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A journalist and a photographer set out on an assignment on lovely sunny evening. As they drive through the country they hit a young hare. Vatanen,...
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Feb 19, 2008
Jim
rated it: 
Over Christmas I met a Swedish woman at a dinner party – we got talking about Scandinavian literature, a recently acquired passion of mine. She suggested Paasilinna's The Year of the Hare – which is apparently a classic in Finland, where it was first published in 1975.
What a marvelous book! It perfectly captures the spirit of the 70s, and the Finnish setting gives it a kind of magic. It starts off in with an accident – in fact, the whole book is nothing but a series of accidents, but More...
What a marvelous book! It perfectly captures the spirit of the 70s, and the Finnish setting gives it a kind of magic. It starts off in with an accident – in fact, the whole book is nothing but a series of accidents, but More...
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Oct 14, 2011
Noce
rated it: 
Paasilinna e il suo potere balsamico.
Arto mi fa un effetto agrodolce.
Il suo stile è più didascalico dei sottotitoli di un Tg, eppre le storie che racconta sono come le caramelle balsamiche. Le succhi distrattamente, ma alla fine ti pizzica il naso.
L'uomo che abbandona la frenetica vita cittadina, preferendole una salubre esistenza silvestre, non sarebbe di per sé neanche un tema particolarmente originale, se non fosse che la semplicità spartana con cui Paasilinna descriv More...
Arto mi fa un effetto agrodolce.
Il suo stile è più didascalico dei sottotitoli di un Tg, eppre le storie che racconta sono come le caramelle balsamiche. Le succhi distrattamente, ma alla fine ti pizzica il naso.
L'uomo che abbandona la frenetica vita cittadina, preferendole una salubre esistenza silvestre, non sarebbe di per sé neanche un tema particolarmente originale, se non fosse che la semplicità spartana con cui Paasilinna descriv More...
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Jun 03, 2011
Dana
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'The Year of the Hare' is a Finnish book that has been translated into English. In it, Vatanen picks up an injured hare and walks away from his life to just hang out for a year. Interesting premise but I think it loses something in the translation.
The most endearing character in the book is, without doubt, the hare who heals from his injuries and becomes unfailingly loyal to Vatanen. The book would have benefited from being told from the hare's perspective. As it is, Vatanen comes off More...
The most endearing character in the book is, without doubt, the hare who heals from his injuries and becomes unfailingly loyal to Vatanen. The book would have benefited from being told from the hare's perspective. As it is, Vatanen comes off More...
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May 11, 2011
Cindy
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I bought this book thinking it would be an eye opening experience and an escape into a wild world where Kaarlo Vatanen escapes the modern world with his hare to discover magic and freedom in a way that I hadn't perceived before. I had high hopes and perhaps they were too high. I found that while clever and well written the book's magic was a little flat for me. I am not sure if it's the translation or if the book just prattles along on a luke warm journey through Finland without much oomph. It w
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Mar 30, 2011
Fleur
rated it:
When I saw that this little book was a bestseller in the author’s Finnish homeland, that it had been translated into umpteen languages, and that it had even been selected for the UNESCO Collection of Works I thought that I might just be on to a winner.
It all starts so simply. It is late in the day and a journalist and his photographer are driving home across country, They pull up when they hit and injure a young hare. Vatanen, the journalist pursues the hare into the forest. And he d More...
It all starts so simply. It is late in the day and a journalist and his photographer are driving home across country, They pull up when they hit and injure a young hare. Vatanen, the journalist pursues the hare into the forest. And he d More...
