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Vares #11
Keltainen Leski
Keltainen leski on kertomus raskaan sarjan talousrikollisen jäljittämisoperaatiosta ja rikosvyyhdestä, joka tempaisee neljänkympin kriisiä potevan Vareksen Helsinkiin saakka. Mausteensa keitokseen tuovat reservin kersantti ja nykyinen opettaja Eeva Sunila, muuan helsinkiläinen atari-rikosylikonstaapeli, joka ei ole täysin nuhteeton kansalainen, sekä nokkela alamaailman kaksikko Tetsuo Sinkkonen ja Hillosilmä Munck.
367 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 29, 2012
Kökköä tekstiä, epäuskottavia henkilöitä ja juonenkäänteitä. En tämän perusteella lukisi yhtään uutta Vares-kirjaa tai katsoisi elokuvia. En ymmärrä miksi Mäki on niin suosittu kuin on.
December 7, 2013
Vares is a dirty private investigator, an apparently very popular figure in the Finnish crime stuff.
And it's very Finnish - very odd humor (that I don't get. Also doesn't help I don't have a dictionary, so every few pages I'm trying to guess what something is supposed to be).
This book even boosts it was made as a movie.
Vares is among the most boring (private) detective characters I can think of. Even if there is action around him as his contacts are both legal folks and criminals, he still makes even Van Veeteren, commissario Brunetti, and Yrsa Sigurdardottir's heroine Thora seem like the most interesting characters and action heroes out there.
This was the first Vares I think I've read. Book #11 in the series. While starting that late in a series is usually a mistake, this was the book I had in hand, and the reviews for the first 3 books aren't exactly boosting the early Vares' maturity as a character, humor, or style. And as this was made as a movie, it surely can't be that bad, can it?
The best part was probably the humor. If you get it. I don't, for most parts, and had a dozen or two of small giggles when the characters said something oddly funny. Which was on the flip side also the problem; each main character had this very weird humor. I can only think one or two Finns out of a few hundred that would do humorous verbal acrobatics like ALL the protagonists in this book.
The characters were created with wild imagination (except Vares whom I did not find interesting even on one page). Too wild perhaps, unless he was only trying to create a wild, funny somehow action movie to be filmed in Finland, and which would have some hints of Reservoir Dogs in it. At least towards the end it picks up, and the unimaginable characters start to bind the story a bit better together.
I don't get why this series is so popular. Vares lacks charm.
I'd also probably fire the editor for basic grammar ignorance and for not fixing random CAPSLOCK and s p a c e d out words to italics. Both were used wildly in place of italics when anyone said something that somehow needed highlighting; these highlights only left me confused. Did the protagonists shout some of what they said, and speak very slowly the other words?
Clearly written for only the Finnish audiences; I don't think this will ever get translated in other languages.
At least it really shouldn't.
1.75 stars, really stretching it upwards.
~~~~
Ensimmainen Vares-kirja minulle. Vaikka kirja onkin 11. sarjassa, tama tuskin on sarjan huonoimpia taytekirjoja; ensimmaisten sarjan kirjojen kohdalla moni on maininnut etta huuori ym ei ole viela kohdillaan, ja taman kirjan perusteella on sitten tehty joku Vares-leffakin. Jota tietenkaan en ole nahnyt, eihan sita tanne Suomen ulkopuolelle ole koskaan tuotu (ja varmaan syysta, jos kuten kirja).
Vaikka Vares harrastaa actionia, han on silti tylsimpien etsivien top 3 listalla minulla (Yrsa Sigurdardottirin Thora on myos karkikolmikossa). Tylsa. Pahoihin tyyppeihin on kaytettykin sitten enemman mietintaa ja mielikuvitusta, mutta kaikki he kuulostavat tasmallleen samalta, ja kaikilla on tasmallalleen sama, hyvin outo mielikuvitus. Ehka huumorini ei ole (myos koskaan ollut) sellaista joka nauraisi taman kirjan kohmelluksille?
Loppua kohti sentaan tapahtumat nitoutuvat, mutta silloin tata melkein lukee kuin leffan kasikirjoitusta.
Alkeillisemmat pilkkusaannot ovat myos unohtuneet (ehka tata voisi kayttaa lukion suomen tunneilla virheiden korjaukseen), ja tata lukiessa olisi pitanyt olla sanakirja. Mika ihmeen rullarevolveri? Miten se eroaa tavallisesta revolverista? Ja muutama sata samanlaista ongelmaa lukiessa. Lisaaksi sanoja oli korosteltu seka CAPSLOCKILLA etta jattamalla h a j u r a k o sanojen valiin. Mitakohan varten naita keinoja oli kaytetty tavallisen italicin sijaan? Vaikka nuo voisi periaatteessa laskea editorin vioiksi (eika kirjailijan)...
