Troll: a Love Story (thoughts)

I placed Troll: a Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo on my GLBT challenge list in large part because I’ve never read any Finnish literature. When Tiina saw it there, she encouraged me to read it (and it’s in her list of Finnish classics). And when I finally began reading, this book was nothing like I expected!

It’s written in pastiche style, which I happen to love. There are several narrators, who usually get very short (2-4 page) chapters, which gives it a moment-by-moment narrative feel. But there are also ‘academic’ sources woven in. You see, the book is set in a slightly alternate Finland, in which trolls have been discovered to be a real animal species. So throughout the book, there are (brief) excerpts from encyclopedias, websites, and more about trolls. In addition, there’s samples from fairy tales and stories dealing with trolls. The style worked perfectly for the story, and it was probably one of my favourite things about the book.

I should probably tell you a bit about the plot, right? Angel is a mildly successful photographer who comes home half drunk one night after unsuccessfully trying to seduce a guy he’s in love with to discover a young troll outside of his apartment. He takes it in, because it’s shivering and helpless and surrounded by teenage brats, and wakes up in the morning to realise he knows nothing about how to keep a troll alive! So he starts doing research and becomes more and more obsessed with the troll, who has a disturbing amount of human-ish features. Due to the troll, he connects with an ex-boyfriend and a guy who’s had a distant crush on him for quite awhile, as well as the Filipino child bride living in the apartment below his. And so the book’s about how their lives interact and change.

So here’s the thing…Sinsalo combines all of these different plots, and looks at all of these huge themes, in a style that’s at once literary and page-turning. Not to mention, it’s literally science fiction, since there are scientific analyses of trolls included in the text. It’s like a fable, thriller, meditation on sex and love and the morality of both, all stuffed into one slim book. I have no idea how she accomplishes all of this, and needless to say, it left me impressed.

Whenever I read international authors, I look for a sense of place, and Sinsalo definitely has it. She was born in Finnish Lapland, and although most of action takes place in Helsinki, I definitely felt a sense of the wild, northern places running through the story. (Which makes sense, since that’s where the trolls tend to live!) While the book was completely relatable for me in terms of characters and themes, it definitely didn’t feel like it was set in America. Which is a good thing!

Speaking of those themes, most of them revolve around the nature of sex and love. Since this is one of those central human questions, I loved Sinsalo’s exploration of it. She’s not afraid to look at the exploitative aspects of sex, like the creepy old Finnish guy who essentially bought a girl from the Philippines to be his sex slave/housekeeper to the more subtle questions of two consenting adults who are each using each other in some way. Oh, and then there’s the whole fact that Angel starts to become turned on by the troll as he gets older. But don’t worry, he’s horrified by that! Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned it in the first place? Because I don’t want anyone to think “Ohh, that’s so gross, this isn’t a book for me.” Anyway, it’s interwoven with old fairytales about humans marrying trolls, which adds a fascinating dimension to it.

I think I’ve rambled on long enough, don’t you? The bottom line is this: as my first experience with Finnish lit, Troll: a Love Story makes me want to go read more right away. I’m beyond annoyed that Sinsalo’s other works haven’t been translated into English, because she’s an incredible writer. She had me completely caught up in the plot, turning pages as fast as possible to see what would happen, while at the same time making me think deeply about issues. This is a book that haunted me once I finished it, and that I wish I had a book group to discuss with. I think it’ll appeal to a broad range of readers, so consider this me highly recommending that you get your hands on a copy!