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Feb 04, 2011
Vera
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If you are too timid to actually cut all the ties to your "civilized" life, but still have a yearning to get away from clocks and calendars, >Arto Paasilinna'>s Year of the Hare provides the perfect escape literature. A journalist riding across Finland with a photographer, feels the car hit a hare (not a bunny rabbit--hares are larger, related to jack rabbits ). Vatanen, the journalist, gets out to check on the hare, who has retreated into the woods with his broken leg, and the
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Oct 31, 2010
Jackie
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This story was originally published in 1975 in Finland. And translated into 25 different languages. At last, it's about to be in our hands--and what an amazing delight this story is! Vatanen is a journalist, on the road with a photographer covering a story, when their car accidentally hits a hare. Vatanen makes the driver stop and searches forthe wounded animal. After quite a long while, he finds him and brings him back to the car as the creature has a broken leg and Vatanen wants to take i
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Feb 06, 2012
Vale
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"L'anno della lepre" è una simpatica storia ambientata tra la Finlandia e l'URSS. Vatanen è un giornalista stufo della sua vita anodina, profondamente triste, di quella tristezza muta che non trova le parole per esprimersi: nulla da condividere con il suo collega e compagno di viaggio e nulla da dire ad una moglie tirannica. A volte capita che questa tristezza che coviamo in noi, emerga e avvolga anche il mondo esterno, con una spuma che copre e attutisce il mondo, permettendoci di con
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Mar 25, 2011
Denise
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When Vatanen, a journalist traveling on assignment, hits a hare on a deserted country road, it changes his life. He finds the littel hare injured and as he begins caring for it he decides to throw away his old life and reinvent himself. Soon Vatanen and the hare are strolling the countryside, battling bears, putting out wildfires, ending up in jail, and generally having an adventurous time of it.
This charming story reminded me of many American fables - Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan amon More...
This charming story reminded me of many American fables - Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan amon More...
Mar 19, 2011
Danny
rated it:
Translated from the work of the Finnish author, I picked up this book as a short book intermission that looked fun. The basic idea is a reporter in Finland is in a car that hits a young hare, he gets out to help the hare and decides to leave his life behind and wander the countryside with his rabbity friend.
It was fun sometimes, in the way that any novel about someone leaving behind life and successfully vagabonding around with no responsibilities or cares will be fun. But it wasn' More...
It was fun sometimes, in the way that any novel about someone leaving behind life and successfully vagabonding around with no responsibilities or cares will be fun. But it wasn' More...
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Mar 12, 2011
Vicki
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This is “a novel with an ecological theme”, which makes it sound more intriguing than it actually is. The ecological theme is this: nature / solitude good; people / cities [/ women] bad. The main character, a middle aged gossip journalist, gets out of a car on the highway to find a hare that the driver struck, and then just walks into the forest with it and away from his life. Then he has random adventures and encounters, always with the hare by his side, and each time he gets caught up with
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May 16, 2010
Jessica
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A charming if inconsequential book about a man who decides to walk out on his life and start over again. Told largely in vignettes, The Year of the Hare describes a year in the life of Vatanen, a journalist who has been unhappy in his job and relationship for a long time. When his car strikes a hare while out on assignment a few hours from home, Vatanen follows the injured hare into the woods, nurses it back to health, and makes it his constant companion as he wanders farther and farther from hi
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Sep 18, 2011
Antonomasia
rated it:
I'd prefer to give this 4.5 stars as it seems to be let down a bit by the translation, with some odd and clumsy word choices. Nevertheless, the story still flows.
It was a little different from expectations, with more events and fewer descriptions of peaceful times spent in nature. Not many books could benefit from being longer or from more description, but this is probably one. Whilst Vatanen drops out of consumerist society, there is very little hippie or political style writing here: he More...
It was a little different from expectations, with more events and fewer descriptions of peaceful times spent in nature. Not many books could benefit from being longer or from more description, but this is probably one. Whilst Vatanen drops out of consumerist society, there is very little hippie or political style writing here: he More...
Feb 17, 2011
Dwhren
rated it:
Originally written in Finnish in 1975 this book was recently re-released in English by Penguin. I read this review of it on NPR last week and realized that I had picked up a free copy of it ALA Midwinter. So once I finished my horrid book club book I decided this would be a nice, fun quick read. It certainly was quick. I read it in about an hour and half. I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as the NPR reviewer, but mostly I think that is a preference for book styles. The book was fairly absurdist
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Nov 13, 2011
Naleen
rated it:
*** minor spoilers ahead ***
This was handed to me by a coworker at the company where I currently do "temp" work, busting my ass day after day, getting paid pennies to the dollar I obviously feel that I should be making, worrying about the day when I actually fall sick and don't get paid and still can't go to the doctor... sigh. I can go on and on. I can blame the crappy economy or my university education that apparently didn't prepare me for the real world, but this is More...
This was handed to me by a coworker at the company where I currently do "temp" work, busting my ass day after day, getting paid pennies to the dollar I obviously feel that I should be making, worrying about the day when I actually fall sick and don't get paid and still can't go to the doctor... sigh. I can go on and on. I can blame the crappy economy or my university education that apparently didn't prepare me for the real world, but this is More...
Jan 16, 2011
Chuck
rated it:
The author is well-known in Europe and this 1975 book has been translated into thirty languages; odd that it took 35 years to get into English. From the review, I was expecting an Alice in Wonderland allegory. But Year of the Hare requires no suspension of disbelief.
Vatanen is a journalist is in a car with a colleague, heading home to Helsinki from an assignment. The driver, blinded by the setting sun, hits a hare and Vatanen demands that he stop the car and find the animal. He does find More...
Vatanen is a journalist is in a car with a colleague, heading home to Helsinki from an assignment. The driver, blinded by the setting sun, hits a hare and Vatanen demands that he stop the car and find the animal. He does find More...
Jul 08, 2011
Penny
rated it:
Again, it needs that 1/2 star - because it's about a 2.5 star read. I'm glad I "listened" to this one instead of reading it, because I'm certain I would never have finished it if I was reading in book format. It's a story of a man that is driving with a co-worker and they hit a hare. He goes off in to the woods to see if the hare is still living and has an epiphany. He leaves his wife, quits his job, sells his possessions and wanders around for one year with the hare as his companion.
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Jun 21, 2011
Lianne
rated it:
After all the hoopla over Steig Larson's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series, I have been seeking out other Scandavian writers. Here's one that came out seemingly from nowhere, tho' the reviews say the author has been entertaining Finns for 30 years. I think this book is destined to be an underground hit or maybe it already has been only I have come late to the party. The book is a little reminiscent of "Life of Pi" with its mixture of philosophy, wry humor and an animal f
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Nov 15, 2010
Kieran
rated it:
You know we get used to reading books that come across with ‘simple’ storylines and having to peel through layers to get to a (sometimes) complicated underlying theme so I was somewhat cautious after zipping through The Year of the Hare. The thing is that this could well be one of those books that is just a nice easy read. It’s a fable that deals with the dream that everybody has of just packing it all in, leaving our crazy lives behind and starting over (maybe not in Finland, but you get the i
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Jan 28, 2011
pri
rated it:
who wouldn't want to slip away from the world and find adventure? even if - at the end - you have to pay for it? oh, a companion hare. what's better than that?
"To walk, like Thoreau, away from the community one knows too well and to sit still in the forest, where suddenly our companions are the stars, the creatures we've never stopped to notice before, other eccentric dropouts, even the pinch of bitter cold. In an age when more and more of us are assaulted, around the clock, by b More...
"To walk, like Thoreau, away from the community one knows too well and to sit still in the forest, where suddenly our companions are the stars, the creatures we've never stopped to notice before, other eccentric dropouts, even the pinch of bitter cold. In an age when more and more of us are assaulted, around the clock, by b More...
Dec 29, 2011
Jane
rated it:
Whimsical, ridiculous, funny, a parable, an animal story...I don't know really what you'd label this novel. But one thing for sure, I love the juxtapositions within the story of the characters, values, etc. I laughed and chuckled several times...who would rescue a hare and go through all the situations the main character does. I would recommend this book to people a little off center...you know, the interesting people who don't march to the same drummer everyone else does. Cross over into th
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Feb 15, 2011
kira
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In Finland. A man spontaneously and abruptly abandons his professional and personal life and spends the next year wandering around the country, up into the Arctic Circle, with his companion, a hare. Much manual labor, chopping of wood, heavy drinking, hunting, and more heavy drinking ensues. Strange characters are encountered. Moments both tragic and happy abound. The hare, though mute and an animal, is nearly as strong and memorable a character as Vatanen, the protagonist.
This is a More...
This is a More...
Oct 22, 2011
Carolinecarver
rated it:
This is such a charming book by Finnish writer, Arto Paasilinna, although if you are thinking of running away from home, beware; this story could propel you on. Vatanen is a journalist on assignment who, while driving, hits a hare in the road. He plunges into the forest to find it. Once found, he splints the hare's broken hind leg, puts it in his pocket, and leaves his former life--his job, wife, boat and other possessions--behind as he and the hare seek a new life that will be filled with comic
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Aug 09, 2011
Amaris
rated it:
I'm a journalist with a bunny, so I was intrigued by this novel about a journalist who leaves it all in order to hit the road with a wild hare who he rescues after the hare is hit by a car. The similarities end there because I'm never going to travel to the Finnish Arctic and chase a bear that broke into my cabin and ate all my ketchup through winter storms and across the Soviet border.
