Aarto Paasilinna – Collective Suicide (eleven)

I have been recommended Collective Suicide by several people since the book was issued in the beginning of the nineties, and during the years the expectations have been building up. It was supposed to be such a funny book. Hilarious is probably the most common word I have heard from people describing it. Maybe even outrageous. Maybe this is why I found it to be neither.
I mean, it IS funny. But its “ok ha ha” funny and not rolling around on the floor funny. I smiled a few times while reading it, and laughed – chuckled – once.
The most important and interesting thing about the book I think is the insight it gives into the Finnish minds and Finnish culture. Reminiscent of the Swedish but with more woe and less shame.
The biggest disappointment was the predictability of a book that more often than not has been described as crazy.
It didn’t stir me up. Nor shake me.
*Translation to Swedish by Camilla Forsell