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Notes for the Aurora Society
Walk 1500 miles through Finland. From the islands of the Baltic to the Arctic coast, this work of travel literature looks at the Finnish people through their connection to the natural world.
- GenresTravel
354 pages, paperback
First published January 5, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2010
It isn’t every day somebody walks the length of Finland, south to north, 1,500 miles in all. In fact, it isn’t even every day that somebody remembers that Finland’s there. So when somebody actually takes that hike, talking to people all the way, the event deserves a good book. Jim O’Donnell has taken the hike and written the book, and as a rarity in this world, the book is something to treasure. At some distant time in the future when somebody wants to know what Finland was like at the turn of the 21t century, Jim O’Donnell’s Notes for the Aurora Society is where they will look.
O’Donnell carried a heavy pack and a good ploy. Every time he met somebody, he stopped to talk, and his standard question was about how Finns relate to nature. Other topics grew out of the conversation, of course, but that’s how he got started. He talked with so many people at such length that it’s amazing that he managed to make it all the way to Nuorgum, the northernmost point of the European Union, a nice spot for a dip in the Arctic Sea.
To summarize innumerable answers to his single question, some Finns are ardently protective of their environment, and some see it as something to exploit for financial purpose or at least for purposes of in natura sex and the consumption of enough beer to drive away the nightmare of interminable winter dark. Women, it seemed, were more likely to see nature as needing mothering, while men were more more likely to seek happiness in booze.
Working your way through Notes can be as exhausting as the hike it portrays, but that’s a good thing. The book is a wealth of detail, and even though no two days are alike, sometimes several days seem similar. But then O’Donnell plunges into a forest or out of a forest or wanders down the wrong trail, and suddeny he finds somebody studying an ecosystem or revving up a quad or ignoring a garden or tucking into a bender or saying something like “The Finnish spring is like a man’s sexuality.” He gets into discussions on the nature and definition of true capital-W Wilderness, the nature and definition of Finnishity (my word, not his), the questionable value of snowmobiles, the history of the Russian-Finnish relationship, and so much more.
Much to his credit, O’Donnell doesn’t waste many words telling the reader how sore his feet were or how hungry he got. Yes, there’s some of that, but it’s mostly a book of anecdotes and conversations. It isn’t about a hike. It’s about people and a culture.
I must admit that back when I never gave Finland a second thought, I pictured the place as populated by Laps, reindeer, and beautiful blondes, where everyone lives in steamy cabins heated by burning pine, living off polar bear gizzards and flogging themselves in the sauna. It never occurred to me that the unique culture of the place would necessitate a vocabulary would need such words as snagari, kiuas, raha, motti, loyly, vasta, and eramaa. Sure, everybody speaks a little English, but English doesn’t have words that translate those (except for snagari, which as I would pronounce it, not knowing what to do with the double-o punctuation over the a’s, sounds like a perfect word for a hotdog stand).
So if you want to take a trip to somewhere you’ve never been and probably never even bothered to imagine, Notes for the Aurora Society is your ticket. Settle in for a fascinating trudge from sauna to sagari, from Helsinki to a chilly sea. I’m betting you’ll be glad you didn’t take the trip yourself but will not regret reading about somebody else doing it. You’ll end up seeing not only Finland for the first time but your world for the second.
Glenn Alan Cheney
O’Donnell carried a heavy pack and a good ploy. Every time he met somebody, he stopped to talk, and his standard question was about how Finns relate to nature. Other topics grew out of the conversation, of course, but that’s how he got started. He talked with so many people at such length that it’s amazing that he managed to make it all the way to Nuorgum, the northernmost point of the European Union, a nice spot for a dip in the Arctic Sea.
To summarize innumerable answers to his single question, some Finns are ardently protective of their environment, and some see it as something to exploit for financial purpose or at least for purposes of in natura sex and the consumption of enough beer to drive away the nightmare of interminable winter dark. Women, it seemed, were more likely to see nature as needing mothering, while men were more more likely to seek happiness in booze.
Working your way through Notes can be as exhausting as the hike it portrays, but that’s a good thing. The book is a wealth of detail, and even though no two days are alike, sometimes several days seem similar. But then O’Donnell plunges into a forest or out of a forest or wanders down the wrong trail, and suddeny he finds somebody studying an ecosystem or revving up a quad or ignoring a garden or tucking into a bender or saying something like “The Finnish spring is like a man’s sexuality.” He gets into discussions on the nature and definition of true capital-W Wilderness, the nature and definition of Finnishity (my word, not his), the questionable value of snowmobiles, the history of the Russian-Finnish relationship, and so much more.
Much to his credit, O’Donnell doesn’t waste many words telling the reader how sore his feet were or how hungry he got. Yes, there’s some of that, but it’s mostly a book of anecdotes and conversations. It isn’t about a hike. It’s about people and a culture.
I must admit that back when I never gave Finland a second thought, I pictured the place as populated by Laps, reindeer, and beautiful blondes, where everyone lives in steamy cabins heated by burning pine, living off polar bear gizzards and flogging themselves in the sauna. It never occurred to me that the unique culture of the place would necessitate a vocabulary would need such words as snagari, kiuas, raha, motti, loyly, vasta, and eramaa. Sure, everybody speaks a little English, but English doesn’t have words that translate those (except for snagari, which as I would pronounce it, not knowing what to do with the double-o punctuation over the a’s, sounds like a perfect word for a hotdog stand).
So if you want to take a trip to somewhere you’ve never been and probably never even bothered to imagine, Notes for the Aurora Society is your ticket. Settle in for a fascinating trudge from sauna to sagari, from Helsinki to a chilly sea. I’m betting you’ll be glad you didn’t take the trip yourself but will not regret reading about somebody else doing it. You’ll end up seeing not only Finland for the first time but your world for the second.
Glenn Alan Cheney
August 17, 2009
Jim O'Donnell sets out not only to walk the length of Finland, but to examine the much vaunted Finnish "connection to nature." He includes some background on the geography and history of the country as he narrates his journey. The best part of the book, for me, was reading about the quirky characters that Jim meets as he walks. He presents them as they encountered, brief, incomplete, but intriguing. I would have liked more concise background on Finland perhaps at the beginning of the book, but other readers may be better informed to begin with than I was. The book gives one food for thought concerning what a connection with nature means, not only for Finns, but for anyone. Does it really mean, as so many people he encounters seem to think, going out in the woods to get roaring drunk on the weekends? I think a lot of people here in Michigan seem to see "nature" that way as well.
February 2, 2009
A must read.
Well, at least I think so because I wrote it. Take a look and let me know what you think!
Well, at least I think so because I wrote it. Take a look and let me know what you think!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews