Customer Reviews

Purge

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Wow. This is probably one of the best books I've read in years - and I read a lot. "Purge" certainly cannot be described as "easy reading", although it's very suspenseful and a definite page-turner. From the very first page on, it drips heavy with deep, dark secrets, pain and shame. It cannot really be described as "depressing" either. Throughout the book I kept sensing some kind of a weak ray of hope... but I couldn't really understand where it was coming from, or what the title of the book meant. Until the very end. Then, suddenly it all made perfect sense.

It's one of those rare books that I kept thinking about even long after I'd finished reading it. I am well-familiar with the recent history and today's challenges of Estonia and Eastern Europe in general. This book opened yet another door to Pandora's Box. I know there are many "Zara's" in the world, but never once before had I a reason to stop and think WHO are they, and WHY are they where they are. Never before did I think that they, too, might just be your average girls with families, dreams and aspirations, and that perhaps they just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
And could someone like Aliide Truu be for real?! She certainly seems unbelievably believable. The more I think about it, the more I think that there may be just as many "Aliide's" as "Zara's" out there... Like they say, you shouldn't judge until you walk in their shoes, for everyone has their story and their reasons.

I have no idea how much of this is fiction vs. real peoples' lives, but it is a damn well written book. And, with the right cast and director, it would make a great movie.

Sofi Oksanen's bestselling novel Purge is a masterpiece, and I don't say that lightly - I don't think I've ever reviewed a book that gripped me quite so thoroughly, especially as this type of novel isn't my usual cup of tea. Puhdistus ("Purge") started out as a play and was staged at the Finnish National Theatre in 2007 - out of the play grew Oksanen's third literary novel Puhdistus (2008). It became a runaway success, ranked #1 on the bestseller list for fiction in Finland when it was published. She was awarded the prestigious Finlandia Prize (2008) and the Runeberg Prize (2009) for Puhdistus. Oksanen is the youngest author ever to win the prestigious Finlandia Prize, which comes with a prize sum of 30.000 and ensures wide recognition and boosted sales in Finland at least. The Finlandia Award, awarded in early December, was the peak of a prize-winning season for Oksanen; since Purge was published she has been appointed Cristina of the Year (an academic prize from the University of Helsinki), received The Mika Waltari Award 2008, The Great Finnish Book Club Prize 2008, The Kalevi Jäntti Award 2008, The Runeberg Award 2008 and The Varjo-Finlandia Award 2009. In addition, Purge is shortlisted for the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2010

(Updated March 30th 2010 - Sofi Oksanen has won the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2010 - quote from the news release "The Finnish author Sofi Oksanen has won the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2010 for her work "Puhdistus." Sofi Oksanen (born 1977) shows her full strength with her third novel 'Puhdistus'. In a rich and expressive language she weaves a specific historical event, the Soviet occupation of Estonia, with a burning topical global contemporary theme - trafficking around the Baltic Sea. The Adjudication Committee wrote:
"Sofi Oksanen's novel 'Puhdistus' ('Cleansing') takes place in two periods of time in Estonia, but its themes of love, treachery, power and powerlessness are timeless. 'Puhdistus' vibrates with tension: unspoken secrets and deeply shameful deeds stretch out across the book like a web and compel the reader to keep reading. With a rare precise and apposite language Oksanen describes what history does to individuals and history's pervasion in the present." The Literature Prize, worth DKK 350,000, will be presented to Sofi Oksanen at the beginning of November 2010 during the Nordic Council Session in Reykjavik. The Nordic Council Literature Prize has been awarded since 1962).

I've struggled through another of Oksanen's books, "Stalin's Cows", reading the Finnish-language version (it isn't available in English), which was a bit of a struggle, and really enjoyed it. I was really happy to see Puhdistus (Purge) available in English, bought it, read it and was thoroughly surprised and impressed by just how good it is. And speaking as one who has struggled through reading a few books in Finnish, the translation into English by Lola Rogers is really well done. If you want to read a recent novel (as opposed to older classics) by one of Finland's leading novelist's, this is one to start with, although it's set in Estonia. Sofi Oksanen herself (born January 7, 1977) is now a popular contemporary writer in Finland. She was born in Jyväskylä (Finland), of Estonian heritage. She is a former dramaturgy student of the Finnish Theatre Academy. Both the Finnish and Estonian press make a lot of her status as angry young woman regarding women's issues and the distortion of Soviet history as related to Finland and Estonia. But she does know her onions. Under the Gothic exterior lurks a knowledgeable person.

Personnally, I can't recommend Oksanen's writing highly enough.

To paraphrase a couple of the better literary reviews, Purge is a chilling and rather subtle drama of two generations of women, set in wartime 1940's Estonia during the Soviet occupation, and in the same country in the 90's as it grapples with the realities of a new Europe. Through the stories of two women, Sofi Oksanen shows us the history of Estonia, a small country that has been repeatedly violated by the Russians, by the West and by history itself, yet managed to stand strong and survive against all odds. As well as a skilfully crafted tale, Purge is also a stinging account of a chapter of Eastern European history that we are on the verge of forgetting. Or denying. In her hands, this story makes concrete the grisly events of recent Estonian history. Oksanen herself has publicly criticised the trendy nostalgia for the Soviet Union, those who put on a hammer and sickle t-shirt and stick a Lenin pin on their chest without a thought to what they are advertising. (my own comment - With Purge, Oksanen doesn't just rap these pin-wearers on the knuckles, she hits them over the head with a sledgehammer. Brutally!)

Narrated through dual story lines and multiple points of view, Purge tells the suspenseful and dramatic story of Aliide Truu, an old Estonian women whose hands are soiled with the crimes she committed during the Soviet era, and Zara, a young sex trafficking victim who in the present has managed to escape and has come to seek shelter at Aliide's countryside home, as well as Zara's grandfather, Hans (who was one of the Forest Brothers who first fought the Soviet occupiers and then, after Estonia was once more occupied, was living for a long time in a concealed room in what is now Aliide's house). As the two women start to approach each other and the links between them are revealed bit by bit, a tragic and complex family drama of rivalry, lust, and loss that plays out during the worst years of the Soviet occupation of Estonia unfolds. In this way, Purge becomes an investigation into the female experience of the loss of freedom, and the cost of survival in a repressive system. The entire story is well-composed and multifaceted: the two women as alternating protagonists, pieces of a fugitive's diary, confidential surveillance reports, all supplemented with chapter titles that hint at what is happening. That the narrative is not chronological, but repeatedly retrieves storylines and circumstances from various earlier time periods only adds to the suspense...as do the emotions, jealousy and sexuality, and the terrible justification of murder.

In reading Purge, it helps to know a little about Estonian history, otherwise the motives of the characters may be misinterpreted. I noticed for example that a recent reviewer mentioned that Hans was a murderer. That's actually a question of interpretation - was Han's a murderer, or was he a hero who continued to fight for Estonia even when the cause was hopeless. There's so many multiple facets to this book that this type of question crops up everywhere. Anyhow, for those that know little about Estonia but are interested in the book, he's a brief summary that may help with some context:
1919 - Estonia becomes an independant state, breaking away from Tsarist Russia in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. The Estonian army fights of the Bolshevik Red Army's attempts to reconqour the newly independent state with the aid of the British Royal Navy and Finnish volunteers,
1940 - the Russians invaded. Estonia was absorbed into the Soviet Union and a Communist regime was imposed. The red terror began in June 1941, with many thousands of Estonians deported and / or executed. As a result, when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, many Estonians saw them as liberators and supported the Germans, many joining the German Army (an Estonian soldier, Alfons Rebane - look him up in Wikipedia, incidentally, was one of only two non-Germans to be awarded the highest German military medal - the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves).
1944 - The Red Army again overran Estonia, dissolving an Estonian government that had assumed power after the German Army withdrew. The Russians then imposed a tyrannical regime and in 1949, thousands more Estonians were deported. Some Estonians fled to the forests and fought the Russians. They became known as Forest Brothers, with the last known soldier dying in 1978

So to help put the book in context, to most Estonians the Germans were liberators and their control was hardly a reign of terror, except to Estonian Jews. The Soviet Union was a far more murderous and oppresive ruler, and Purge illustrates this in literary form, as well as portraying the dilemma many Estonians such as Han's faced.

