Purge in Around the World

Aug 02, 2013 Shawn Bird rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a very *Finnish* book. If you're Finnish, you'll know what I mean. If you're not, I'm not sure I can explain. There's a very particular ethos about it: things said and unsaid, hints given, words spoken but more running between the lines, things known, but more unknown. The story spans 40 years, and goes back and forth between years and individuals. Narration happens by letter, by files, by interior monologues. It's confusing. It's fascinating. The story is dark, encompassing Estonia as a ...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Rusalka rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: original-52-books-around-the-world, own, nordic, translation, around-the-world, rl-friends-recommendations, europe, holy-f-why-has-nobody-told-me, central-eastern-europe

This book was different. It had a mood. It enveloped you like a thick, sticky fog and wouldn't quite let you out. It drew you in so far, you felt like you were in the Estonian forest, probably in a log style farmhouse, and surrounded by the mist. You could pretty much smell the horseradish, feel the charcoal on your teeth throughout this book. It was an experience.

I wonder if it is just something we don't do in Western novels/stories. I liken my experience with this novel to my partner's when we This book was different. It had a mood. It enveloped you like a thick, sticky fog and wouldn't quite let you out. It drew you in so far, you felt like you were in the Estonian forest, probably in a log style farmhouse, and surrounded by the mist. You could pretty much smell the horseradish, feel the charcoal on your teeth throughout this book. It was an experience.

I wonder if it is just something we don't do in Western novels/stories. I liken my experience with this novel to my partner's when we sat down to watch the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He wasn't overly keen to watch it, but within the first 5 mins (which was only the intro titles) he was on the edge of his seat desperate to see where the movie went. In those 5 mins, the mood (his words not mine this time) was so unlike any thing that we were used to, and he was lapping it up. For him with the movie and for me with this novel, we weren't patronised, we weren't talked down to, we were just taken along on a story.

As a Westerner who's biggest problem in life at the moment is that her phone battery doesn't last more than a day (what the hell Ericsson!), being thrown into a world of either being occupied in your own country by the Soviets, then the Germans, then the Soviets again for good measure or finally being able to get to the promise of the West only to be forced into sex slavery, was needless to say perspective finding. The worlds these women experienced while not entirely unheard of, casts the light my cushy Aussie lifestyle.

Both Aliide and Zara were likeable to some extent, and you were able to empathise and sympathise with them both, although Zara more. You understood and even respected their decisions, and honestly I do not know if I would have made entirely different ones from Aliide to keep myself safe. The desperation of the women oozes off the page and into you.

Criticisms, as we all know I always have some. While I felt that the "darker things" (trying not to spoil here, so work with me) was dealt with delicately while still conveying the horror of it all in the Soviet area parts of the book, I felt that it was overly explicit when mentioned in the 1990s timeline. Although it could have been mentioned more I guess... so maybe that was the delicate way of putting it... Secondly, I think that Part Five of the book was kinda unnecessary, and the book could have end those 10-15pp earlier. It didn't alter the story or decrease my like of the book, just was a bit... meh.

Overall a highly recommended read. There are one or two bits that sort of burn into your mind so make sure you have some youtube videos of hilarious animals to get you to sleep. And for some reason I had a dream that I single-handedly had to save Latvia last night... not sure if that is related... Anyways, 5 stars from me.

For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/ ...more

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Feb 04, 2018 Hesper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: communism-totalitarianism, fiction, wicked-games, baltics

According to the US edition cover image, this might be a novel about ladies having thoughtful moments in well lit kitchens, or maybe about a plucky baker and her quest for the perfect bake. All that cover gets right is that there is a kitchen, and most of the narrative's key turning points take place in or around it.

That, however, says nothing about the story's oppressive atmosphere, its simmering sense of resentment, hatred, and shame, or about its ambiguous protagonist whose motives are as mur ...more

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May 24, 2015 Shriya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tome-travelling, books-i-own, sort-of-favourites

Very rarely do I find a book that compels me to spend an entire day in bed, reading.
Purge is one such book, which may be a good 370 something pages long but which captured my interest entirely.
It's like a movie, in fact, like a Quentin Tarantino movie, which unfolds scene by scene, each with a quirky title on top.
More engrossing, however, is the storlyline: A victim of sex-trafficking runs away to find herself at the door of an old woman, who has been instrumental in shaping the course of not ...more

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May 22, 2012 Barbarac rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: around-the-world, europe

This was not an easy read for me. I was truly interested but I had an internal war going on whether I wanted to know how it ended. Aliide, one of the main characters of the story, was not a likeable character and it seemed even in the later years of the book, in the 90s, her character had not improved. She is a woman whose life has been about one obsession, and she did whatever she thought necessary to achieve her goals.

But I did want to see if Zara made it to safety so I read on. Her story is a ...more

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Jul 11, 2013 Diane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book totally immersed me in another time and place. It was a dark place, yet left glimmers of hope and an appreciation and deeper understanding of the indomitable human spirit and drive for happiness and survival. The horrors of living in an occupied country and in sex slavery was difficult to read. I cringed with fear and was repulsed by noxious odors of sweaty armpits and onion breath. Worst of all was the abuses suffered by women. I had to appreciate, but not always like Tara and Alidde ...more

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Oct 20, 2018 Preethi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: notable-history-moment, sad-war-fight-refugee, wanderlust-or-about-a-country, family-friends-themed

This is more like a 3.5 stars.
The narration isn't something to write about and the plot is predictable too. The story of a girl sold into sexual trafficking looking for help from an estranged relative who has a secret she is trying to protect - as the plot unravels, you can pretty much guess what must've happened.

I continued reading because of the background of people living in a German occupied Estonia yearning for a free Estonia and a Russian Estonia where Communism and Party ruled every aspec ...more

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