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Review
From the British reviews:'The novel I enjoyed most this year, without reservation, was Mikael Niemi's Popular Music, a coming-of-age story set in the Arctic in the 1960s. I really cannot think of anyone who would not enjoy this book... It is surreal, moving, life-affirming and hilariously funny.' Scarlett Thomas, Independent on Sunday 'Books of the Year''Profound and humorous at the same time, set in a remote town in northern Sweden, it recounts a childhood and youth with great imaginative verve, and is a delight from the first page to the last.' Alan Sillitoe, Independent 'Books of the Year''First, let me confess that I was asked to leave the British Library reading room for chuckling -- not once, but repeatedly -- over this book... Mikael Niemi combines the knowing warmth and vernacular style of, say, Nick Hornby or Roddy Doyle with a bittersweet poetry. Each chapter is a small parable, simple but oceans deep, so that frequently you find you are laughing while having tears in your eyes.' Glyn Brown, The Times'An extraordinary novel: hilarious, ribald, obscene... All the ingredients are there for a tender and bittersweet coming-of-age story: Roddy Doyle meets Fever Pitch. But then Mikael Niemi smashes into the memories he has assembled with his pulverising imagination... I've never read anything like it.' Nicci Gerrard, Observer'Hilariously tracks Matti's rise from the illicit and shocking pleasure of listening to a Beatles single to miming in the garage with a hardboard cut-out guitar... There are nuances to these rites of passage that recall Nick Hornby's High Fidelity...the astonishing success of Popular Music in Sweden confirms that this sardonic tale of terrible guitar-playing can strike a fresh, jaunty, even heartfelt, chord.' Independent
Independent
'Nick Hornby with elks, drunks and snow... drifts of snow'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I recently went on a trip to Finland, so when I saw this book I had to have it. It is beautifully constructed, a series of incidents in the lives of Matt and his friends; their rock band modelled on the newly discovered Beatles, Matt's first job and its disastrous end and Matt's hilarious journey into puberty. Niemi has an understated sense of humour that brings the bickering and backstabbing, but ultimately united, icy village of Finnish childhood to life. It reads like a poem, with some truly awe-inspiring descriptions of places and people, but especially the gorgeous scenery.
Stuck back in England, missing Finland and all my new friends there, this is a wonderfull link back to them all. Terve!!
Stuck back in England, missing Finland and all my new friends there, this is a wonderfull link back to them all. Terve!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you're looking for a funny and tender coming-of-age story set above the Arctic Circle, this is the book for you! It's set in Pajala, a small town in the remote Tornedalen region of Sweden, far north and near the Finnish border. The semi-autobiographical story is told through a series of twenty self-contained short stories that take Matti roughly from age 5-15 or so from the mid-'60s to mid-'70s. One is immediately given a taste of the book's style in the prologue, in which the adult Matti manages to freeze his tongue to a metal plaque atop a Nepalese mountain. He only manages to free himself (and live) by using his urine to break the bond, which then launches him into the story of his youth. The broad outlines of his experiences are similar to those of any other boy growing up in a remote place forty years ago. Life was boring and filled with hard work, some things were manly (hunting, work, fighting, hockey, eating, drinking, machines), and everything else is "women's work." If you're not good at manly things, well... at a minimum you won't fit in very well.
Of course, Matti is a little outside the mainstream, but manages to make his way with best friend Niila by his side. Where the book shines is in the the specifics of his childhood, in which wacky antics shine with humor and pathos, and magic realism rears its head every now and then. Some of the events covered include: discovering rock and roll music via the Beatles, a summer job as a mouse hunter, a raucous arm wrestling contest, an equally grueling sauna endurance contest, a sermon in Esperanto, a mind-boggling teenage drinking contest, tall tales of family prowess, a will reading degenerating into a brawl, starting a band with a cardboard guitar, the vagaries of a fundamentalist Christian sect (Laestadianism), first sexual encounters, and a BB-gun war. And let's not forget the transsexual hermit magician... All these individual parts are quite entertaining, even if they never quite add up to a complete hole. It's an amusing, and sometimes very funny look at growing up rural which would probably resonate much more with other remote cold climate dwellers than the average reader. A welcome oddball addition to the coming-of-age genre.
Note: The book was a runaway bestseller in Sweden, selling one copy for every twelve Swedes! Naturally, the book has been adapted as a film--which was co-written and directed by an Iranian who immigrated to Sweden as a teenager!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I am not Swedish but I read this book while living in Sweden. I think I read it in 2006 so it was a while ago now and the story is not so fresh in my mind, but it's a book I remember. I loved this book, Matti is such a likeable character and the situations he gets into really made me laugh and cry but mostly I felt really good.
Things that really stick out in my memory are, the story about the rats, which I thought was really funny. Also the Sauna experience where he is the last man standing. The book was bought for me by a Swedish friend and came highly recommended, I read it while living in Sweden and actually on a trip to Kiruna in the North of Sweden so I could really relate to a lot of the story. Also I am a music fan and i enjoy coming of age stories. So if you, like me, enjoy these things this is a book is for you.
Things that really stick out in my memory are, the story about the rats, which I thought was really funny. Also the Sauna experience where he is the last man standing. The book was bought for me by a Swedish friend and came highly recommended, I read it while living in Sweden and actually on a trip to Kiruna in the North of Sweden so I could really relate to a lot of the story. Also I am a music fan and i enjoy coming of age stories. So if you, like me, enjoy these things this is a book is for you.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A strange other world
A sweet book, with dark undertones. An interesting insight into an isolated community which seemed more than 50 years removed from the present day. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Booklover
It's ok...
I was really looking forward to reading this - I thought I would love it. Books like `Naïve Super' and `All my friends are superheroes' link to it on this site and most reviews are... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Cult Fiction
Beatles in the Arctic
This book is set in an isolated setting in the North of Sweden where the local people actually speak a form of Finnish. Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. J. Chandler
So unusual but so good!
This is a really different book, and it made me want to get further and further through it just so I could see what sort of wierdness would come up next. Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2009 by A. Johnston
brilliant
Thi was a hilarious , touching and brilliantly written (and translated) book . will stay in my mind for a long time ...
Published on 15 May 2009 by D. Brodala
Popular music with an irregular beat
An episodic account of a boy's coming of age in northern Sweden, Niemi's novel brings to life a lifestyle and part of the world hard to access in English translation. Read more
Published on 30 April 2008 by Sofia
oh my gawd!
I am 15 from Glasgow and I read this book when I was about 11. It immediately became my favourite book EVER. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2007 by Ms. G. Roberts
A great read!
This really is a great novel and I’m glad I acted on a hunch from a very brief newspaper review to buy and read it. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2006 by Andrew Cornish
Warm, witty and funny
I have just finished reading this book in my mother tongue, Finnish, and I just had to place an order for an English copy for my English partner as well! Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2005 by T. E. Viitanen
Northern Light....
Nicely described and very evocative description of growing up on the Swedish/Finnish border. Lots of humour and very light (both style and size), ideal travelling companion. Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2004
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