Suositelkaapas joku joku Vares mita kokeilla seuraavaksi. Tama ei oikein ylla 1.75/5 tahtea ylemmaksi mitenkaan.
And it's very Finnish - very odd humor (that I don't get. Also doesn't help I don't have a dictionary, so every few pages I'm trying to guess what something is supposed to be).
This book even boosts it was made as a movie.
Vares is among the most boring (private) detective characters I can think of. Even if there is action around him as his contacts are both legal folks and criminals, he still makes even Van Veeteren, commissario Brunetti, and Yrsa Sigurdardottir's heroine Thora seem like the most interesting characters and action heroes out there.
This was the first Vares I think I've read. Book #11 in the series. While starting that late in a series is usually a mistake, this was the book I had in hand, and the reviews for the first 3 books aren't exactly boosting the early Vares' maturity as a character, humor, or style. And as this was made as a movie, it surely can't be that bad, can it?
The best part was probably the humor. If you get it. I don't, for most parts, and had a dozen or two of small giggles when the characters said something oddly funny. Which was on the flip side also the problem; each main character had this very weird humor. I can only think one or two Finns out of a few hundred that would do humorous verbal acrobatics like ALL the protagonists in this book.
The characters were created with wild imagination (except Vares whom I did not find interesting even on one page). Too wild perhaps, unless he was only trying to create a wild, funny somehow action movie to be filmed in Finland, and which would have some hints of Reservoir Dogs in it. At least towards the end it picks up, and the unimaginable characters start to bind the story a bit better together.
I don't get why this series is so popular. Vares lacks charm.
I'd also probably fire the editor for basic grammar ignorance and for not fixing random CAPSLOCK and s p a c e d out words to italics. Both were used wildly in place of italics when anyone said something that somehow needed highlighting; these highlights only left me confused. Did the protagonists shout some of what they said, and speak very slowly the other words?
Clearly written for only the Finnish audiences; I don't think this will ever get translated in other languages.
At least it really shouldn't.
1.75 stars, really stretching it upwards.
~~~~
Ensimmainen Vares-kirja minulle. Vaikka kirja onkin 11. sarjassa, tama tuskin on sarjan huonoimpia taytekirjoja; ensimmaisten sarjan kirjojen kohdalla moni on maininnut etta huuori ym ei ole viela kohdillaan, ja taman kirjan perusteella on sitten tehty joku Vares-leffakin. Jota tietenkaan en ole nahnyt, eihan sita tanne Suomen ulkopuolelle ole koskaan tuotu (ja varmaan syysta, jos kuten kirja).
Vaikka Vares harrastaa actionia, han on silti tylsimpien etsivien top 3 listalla minulla (Yrsa Sigurdardottirin Thora on myos karkikolmikossa). Tylsa. Pahoihin tyyppeihin on kaytettykin sitten enemman mietintaa ja mielikuvitusta, mutta kaikki he kuulostavat tasmallleen samalta, ja kaikilla on tasmallalleen sama, hyvin outo mielikuvitus. Ehka huumorini ei ole (myos koskaan ollut) sellaista joka nauraisi taman kirjan kohmelluksille?
Loppua kohti sentaan tapahtumat nitoutuvat, mutta silloin tata melkein lukee kuin leffan kasikirjoitusta.
Alkeillisemmat pilkkusaannot ovat myos unohtuneet (ehka tata voisi kayttaa lukion suomen tunneilla virheiden korjaukseen), ja tata lukiessa olisi pitanyt olla sanakirja. Mika ihmeen rullarevolveri? Miten se eroaa tavallisesta revolverista? Ja muutama sata samanlaista ongelmaa lukiessa. Lisaaksi sanoja oli korosteltu seka CAPSLOCKILLA etta jattamalla h a j u r a k o sanojen valiin. Mitakohan varten naita keinoja oli kaytetty tavallisen italicin sijaan? Vaikka nuo voisi periaatteessa laskea editorin vioiksi (eika kirjailijan)...
Suositelkaapas joku joku Vares mita kokeilla seuraavaksi. Tama ei oikein ylla 1.75/5 tahtea ylemmaksi mitenkaan.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews