is a novel I expected would engage me, leaving me waiting for more of his work to be translated into English. It did engage me, and I do want see more, but definitely not in the way that I thought it would. There is a lack of focus and unsettling digressive narrative turns that make for a convoluted story. I am still wondering what to make of it. It seems like there is a protagonist, but by the end of the novel, you can barely remember anything about him.

Petrus is the main character, at least the character we are led to believe might be a constant, who is the key to all that unravels throughout the novel. His Auntie Paulina is the eccentric he visits and listens her to as she spins unrelated stories about herself and others.There's her friend, Eugenia Embury, who reads cards and whom Petrus also visits and listens to while he falls in love with her granddaughter, Jojo. Characters are introduced and stories told, but we aren't given anything to grab onto instead floating on the subtle waves of Florian's prose. This is what is so confounding about Little Fingers, just when you think that the story has been laid out and is going somewhere, another one starts. There is tremendous imagination in use when he recounts dreams of Petrus, when he describes the oldest man in the town and when he recounts the story of Father Onufrie. The stories of the people introduced go on too long and only a few seem to converge towards the end of the novel.

The town calls in five Argentinian archaeologists who have experience with mass graves to aid in discovering what was the cause of this tragedy. There is a long history about the Argentinian mass graves that is compelling and gives us much more than the mass grave that we are introduced to originally and made to wonder if this was a result of Communist abuse. There is the mystery of who is stealing the bones of the little fingers from the grave site.

But there is rarely the feeling of tragedy to this tragedy. As a reader, at some point, needs to feel that there is a sense of tragedy along with 'a horrific incident'. Perhaps there is point to this-if a tragedy like this was allowed to take place, there were those who had to look the other way and ignore the tragedy. As reader, we are left to look at history the way many people read about tragedies in history-from a book, far removed from the devastation of the incident. And it is only those who lived through it who can relay the true appalling nature of tragedy. Maybe that is why Petrus spends time introducing many of the older characters and letting them wander through the narrative dispersing facts that at some point may matter. But for the reader, it's too difficult to discern what is important and what is 'color; so to speak. This quote from Petrus is strangely indicative of how Florian gives us the story:

Later, when it was barely half past eight, realized something unusual: I was continually looking at the clock. Not one of the books on the nightstand tempted me. Reviewing my observations in my notebook was useless. At one point I turned on the radio, and quickly turned it off. I put some clothes in the water to soak, but did not get around to washing them. I went out into the yard with a rug. The sun was burning, quite brightly and after scorching my back for a little while, it made me want something: a cold shower. In the cupboard I had plenty of food, but I did not touch it, so as to arouse my hunger as much as possible before experiencing the culinary abilities of the oldest man in town.

Florian gives us everything in hopes of producing a climactic moment at the end of the book, but it is too disjointed to create an impact or justify the nebulous narrative. Not to say that Florian isn't talented, he is. The prose is beautiful and the imagination is lush, but it reads like a debut. Florian, a journalist before writing this novel, is a writer yet to reach his full potential. The issue of translation doesn't seem to factor in too strongly because it reads well and his elegant style is conveyed appropriately. Structure is not the fault of the translator. It would be easy to fault the translator because the book did win several prizes. Perhaps this is one of the books that doesn't translate well. The history of a nation can sometimes only be felt and understood by people who live there and no amount of translation could make someone else understand.
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Sep 06, 2011

Liviu rated it

Shelves: mainstream, read_2011

Little Fingers is an interesting book that has two major problems - it does not fully cohere and it's almost untranslatable; I read only the English version - i wish I would have the Romanian original - but like with Days of the King (which is a model of clarity compared to this one) the translation is very convoluted, likely trying to imitate the original and again it just does not work resulting in very stilted and dense (in a negative way) prose. Using 5 sentences when one would work is not a...more

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Jul 15, 2011

John Brookes rated it

This book takes place in a remote town and mountain resort named only as W, but apparently based on the actual resort of Sinaia.

Romania itself is located in South-eastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. The country shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the north-east, and Bulgaria to the south.

Interestingly, the ...moreThis book takes place in a remote town and mountain resort named only as W, but apparently based on the actual resort of Sinaia.

Romania itself is located in South-eastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. The country shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the north-east, and Bulgaria to the south.

Interestingly, the oldest modern human remains in Europe were discovered in the "Cave With Bones" in present day Romania. The remains are approximately 42,000 years old and as Europe’s oldest remains of Homo sapiens, they may represent the first such people to have entered the continent.

This is perhaps a fitting snipet of information for “Little Fingers” by (then) debut novelist Filip Florian. The main premise of this work revolves around a huge pit containing a significant number of human remains, found as the result of a recent excavation of a fort on the outskirts of the town. Added to this premise is the strange fact that the little fingers of these skeletons appear to be missing – or are going missing.

This discovery acts as a catalyst to bring out a number of underlying tensions within the town (and, one assumes, Romania as a whole). Views are polarised: the Chief of Police is convinced that these are proof of a recent atrocity under Communist rule; the main protagonist of the novel – the archaeologist Petrus whose excavation is postponed due to the discovery – believes them to be the remains of plague victims; and the visionary local priest links them to his visions of the Virgin Mary as a divine intervention of sorts.

It must be said, however, that this description – and that given by the publishers – is in danger of painting a picture of a more coherent narrative than actually exists. Rather, this initial scenario acts as a focal point to hang a number of very disparate and unconnected portraits of key figures within the town. Petrus’ account probably comes nearest to a narrative account, depicting his boredom at his enforced absence from the archaeological site, and his blossoming relationship with a daughter of one of his Aunt’s friends in the town. Elsewhere in this work however, things are much less structured: ranging from an effectively comical account of the life of a photographers’ camel through to a long (some might say overlong) account of the history of the local priest, Onufrie. The arrival, late on in the novel, of a group of Argentinean ‘experts’ intent on ascertaining if these remains really are the result of a recent governmental massacre, is obviously intended to bring in a degree of political satire in relating the recent Argentinean junta to that of Romania’s recent Communist past, but I have to say much of this intent went over my head.

That said, despite the fractured narrative I did enjoy this book – it was well written, had some interesting characters, and depicted life in post-Ceauşescu Romania well (albeit in the confines of a small mountain resort). The characters were uniformly fascinating – and diverse – and Florian maintained a rich vein of humour throughout.
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Sep 22, 2009

J.R. rated it

Shelves: fiction

I’d count this novel a disappointment if I hadn’t worked so hard to find some enjoyment in it.

The problems are the plot is obtuse, the characters too divergent, the sentences too long and the whole swamped under a blanket of every adjective in the dictionary. The author is said to be a journalist and the book had rave reviews abroad. So is the fault that of the translator and not his? I have no idea.

I hate to give up on a book. It’s only 202 pages. So I plowed on, even wh...more

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Jul 02, 2009

Amy rated it

Recommends it for: a Romanian

Shelves: amazon-vine, 2009-books-read

Because of my negative opinions about this book, I translated several of the Romanian reviews for this see what readers who read it in its original language had to say about it. Every Romanian, without exception, says that it is brilliant. However, nearly all reviewers for the English translation say that they had to plod through the book, that it is confusing, or that they gave up on it. So my conclusion is that either a) The translator didn't do such a great job, b) English speakers can't appr...moreBecause of my negative opinions about this book, I translated several of the Romanian reviews for this see what readers who read it in its original language had to say about it. Every Romanian, without exception, says that it is brilliant. However, nearly all reviewers for the English translation say that they had to plod through the book, that it is confusing, or that they gave up on it. So my conclusion is that either a) The translator didn't do such a great job, b) English speakers can't appreciate Romanian literature, or c) English speakers aren't so bright. Since I read it and didn't like it, I'd hate to think "c" to be true.

