This book was a revelation to me, in fact it's fair to say it's one of a handful of books that have changed my life. It contains one of the richest concentrations of outstandingly fine poetry I have ever found. Names such as Paavo Haavikko, Pentti Saarikoski and Eeva-Liisa Manner will sound merely foreign and strange to all but a few outside their native country, but if you are at all susceptible to poetry, and you read Herbert Lomas' translations of their work, you will take them to heart, and not forget them. As well as a few hundred translations, Lomas also contributes a lengthy introductory essay which outlines the history of poetry in Finland, and the landmark events and personalities that have shaped it. One observation of his which rings true in many of these poems is that they share in a certain sparsity, that the words are somehow .. not ... too ..... close ... together, as they often seem to be in English-language poetry. The reader has often to leap between words and ideas, or else be left stranded, and this is exhilarating.... You should try it!

"The year of the hare", by finnish writer Arto Paasilinna, is a finger-licking good book, period! It's about a journalist who unintentionally runs over a young hare while being on an assignment. He gets out of the car to help the wounded animal, venturing into the surrounding forest and... well, doesn't come back. While attending the animal something happens in his mind and he suddenly realizes that he can't cope anymore with his life, his wife, the rhythms of modern society, his boss and everything. He therefore forswears everything in favour of a new life, with the hare as his sole companion through the small adventures he's about to experience. From a certain point of view he becomes a revolutionary because he proves that one can live happily outside society, in fact happier than ever before...
I don't necessairly share his point of view but the tale is so imbued with happy feelings and lightness that one can's help but feel touched! As for the writing, Arto Paasilinna's is extremely minimalistic, without many frills and that adds to the impression that what you're reading is in fact a modern fable :-)

The worst sides of the western society have been revealed. And, what makes it even more ovbious: almost 20 years before the stressful and hypercommercial way of life really took off! The Year Of The Hare is a story about escape. It is allso a very truthful description of Finland, and it's people. Being one of the politically most "incorrect" books, it plays around with the posibility of revolution, wich made it forbidden in some socialist countries ( as far as I know...). Ther it is, the western way of life, summed up, pretty completely.

This book is so hilarious and I recomend this book to everybody, who wants to have a good laughs and likes good literature