Anyhow, here's a bunch of quotes from reviews from the Salomonsson Agency website. You get the gist of what everyone thinks quite easily from these and personnally, I agree. It's a superb piece of writing and well worth reading.

"A sheer masterpiece... A marvel... I hope that everyone in the world who knows how to read, reads Purge."
--Nancy Huston, author of Fault Lines

"Purge is a truly stunning novel, both heartbreaking and optimistic. Through the stories of two women, Sofi Oksanen shows us the history of a country that has been repeatedly violated by the Russians, by the West, by history itself, yet managed to stand strong."
--Lara Vapnyar, author of There Are Jews in my House

"This wonderfully subtle thriller...captures both the tragic consequences of one of Europe's biggest conflicts and the universal horrors that war inflicts on women. With a tone somewhere between Ian McEwan's Atonement and the best of the current crop of European crime novelists, this bitter gem promises great things from the talented Oksanen."
Kirkus Reviews (US)

"Oksanen adeptly handles dual story lines and multiple points of view as she keeps us turning pages to reach the dramatic conclusion. Verdict: Highly recommended for fans of classic Russian writers like Tolstoy and Pasternak, as well as those who enjoy a contemporary tale of lust and betrayal."
Library Journal Review (US)

"A suggestion for the Nobel Prize. /.../ If you're going to read one book this spring, read Sofi Oksanen's Puhdistus. /.../ Oksanen writes superbly. Language, technique, plot and message - all in an alloy that is sensational. [Oksanen will receive] the Nobel Prize in a few years. If one is allowed to guess."
Maria Schottenius, Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)

"It's no wonder that Purge has been nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize, because it is not only an incredibly elegant story about two women whose existences are determined by great national events, it is also a stinging account of a chapter of Eastern European history that we are on the verge of forgetting. Or denying. /.../ Sofi Oksanen is an eminently skilled epic novelist, who intricately unravels her fascinating story, bit by bit. She has a sense for the subtle, inner drama of a distorted mind and love's self-deceptive logic. Finland can be proud of its new, brilliant star. Only the very best that can bring to light a suffering mind and find a wounded nation within."
Jyllands-Posten (Denmark)

"The entire story is masterly composed and multifaceted: the two women as altering protagonists, pieces of a fugitive's diary, confidential surveillance reports, and all supplemented with chapter mottos. That the narrative is not chronological, but repeatedly retrieves storylines and circumstances from various earlier time periods, does not only add to the suspense...but also to the wild ways of emotions, jealousy and sexuality, and the terrible justification of murder. /.../ It is astonishingly administered by Sofi Oksanen in this book about "purging", in a combination of dimensions ... that grabs hold of the reader to expose the inexorability of existence."
Information (Denmark)

"The tension created [in Purge] by the alternating times makes it difficult for the reader to let go of the book. Through both characters, the story unravels some of the historical and shocking events that took place in their country... In a way, one could regard Purge as a thriller, although it escapes this narrow definition by dealing with essential issues. The book is beautifully constructed of short chapters, occurring in different times and eras, and still manages to weave a clear and continuous story, shadowed by constant guilt and terror."
Ruth Almog, Haaretz (Israel)

"Oksanen knows how to tell a story, building the plot in a most interesting multi-layered way. The alternating consciousnesses, each from a different point of view of Aliide, Zara or Zara's grandfather (who is hiding in the attic) form a complex story, that of Aliide and her horrible deeds during the war, and that of Zara, forced into prostitution and having no contact with her family."
Haaretz Book Supplement (Israel)

"An overwhelming reading experience...an intense suspense...takes hold of the reader from the very first lines. Cause even if this young author writes about human trafficking, about abuse and brutality in the Estonian countryside, it's all about the literary allusions and the art of ambiguity... Oksanen is a tightrope walker. She has a sense for details, and gives them the required weight and significance... Sofi Oksanen has with this strong, literary narrative given us a unique insight not only into the modern history of Estonia. Piercingly and mercilessly she reveals the human detriment of brutal political regimes. In an impressive way, she also manages to tie the abuses of the past to the heartbreaking story of young Zara and her destiny."
Dagsavisen (Norway)

"An extraordinarily strong novel...Oksanen depicts the most horrifying in merciless detail... Oksanen is unusually skilled when it comes to building a dramatic structure. This is a brutal novel. It is brutally physical, it exposes the brutality in the greater and smaller games we play, and it is brutally suspenseful to read."
NRK (Norway)

"Now and then I read books that are so good that I can't quite understand how the author does it. This applies to Purge. ...With an elegant cross cutting, the two women's stories are unfolded... Oksanen's strength as a storyteller lies in the insinuations, the details... This fantastic novel is also a declaration of love to Estonia."
Dagbladet (Norway)

"A compelling document of the eternally humane and the equally eternal inhumane /.../ The story is a mosaic of short chapters from different periods in time, and with this technique [Oksanen] illuminates many important themes from several different perspectives. But what impresses the very most in the book is the vibrant and precise prose, where small details often are what make the scenes ring true and authentic. /.../ As a depiction of Estonia during and after the [second world] war, I can't imagine anything other than that the novel is excellent: the picture of the time and personal characteristics are absolutely convincing, one reads as if this simply must have happened."
Dag og Tid (Norway)

"[Oksanen] has a fantastic ability to stage grotesque scenes that result in remarkable and intense observations. These can come unexpectedly, but nonetheless feel natural in the context... Sofi Oksanen is an unusually ambitious storyteller with a firm grasp of the many seemingly loose threads she tosses out. Although Purge is not a comfortable book to read, it is a terribly gratifying journey through time and space."
Dagens Næringsliv (Norway)

"[Sofi Oksanen is] a powerful new voice from Finland."
Trouw (Holland)

"As a drama, Purge (2007) was a theater event; as a published volume, it is a true reading experience. /.../ Now Oksanen the storyteller shows us that a novel is always a novel. The countryside of western Estonia in the 20th century smoulders in her new work as an epic place and time, giving this chronicle of the emotions of two generations of women an almost mythological context."
Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)

"The multidimensionality of Purge is startling. /.../ Shame, betrayal, guilt, atonement. Sofi Oksanen's third novel encompasses these grand themes with the complexity and seriousness worthy of them. In her hands, they are made concrete in the grisly events of recent Estonian history. /.../ Oksanen has publicly criticised the trendy nostalgia for the Soviet Union, those who put on a hammer and sickle t-shirt and stick a Lenin pin on their chest without a thought to what they are advertising. With Purge, Oksanen doesn't just rap these pin-wearers on the knuckles, she hits them with a sledgehammer."
Turun Sanomat (Finland)

"Weak when it comes to love, Aliide Truu's final solution has an Old Testament suddenness that is cathartic. /.../ Through Aliide's tragic history, Oksanen ties the political to the personal, to the present moment in history."
Aamulehti (Finland)

"Through the story of two generations of women, Oksanen describes the tragic events of the Estonian Republic, and how they infiltrate a family's life, with incredible power. /.../ The story forces us to ponder the question of whether there is both good and bad patriotism, and what horrors we are willing to commit in its name. /... / The text is poetic, precise, and economical. /.../ With her novel Purge, Sofi Oksanen leaps to the foremost ranks of Finnish writers."
YLE Uutiset (Finland)

"Sofi Oksanen's third novel brings the silenced stories of Estonia's present and its recent past into the open. /.../ Purge is a breathtaking novel dense with emotion that snares the reader from the very first pages. Oksanen's narrative carries us into its world. It is touching, horrifying, it makes us shudder and gasp for breath."
Ilkka (Finland)

"Purge is a shockingly good novel, an extremely well-written book about shudderingly ugly things."
Etelä-Saimaa (Finland)

"Oksanen describes womanhood with the most perceptive of instincts: the bud of lightness and innocence, shyness, timidity, jealousy, sincerity, cunning, shame, and silence."
Savon Sanomat (Finland)

"The slow unfolding of the plot at the beginning of the novel is a pleasure to follow. The leisurely pace of the narrative enables the reader to remain in the minds of the characters. Towards the end of the novel, Oksanen cranks up the pace. Despite the denouement feeling inevitable, Oksanen manages to surprise her reader. This merciless novel is generous in leaving blanks for its reader to fill in."
Ylioppilaslehti (Finland)

"You'd think that almost four hundred pages of endless, tragic destinies would make its reader gasp for breath; this would be true if it were not for Oksanen's writing, which is so comfortingly poetic and mild. Her prose settles like a filter over the story, making it possible for the reader to embrace."
Karjalainen (Finland)

"...a novel of love and betrayal, a tragedy of almost antique dimensions. /.../ Despite being crafted from such a rich and multilayered material, [Purge] is a work surprisingly focused, dense, logical and to the point. The various narrative levels and points of view are smoothly varied and interconnected. The novel is aptly constructed and crafted; it is cruel, compelling, and nuanced. Purge vibrates with suspense: unspoken secrets and deeply shameful deeds which the characters are either exposed to or perform themselves spreads like a web over the book, forcing the reader to go on turning the pages. /.../ The writing is vivid, precise, and beautiful."
Hufvudstadsbladet (Finland)

Praise for the play Purge on which the novel is based:

"The personal drama is given razor-sharp contours, and expands to become the drama of a people, a country, and a bloody political course of events. There are no heroes here; for me, as a person who has never found herself in the line of fire, Purge appears a model situation for occupation and impossible human choices. It is a very compelling piece."
Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden)

"Sofi Oksanen's first play Purge, which unveils the recent history of Estonia, is the theater event of the season. Oksanen's viewpoint is inexorable and distinct. The pulse and density of the piece is reminiscent of a thriller, and as the evening progresses, the pace of the play is brought up. /.../ The point of view shifts between the occupation of 1945 and the 1990's, and the story is ingen-iously constructed... The ending is cathartic."
Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)

Kaisa Kurikka's review of Purge in Turun Sanomat newspaper, quoted above in Kiwi's review, is one of several at the Salomonsson Agency web site ([...]).

Here is more from the review:

Turun Sanomat 5.4.2008
Kaisa Kurikka
Women Branded by Shame

The multidimensionality of Puhdistus is startling

Shame, betrayal, guilt, atonement. Sofi Oksanen's third novel encompasses these grand themes with the complexity and seriousness worthy of them. In her hands, they are made concrete in the grisly events of recent Estonian history.
***
Oksanen has publicly criticised the trendy nostalgia for the Soviet Union, those who put on a hammer and sickle t-shirt and stick a Lenin pin on their chest without a thought to what they are advertising. With Puhdistus, Oksanen doesn't just rap these pin-wearers on the knuckles, she hits them with a sledgehammer.

This review for Sofi Oksanen's book Purge is probably the most difficult I've ever done. I liked the book very much, but I'm terribly afraid of revealing spoilers, as the novel is so complicated and layered. I can easily describe it as one of my personal favorites, up there with Per Petterson and Tim Winton.



To begin, this book has nothing to do with eating disorders, and the only real complaint I have is that the cover art scarcely seems to apply to the complicated work within. After you've read it, you realize that the cover does in fact refer to details encountered, but I'm curious if the cover itself would dissuade readers from picking it up. A pretty measly complaint, to be followed by lavish praise! However, I'm also known to pick out wine based on how artistic the bottle labels look, rather than whether it is any good or not, so maybe that's just me!

That said, there are two interlinking threads in this story. One character thinks she's escaping her small Russian village, allured by the glamorous Western world represented to her by elegant silk stockings worn by a visiting friend. Unfortunately, while Zara focuses on the material luxury represented by those stockings, she doesn't see the wave her friend gives her, "it looked more like she was scraping at the air with red fingernails. Her fingers were slightly curled, as if she were ready to scratch." Desirous of that `better life', frustrated with her silent mother and her fragile grandmother, Zara thinks she can escape. Instead she's kidnapped and chained, set up by that friend, and headed for a brutal world in Germany: a place that makes Vladivostok look much more beautiful.

In the meantime, Aliide leads a quiet life in Estonia, her days spent canning and cultivating her small garden and dairy animals, dwelling in the past. Since childhoood, her life was filled with pain, suffering, and loss. Her village had suffered from Fascist and Communist occupation, with many citizens (including her own sister and niece) being sent to Siberia. The village itself was a complex array of loyalties...those that hoped for American intervention to save them, others loyal to Russia, and still others harboring German sympathies. Not even the simplest of farmers could trust one another: too much was at stake. The atrocities from all sides were fresh in everyone's memories. The result was people who carried physical and mental scars, who were eaten up with regret and suspicion. Aliide was one of them, more damaged than most.

Eventually Zara makes an escape, and her path crosses with Aliide. Their new relationship is mistrustful and edgy, as neither knows the true identity or agenda of the other. As this developed, I was sure that "this" relationship was the core of the novel. I was wrong, and the way the story proceeds is not only unpredictable but shocking and ugly. No one is as they appear, and trust is unachievable. Because it turns out that Aliide knows far more about Zara than either realized, and the threads that connect them go back further than their chance meeting. Here unfolds the deeper part of the novel, the most disturbing, as we see that Aliide is not the warm-hearted savior we expected her to be, and her damaged psyche is revealed.

The underlying theme is that appearances can be deceptive. A person can appear good, or moral, or upstanding. But what they hide can be unimaginable, and they keep the deception up so well that they can convince themselves it doesn't exist. Danger is present everywhere, but it can distract you with a beautiful appearance. This is well expressed in an introductory quote from Paul-Eerik Rummo: "The walls have ears, and the ears have beautiful earrings." Such a simple quote, but it describes much of what the novel means.

This is a combination of crime fiction and historical fiction, and fans of both would be pleased. It was translated from the Finnish by Lola Rogers.

Aliide Truu, the main character of Purge, found a way of escaping torture and deportation during almost 50 years of Soviet-occupation of Estonia. She even was capable of hiding for many years in her house Hans Pekk, a resistance fighter and the love of her life who was married to her sister. How she did it should not be revealed in this brief review. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, her neighbors began to harass her. Aliide finally finds redemption in taking in and saving Zara, a young woman who tries to escape her pursuers, two former KGB-agents involved in sex trafficking. Zara hesitates to tell Aliide the truth about her origin and the abuses she has suffered.

Sofi Oksanen is a Finn but her mother is from Estonia. Through her and from regular summer visits to her grandparents in Estonia, Sofi learned about the suffering of a people under occupation. The plot of the book is complex and dense and its language unusually rich. Purge is a masterpiece.

Young Finnish/Estonian writer Sofi Oksanen has written about women in Estonia during two critical periods of estonian history - the beginning of the soviet demolition of Estonia and the beginning of Estonia's emergence from that oppression. It is also a more universal story of the resilience of women and the price they pay to survive. A great choice for a book club.

The Draining Lake: A Thriller (Reykjavik Thriller)The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)I like books that tell an exciting story while teaching something about another country, its culture and history. This book tells the story of an Estonian farm family and how they were affected by the rise and fall of Communism. It does jump around chronologically, so it helps to know an outline of Estonian history before you start reading it. Estonia was part of the Swedish Empire until 1721 when it became part of the Russian empire. The language of Estonia is related to Finnish, and the culture has both Scandinavian and Slavic influences. Estonia became independent from Russia in 1918, but was taken over by the Soviet Union in 1940 and Communism was imposed. As the USSR came apart, Estonia regained its independence as the last Russian troops left in 1994. Oksanen is a marvelous writer. The story of what people did to survive all this political upheaval is gripping. I also loved the details about all the skills that farm women had to have in order to live in those days. If you like Arnaldur Indridason or Stieg Larsson, you will like Sofi Oksanen.

I quickly got sucked into the story's opening and mysterious situation, which led me to chew away at the book's long unbroken paragraphs. Often I'll wander away from such writing, but not from this story. It sucked me in with its vivid and beautifully wrought language and descriptions, enough so that I had the patience to read every word. I am very curious about the translation.