This Romanian author writes in the same tradition as many Spanish authors I've read; the sentences go on forever and ever. It isn't out of the ordinary for a sentence to go on for 10 lines with 6 commas and 3 parenthetical tangents. This would have been just fine if I wasn't confused about who was doing what, when, and where in each sentence. It's not uncommon for a half-paged sentence in this book to switch between characters, subjects, and time periods. I think that, for the author, this is a game. In fact, in one place he specifically says that he thinks it would be a really great exercise for school children to have to take such a super-long sentence and write one main idea for the sentence. Sometimes I wondered, though, if the sentences couldn't have been made more understandable if the translator had changed around a few misplaced modifiers and clarified a few pronouns. Then again, it's possible that the author's writing was indecipherable in the first place. However, I doubt this very much because of all the glowing Romanian reviews.

I have to admit that I read the majority of this book without ever really comprehending what was happening. There were moments of lucidity where I enjoyed very strange stories about camels or about a monk whose hair grew at the rate of 4 inches every 8 hours (or was it 8 inches every 4 hours?). At times I felt like I was entering the strange world of a storyteller like Italo Calvino. And then I'd lose the storyline altogether.

I considered stopping my reading at page 50, but I plodded on, convinced by the few glowing reviews by English-speaking readers that I might finally find a jewel in the rough. I had no such luck. I managed to find the secret of the mass grave uncovered at the beginning of the novel. But, frankly, if that storyline is what brings you to the book (like it did me), please be forewarned that that particular tangent only lasts for 5 or 6 pages. Everything else is sometimes delicious but usually infinitely scannable filler story with a few weird twists for good measure.

Note: While I critique both purchased and free books in the same way, I'm legally obligated to tell you I received this book free through the Amazon Vine program in return for my review. Blah blah blah.(less)

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Jun 13, 2010

Kathleen rated it

Shelves: 2010, benicia

Very slow starter, picked up once the story became more character centered. My enthusiasm for reading this waned whenever the book lumbered off onto its tangents of political history, soccer, the church and other areas in which I simply had no interest; at one point I actually muttered an invective directed at the author.

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Oct 13, 2009

Kirsten marked it as couldn-t-finish

Shelves: fiction, from-library

God help me, I just couldn't get through the first chapter of this book. Maybe at some point I'll be interested in finding out if the weird, tangental stream-of-consciousness storytelling ever turns into anything I can follow, but not right now.

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Mar 13, 2011

Cooper Renner rated it

An unusual book, not quite what the book jacket suggests. A kind of Eastern European magic realism, well-done and inventive, if somewhat oddly plotted.

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May 24, 2010

anca dc rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

N-am chef sa ii scriu review, doar sa imi scriu ca aici e prima data cind m-am intrebat cit de usor sau greu e sa fii scriitor. Si nu ma refer la talent, ci la inspiratie. Capitolul cinci, cel cu Onufrie, ii de vina pentru aceasta dilema. Poveste mai complicata de atit putea sa ii faca?! :)))

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Jul 13, 2011

Ivana rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: i-own

I can't remember the last time I was this much disappointed with a book. I almost gave up when in the middle the author started talking about football and then by it got to what was suposed to be the main topic. Combine that with the story about Onufrie and you get how I felt when I got to the end of the book. For me it definitely didn't reach it's maximum.

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Sep 29, 2008

Angela rated it

A very good novel, written by a Romanian, FIlip Florian. I was very surprised to find out that he has a subtle, simple, smart way of ”talking” about important things. This book could have another title ”The chronicle of a small village”...I liked it!

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About Filip Florian

Filip Florian. Between 1990-99, he worked as a journalist and editor for the Cuvîntul (The Word) weekly and then as a correspondent for the Free Europe and Deutsche Welle radio stations. He spent five years in the mountain town of Sinaia writing his first novel Little Fingers, which was published to great critical acclaim by Polirom in 2005. Greeted as the work of a distinctive and original new vo...more

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