Customer Reviews

Not Before Sundown

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was originally published under the title: Troll:

Accepting the premise that trolls really do exist, although they are rarely sighted, and little is known for sure about them, Johanna Sinisalo has created a beautiful love story, as the title suggests. The story is set in Finland one winter through to the spring.

Mikael, a successful freelance photographer affectionately and descriptively known as Angel, for he is very handsome with his head of fair hair, rescues an abandoned and frightened young troll from the attack of a group of loutish drunken teenagers. With no other options, for as we all know an abandoned troll cannot be re-united with its parents; Angel takes the young troll home to care for it. He then embarks on a course of investigation and discovery as he secretly tries to raise the troll, which he names Pessi. At the same time Angel tries to juggle his relationships with his gay lovers: Dr Spiderman, a vet; Martes who is also his business partner and Ecke who absolutely adores the gorgeous Angel. While Dr Spiderman provides some advice, Angel's only other support comes from Palomita, the Filipino bride of the abusive brute who lives in the apartment below him.

The story is told progressively by the various participants, but predominately Angel, and the narration is regularly interspersed with facts, information, and myths and tales, poetry and literature about trolls, sourced from various publications and the internet.

It is truly a lovely story, the relationship that develops between Angel and Pessi is most heart warming as the young troll becomes submissive towards and fiercely and jealously protective of his newfound master. More mysteriously there is something else to the connection between Pessi and Angel, as it appears the young troll exerts a powerful influence that perhaps only a man who loves other men is susceptible to, it certainly has a physical affect on Angel.

Events necessarily come to a climax as Pessi's existence inevitable becomes know to the authorities, but that is not to say that it is any way predicable, far from it. The conclusion of the tale is both moving and satisfying.

This is a delightful short novel. Whilst a fantasy, it has a strong thread of realism which allowed the fantasy to work for me. The troll is part of Finnish folklore and the book is interspersed with various literary and reported references to the troll. The tale is narrated by the cast of main characters apart from the mole. This worked well as it offered contrasting opinions of events relayed. Pessi's(troll) character like Paasilanni's hare developed well as the story unfolded and was delightfully eccentric and loving to Mikhael, the gay photographer, who domesticates him. There are some very funny and moving moments as well as suspense for this book to be very easy to read. One amusing effect Pessi has is to emit pheromones which gives Mikhael an aphrodisiac like smell. There are several gay characters in the book but the gay aspect is very much secondary to both the interelationship between Mikhael and Pessi and Finnish folklore.