What we are given is a vivid and haunting story about a country that generally gets little mention with pieces of history that are generally off today's radar screen. The Baltics and its neighbors are painfully connected, one to another, by moments of conquest and occupation. "Purge" touches on that history by using language and characters that border on the magical.

This is terrific story telling that morphs into writing we can call real literature. I loved it.

The author is a Finn born of an Estonian mother who had emigrated in the 1970s to Finland from the Soviet Union. This novel, set in Estonia, opens in 1992 soon after the country has regained its independence. An apparently paranoid old woman, Aliide, sees Zara, a traumatized, terrified, dishevelled and almost inarticulate young woman outside her house. Aliide overcomes her paranoia and reluctantly lets Zara into the house. The atmosphere is edgy. It takes some time before we discover the horrific cause of Zara's panic (much longer still before we learn more gruesome details of her experiences and of her flight), and also why Aliide had been so suspicious; and we understand why each of them conceals the truth from the other. Zara does not let on for a while that it was not an accident that had brought her to Aliide's house.

When she does, it makes Aliide recall her life during the turbulent history of Estonia - independent after the First World War, then successively under Soviet, German, and then again Soviet occupation. During this last period, those suspected of Estonian nationalism were subjected to horrific violence perpetrated by interrogators and to deportation to Siberia. Aliide had been a suspect, but had sought safety by marrying a communist organiser. Then, driven by a life-long resentment, she had committed a terrible triple act of betrayal.

The betrayal had not brought her the rewards she had expected, and her life was a torment. Now that Estonia was independent, her past counted against her; and what Zara now told her brought her yet further painful memories. The full truth, however, will be revealed to her under chilling circumstances - and not by Zara. Part IV of the book ends with how Aliide now reacts, and brings the narrative to a conclusion.

This is where I think the book should have ended; but there is then a final Part V, which consists of series of reports by the communist agents, which I found not only utterly confusing, but totally unnecessary; and the boring style of these reports adds to their anti-climactic effect.

The story has constantly moved backward and forward in time. Many of Sofi Oksanen's descriptions have been very powerful and atmospheric; at other times they were rather far-fetched; now and again they were elliptical and it was hard to make out what exactly was happening. There were a few longueurs. But on the whole, until Part V, the tension is well maintained.

Dear, Oh Dear, so many encomiastic, overlong, bombastic reviews for this novel and so little room for anything that doesn't smack of mindless cheerleading for Ms. Oksanen and her Estonian novel that has made such a splash here and elsewhere! I wonder how my rather rather lukewarm review shall set here amidst the clamour. Well, we shall see.

What this novel reads like, for the most part, is a Shockumentary, so to speak, regarding the lurid - I mean, VERY lurid. - details of sex trafficking in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, mixed in with some interesting and harrowing Estonian history and, finally, propelled by suspense regarding the fate of various members of an Estonian family, two in particular, Zara and her Aunt Aliide.

The story is competently told and the narrative architecture, consisting as it does of multiple time loops and zig-zags, holds together surprisingly well. Ms. Oksanen knows how to weave a tale. Unfortunately, this obsession with shock and the pyrotechnics of sexual sadism and a hopscotch time frame leave the reader - or, rather, left this reader - rather benumbed at the end.

What Ms. Oksanen excels at conveying: a quiet, inner subterranean terror as represented in the interaction of the two main characters, is drowned out by the surrounding noise - all the shocks which have won her so much éclat amongst the other reviewers.

It's Oksanen's deft ability to write about this silent terror permeating the walls of Allide's house which sets her apart as a writer:

"She couldn't brush it away like she ought to have done. Instead it seeped in between the wallpaper and the old wallpaper paste, into the gaps left behind by the photographs that she had hidden there and later destroyed. The fear settled in as though it felt at home. As though it would never go away. As though it had just been out somewhere for a while and had come home for the evening."

As indeed it has!

Perhaps in her next novel Ms. Oksanen will have moved beyond the need to attempt to shock with the lurid and sadistic. For what is truly shocking is the artistic ability on display herein, beneath the noise.