And my rabbit is never going to run by my side on a bear hunt. I find it a little unbelievable that a cit More...
And my rabbit is never going to run by my side on a bear hunt. I find it a little unbelievable that a cit More...
May 26, 2011
Erin
rated it:
The tale of a man and a hare roaming the Finland countryside was touching and refreshing and will make you want to pawn your old record player and the rest of the items collecting dust in your garage and set out on your own journey!
I'm somewhere between liked it and really liked it. The last few chapters, I believe, kept me from really liking it. It went from an absurd, but endearing and believable tale, to a little too much farfetchedness (is that a word, haha).
But will sti More...
I'm somewhere between liked it and really liked it. The last few chapters, I believe, kept me from really liking it. It went from an absurd, but endearing and believable tale, to a little too much farfetchedness (is that a word, haha).
But will sti More...
Aug 18, 2011
barebear
rated it:
At times it felt as though I were reading a children's book, and I'm not sure if that was due to the translation. An interesting idea, but this book lacks something.
I found Vatanen, and most of the characters he meets along his journey, to be shallow, not nearly enough character building.
There were things I failed to understand, such as why Vatanen hid whilst the vicar was trying to kill his loyal companion. Also, aside from being the catalyst behind Vatanen running away, the hare More...
I found Vatanen, and most of the characters he meets along his journey, to be shallow, not nearly enough character building.
There were things I failed to understand, such as why Vatanen hid whilst the vicar was trying to kill his loyal companion. Also, aside from being the catalyst behind Vatanen running away, the hare More...
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Jun 27, 2011
Stephanie
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I picked this book off the library shelf thinking it might be something profound, like a man's journey toward something...NOT. It really wasn't worth reading (why it's an international bestseller I'll never know) in fact, it's probably not worth the dollar late fee, I just can't stand to not finish books.
It was completely pointless. A Finnish man nearly kills a hare and after rescuing it, decides to leave his wife and life as a journalist. For the next year he wanders aimlessly, h More...
It was completely pointless. A Finnish man nearly kills a hare and after rescuing it, decides to leave his wife and life as a journalist. For the next year he wanders aimlessly, h More...
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Jan 08, 2011
Lisa
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I read this last night and thoroughly enjoyed both Pico Iyer's foreword and Arto Paasilinna's characters of the man and the hare and all the folks they meet along their road trip. I can't imagine traveling with an injured hare and it struck up memories of the film Local Hero - of course that hare's ending was abrupt. This hare accompanies his human throughout Finland from the forest to Lapland and Russia. It was a lovely road trip and I'd recommend it to anyone for a beautifully written armchair
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Sep 04, 2011
Lea
rated it:
Playful, deceptively simple, subtle and surprising- I'm not sure I understood everything, but at the first read through it seems to be a wonderful Finish story of freedom, truth and nature.
I found a copy on a dusty shelf in an old used book store, and like all good stories it came with a couple underlined sections and notes, which why making very little sense to me always increase the feeling of reading-as-experience...
At times it reminded me of Candide or Walden or may More...
I found a copy on a dusty shelf in an old used book store, and like all good stories it came with a couple underlined sections and notes, which why making very little sense to me always increase the feeling of reading-as-experience...
At times it reminded me of Candide or Walden or may More...
Feb 09, 2012
Jonpaul
rated it:
Messy, wacky, and silly, this book is, nonetheless, a fantastical treatise about personal freedom. Here are some bits I especially enjoyed:
"As he performed his heavy labor, with no concern for time, he grew tougher and thought less and less about the flabby life he'd left...Anyone could live this life, he reflected, provided they had the sense to give up the other way of life."
"There was a half moon, and the stars were glimmering faintly in the frozen evening. More...
"As he performed his heavy labor, with no concern for time, he grew tougher and thought less and less about the flabby life he'd left...Anyone could live this life, he reflected, provided they had the sense to give up the other way of life."
"There was a half moon, and the stars were glimmering faintly in the frozen evening. More...
