Having read much on Finland, Russia, the Winter War, Mannerheim, the Continuation War, Finnish Civil War---I wanted a fictional account. I have read hundreds of quality war books, from Juengers books to Remarque, Grossmans "Life and Fate", Barry, Hemingway, Spanish Civil War, Russian, Irish, but this...this was hallucinatory, odd, strange. The men depicted are human: cowards, patriotic, afraid, horny, confused. Linna got much shit for this book. Impola says it wasn;t the best translation, but it works. Of course Finna will say it's a different book from the Finnish original---it is. Just as any Hemingway book is different in English than the Basque version---add to this, a people will have different emotions. For a Basque to read For Whom the Bell Tolls , will be a different experience than for an American. Same holds true for Finns and this book. Small , proud nation holds back one of the most violent, illogical dictatorships ever. In their first confrontation, the Soviets had a Pyrrhic victory.The "sisu" of the Finns is unparalled. I am Irish and Indian(feather, not dot)---we have warriors, are known for our ferocity...but the Finns and what they did to the Soviets? One of the biggest defeats in military history. Imagine a ragtag army of lumberjacks, miners, fishermen going against a behemoth that sends recruits in waves; the Soviet Army basically won by attrition. The Continuation War was more senseless, in this one , towards the end, men died, en masse, and soldiers wondered "why"?Linna captures the despair, the hopes dashed, the fear as few other writers have done, in any language. One of the best moments is when they capture, and live, in a Karelian village, with Russians and Finns. Haitonen(?) falls for a beauty, who is also a Communist. He brings his bread ration to her charges, two small children. Today, the West suffers from "too much"---at one time our people suffered greatly. One of the most courageous, valiant people the world, let alone Europe, has ever seen is Finland. "They were good men", is the last line of the novel. And, they were, the mad, the cowards, the brave. Wolfs Paw and Rokka are men one will never forget. The deaths come at you unannounced, just as it does in real life. This isnt a reality show, nothing is staged. there are no premonitions, no foreshadowing. A man is introduced, he speaks, he expresses thought, laughs, then is shot in the face or blown to pieces. The platoon captures territory and is pushed back,they obviously dont have as many men as the Soviets, and it tells, it is the decisive factor.The men fight like wolverines, then at one point it dawns on them: we will lose. Some continue to fight, just as rabidly as before, others lose it. When Linna introduces the reader to this fact, that Finland will lose and the soldiers the reader has come to know, continue to die, needlessly, the heart constricts---this isn't a novel so much as a piece of a peoples soul.
Skippasin kirjan koulutaipaleellani ja elokuviakaan en ole kokonaisuudessaan jaksanut kertaakaan katsoa, mutta siskoni ylistettyä kirjan maasta taivaisiin tartuin lainastossa äänikirjaversioon. Lukija teki oivallista työtä eri murteiden ja puhetapojen näyttelemisessä, joten vaikka nimimuistini on yksi huonoimmista, pysyi hahmoista kutakuinkin kärryillä. Kirja oli 12(/15) levyn ajan yksi parhaista kuuntelukokemuksista, mutta sitten alkoi hieman turhankin tarkka kuvailu vastoinkäymisistä jotka ydinjoukkoa (ja Suomea) kohtasivat, kuten siskoni varoittikin; "sydämesi revitään kappale kappaleelta irti". Ensimmäisen kuuntelin epätoivon ja jännityksen vallassa kyynel silmässä, loput hukutin tiskaamisen ääniin, mikä tietenkin tarkoitti että muut rakkaat lempparit jäivät minulle henkiin tuliaseiden laulannasta huolimatta.Luonnekuvauksineen ja suomalaisne huumoreineen kirja oli mahtava. Pienet tarinat taistelutoiminnan välisistä ajanviettotavoista ja kertojan toteavat kommentit siellä täällä olivat hulvattomia. Saatoin jopa keskustella hahmojen luonteista - en kuitenkaan tv-sarjojen kertaamista muistuttavalla tavalla kuten lukion ruokalanpöydissä väittämien mukaan on tehty. Totuus on kuitenkin että paperiversioon tulen tuskin koskaan tarttumaan, vaikka cd-versiota olenkin suositellut mm. kaikille tutuilleni.
Do You like book The Unknown Soldier (1975)?
One of the best books about the war I have ever read! Without pathos, without philosophy and another bla-bla-bla. The book describes important moment of Finland history. On the example of Finland it is possible to learn history of all Europe, and maybe the whole world of that time. In this book we can see original true Finland with her own history and traditions. It is perfectly possible to understand national character and temper of people. This is simple soldier's truth about the war. The truth is cruel and for many it can be the shocking. In book there is much more life itself, than thoughts and philosophy about life. Soldier in the war think about his stomach in the first… highest ideals and matters aren't so interesting to him. This isn't so beautiful and loftily as in many other books about war, but it is more realistic than the majority of them.
—Jevgenijs Scolokovs
It is a sign of a good novel that, although a long time has passed since the reading of it, very much of the story and characters remain fresh in memory. This is certainly one of those books. I never read it as a Finn reading classic Finnish literature, let alone as a patriotic Finn proudly absorbing Finnish history, but simply as a cracking good story.What impressed me the most is how the depiction of incredibly bleak situations intermingles with fleshy humor and characterization. When the novel was first published, readers of a limited sense of humor, who obviously anticipated some kind of national-romantic portrayal of "the Finnish soldier," were scandalized by the bawdy characters, especially as regards their use of language and their natural irreverence to military authority. Linna even managed to direct a blow at the Finnish Protestant work ethic with one of the most memorable lines from Second Lieutenant Koskela, who at one point opinions that the work of the soldier is to complete the tasks that he deems worthwhile but in other respects spend his time in perfect idleness. The quote is so well-known that there was even a competition to have it translated into English, something the author of the official English translation omitted to do. I am eagerly awaiting for the results of the translation competition, which will be announced at the Helsinki Book Fair 2012.
—Kimmo
I had to read this for school. No one really likes to be forced to read a book one doesn't have an interest in. I thought it would be a totally boring, considering how dull the dramatisation of this book (which is showed every year on TV in Finland, on 6th of December) is. How wrong I was. It still isn't my favourite book, but it turned out to be quite good actually, much better than I thought. What I liked was the portrayal of relationships and mundane life of the men fighting on the front. Väinö Linna based many characters on real people he met while fighting in Continuation War, and because of his own experience it makes a truthful portrayal. There is quite a lot of different sort of people in there, thrown in to the forests and cramped dugouts. That must result in interesting bonds and relationships between the men, and the interaction between them is different considering the conditions. For a Finnish reader also different dialects bring richness to the language, and to the whole story. Besides of the story and the characters, use of different dialects is interesting, it spices the story. This book also gives a different point of view on the subject of Continuation War, and war in general. It show the human side, away from the political playground of the leaders of men. Even war has its humane moments.
—L'enfermé
