April 12, 2004
A young Finnish photographer makes a pet of an orphaned troll in this strange, sexually charged contemporary folk tale, a hit in Europe. Mikael, nicknamed Angel for his stunning blonde good looks, finds the troll behind some dustbins after a night of drinking, and feels compelled to bring it home ("It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen... I know straight away that I want it"). The troll is small and black, thoroughly wild but also oddly human, with an overpowering, arousing juniper-berry smell. Obsessed by his new companion, whom he names Pessi, Angel sets out to learn everything he can about trolls, which in the novel's world are a real but extremely rare species. Much of the book is composed of excerpts from reference works and novels, the most valuable of which is a rare volume by Gustaf Eurén, called The Wild Beasts of Finland
. This book is supplied by Ecke, Angel's nerdy, fervid suitor; Angel also coerces help from a veterinarian ex-boyfriend; an advertising art director who buys his photographs and rejects his advances; and an abused Filipino mail-order bride who lives downstairs. Sinisalo's elastic prose is at once lyrical and matter-of-fact, but this is not a comfortable novel. The troll brings out Angel's animal instincts, representing all the seduction and violence of the natural world. As the troll becomes ever more unmanageable, the sense of doom grows; the ferocious ending is thoroughly unsettling. Agent, Peter Owen.
April 15, 2004
Thirtysomething Angel, on the way home from the bar one winter night, rescues a young troll from a gang of boys. Bleary and hungover the next morning, he thinks perhaps he dreamed the rescue--until he discovers the troll drinking from the toilet. Falling utterly under its spell, he names it, a male, Pessi, and frantically searches for information on its care and feeding. He discovers that trolls emit pheromones with powerful erotic effects on others nearby, which explains why things become bizarre for Angel. Keeping the essentially wild Pessi as a sort of pet eventually leads to disaster and an accidental killing. Angel escapes with Pessi to the forest, where he meets Pessi's older relations in a show-stopping encounter. Sinisalo's unusual, Finlandia Award-winning book tackles several tough questions, starting with, What does it mean to be human? The biggest question, however, is that sine qua non of so much fantastic literature--What if?-- and pursuing an answer leads to a hitherto unimaginable place and an ending that leaves one reeling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)