Suomenlinna
By Javier Calvo
2010
First Published
3.65
Average Rating
104
Number of Pages
A resident of the island fortress of Suomenlinna, off the coast of Helsinki, Mirkka is hardly the most popular of 15-year-olds. Filled with an untargeted resentment and unresolved complexes, she spends her days listening to death metal and watching and re-watching the cult film The Wicker Man with other social outcasts. Mirkka and her friends believe in the supremacy of the “Nordic race” and the rites and traditions of the ancient Vikings and reject all foreign influence, which they blame for the decay of their country. When they discover that the usual pizza delivery man has been replaced by a black man, events come to a head. Brilliantly capturing the disaffection of youth, this powerful and brief novel will remain with readers long after they have finished it.
Avg Rating
3.65
Number of Ratings
85
5 STARS
21%
4 STARS
31%
3 STARS
40%
2 STARS
8%
1 STARS
0%
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Author
Javier Calvo
Author · 6 books
Also known as Javier Calvo Perales. Javier Calvo graduated in journalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and studied comparative literature at Pompeu Fabra University. His first short-story compilation, Risas enlatadas (Canned Laughs, 2001), shows stylistic elements that differ extremely from those of contemporary Spanish narrative: sampling or movie snippets, manipulated quotes of other texts, compressed plots from other novels and an "open" conception of narration, taken from Free Cinema and the montage techniques of filmmakers such as Jean Eustache or John Cassavetes. Other influences, recognizable in this book are the English novel and the audiovisual world of cinema and television, with many of his short stories using the world of television as a theme.
