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atroutner
, April 02, 2011
A set of three very finely wrought historical novels that describe the political and social fabric of Finland from the turn of the century until the 1950's by following the track of one rural farm family. I live in an area of the western USA that was homesteaded primarily by Finns. I often wondered why such a thing happened, that so many folks would leave their homeland for a place that offered a stingy living at best. My question was answered in spades and then some. As well as furthering my knowledge of the various reasons for Finnish immigration it also described a corner of Europe that was experiencing the push and pull of two world wars, the Russian revolution and major political turmoil at home in Finland. This may sound like a heavy load for most readers but the story is very emotionally involving. What made the story so worthwhile to me was how the author showed the human side of the politics of the time. The struggle of the worker versus landowner, proletariat versus capitalist, was put in terms of the immediate and daily effect of these political struggles on the lives of the typical family of a very rural nation. It is, in a microcosm, the picture of Europe's transition from fuedal to democratic society all told through the eyes of a traditional Finnish farm family.
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