Not Before Sundown: Amazon.co.uk: Johanna Sinisalo: Books

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Chillingly seductive . . . I was awed by the beauty of the translation Independent on Sunday, Best Reads of 2003 --Independent on Sunday

A wily thriller-fantasy . . . each discovery sounds like the voice of a storyteller reminding us of how the gods play with our fates New York Times --New York Times

I really enjoyed Not Before Sundown . . . it s a sharp, resonant, prickly book that exists on the slipstream of SF, fantasy, horror and gay fiction Neil Gaiman --Neil Gaiman

Guardian, 5 July 2003

'Strange and erotic . . . Is the troll becoming more human or does he merely reveal our own trollishness?'

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4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Moomintroll this is not!, 5 Sep 2003

By

"rao17" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Before Sundown (Paperback)

If you've ever read a Finnish book about trolls, it was probably Tove Jansson's Moomintroll books. The troll in this particular book is a completely different character from the members of the Moomin family.

Reading this book was a strange pleasure, strongly evocative of Finnish nature and a particularly Finnish relationship to the natural world. Although the events of the book take place in a city, and many of them indoors, the presence of Pessi the troll, and the constant references to the wild forests outside remind us that even the most 'civilised' parts of human life are rooted in wild nature. And in Mikael's living room is a troll who he feeds sometimes with cat food, sometimes with rodents from the pet shop.... Trolls are related to cats (apparently!), so sometimes Pessi sits and sleeps; other times, he delights in the hunt, with messy (and lethal) consequences.

Particularly fun in this book is that each chapter has a heading which tells you who the narrator is --- and it's never Pessi. But interspersed with the narrative are extracts of texts about trolls. Are these texts 'real'? Some of the titles and authors are well known in Finland, which makes the part about the magical/troll world and the human world more believable.

This is a book that is easy and very enjoyable to read (despite some clumsy bits of translation now and again), but I have to admit that at the end I wasn't sure it was as 'deep' as the blurb on the back cover says; on the other hand, that was one thing that made me want to go back and read parts of it again.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, 20 Jan 2011

By

Benjamin (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Not Before Sundown (Paperback)

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.

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, 20 Jan 2011

By Benjamin - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Not Before Sundown (Paperback)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars Finnish novel with a troll and a gay photographer,, 1 Nov 2010

By Kiwifunlad - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Not Before Sundown (Paperback)

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.

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