Play Book Tag discussion

"How long will we be here?" Willa asked, and the women tried to hide their amusement. How long would they be here! What a question to ask. As if it could be answered! It was if she expected them to know precisely what the weather would be like today or tomorrow, she did not realize yet they depended on the weather and the weather did not depend on them; she still had the pretense of control over the world. It was almost charming in its stupidity, like a dumb calf that wanders into a thicket and gets its head stuck.

I appreciate books where the setting is a driving force in the story, and Scandinavia north of the Artic Circle is definitely that. In 1851, the indigenous people, the Sami or the Lapps, are nomadic reindeer herders who are trying to hold onto their customs and way of life, but external forces are making it very hard if not impossible. The "settlers" have come to take the land, to impose their religion on them, and to take their money by making them alcoholics. The two daughters of the town's minister are both trapped in the frigidity of the north and find different ways to manage their loneliness and loss of faith. Anger and frustration explode into violence. There is no happy ending (colonialism never has happy endings).

One of the things that struck me about this book, were the ways that women are depicted in the Sami culture. Although they had very traditional roles as wives and mothers, they were allowed to build wealth by owning their own herd. At the same time, their options were very limited, from the men available to marry, to any "profession" other than herding reindeer.

The book is beautifully written, even if there are sentences that run into full paragraphs and the perspective switches from one character to another with little warning. Pylvainen did her homework and must have done a large amount of research to write this book. The life of the Sami is fascinating and the history beneath the story is irrelevant until it changes everything. For me, this is a 5 star piece of historical fiction.

I have this on my TBR, I am happy to see your review.

Shelly, great review.

I loved this book as well. It may have made my top 10 the year I read it.

Booknblues wrote: "Shelly, great review.

I loved this book as well. It may have made my top 10 the year I read it."

It will definitely be in my top 10 this year.

Nice review, Shelly! I read this last year and gave it 5 stars. I agree that it is one of those books with a strong sense of place.