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Zuivering (2008)

by Sofi Oksanen(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

9041414711 (ISBN13: 9789041414717)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Ambo Anthos

review 1: Sofi Oksanen is a very successful and popular Finnish-Estonian writer, although Purge is her only novel translated into English (so far...there is another coming in early 2015). Hugely successful in Europe and the winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize, the Fnac Prize, and the Prix Femina Prize in France (there are probably more here that I've missed), Purge was - simply put - a huge, huge success throughout Europe. Originally brought to life as a play, Purge is a parallel story, told in two different eras, of two women in Estonia. We meet Zara in the early 1990s. A young Russian victim of sex-trafficking, Zara is breathlessly escaping her captors and has found her way to the countryside in Estonia where she shows up at a lonely house occupied by an old woman named ... moreAliide. She has a reason for going to Aliide, although Aliide is unaware of any connection she might have to Zara.Aliide, of course, is our parallel storyline which takes us back to the closing years of WWII in Estonia as the Nazi occupation is coming to an end and the Iron Curtain is falling over Estonia. Aliide is only a young woman and her family is about to be torn apart; her way of life is about to change forever as the Soviets take over her beloved Estonia. The choices Aliide must make, to change or die, make this novel a psychological study in extremes. It goes without saying that Aliide and Zara's lives must of course intersect. Where and how are what make this novel so thrilling.The novel is a translation and that is always tricky because I know some things are always going to be lost in the process. Purge, however, is a strong enough novel that it withstands any translation loss. Beware that Zara's story involves the sex trafficking industry: there are some extremely graphic moments in the novel. But that is not the primary focus of the story. It is Aliide's choices, all those years ago when the Iron Curtain fell over Estonia, that drive the novel. The repercussions that follow Aliide and her entire family in the ensuing years, even after the fall of the Soviet Union, are so compelling it's difficult to put the book down. If you like foreign thrillers, I highly recommend you find a copy of Purge. Keep any eye out for Oksanen's next English translation novel due out (I believe) in February or March of 2015, as well.
review 2: POWER CORRUPTS; SAVAGERY ERUPTS Why do we punish ourselves by reading a book like PURGE? Because we have short memories. Because we endanger the present by self-delusion. Because it is nicer to make everything prettier than it ever was or will be. It is essential to know the truths brilliantly fictionalized by Okansen. To "know" not just in the historical sense, but to "know" almost as if lived through. The plot is that gripping; the writing, that accomplished; the story, that ugly. I think others have covered the plot, setting, characters. Most unforgettable to me is the image of the Soviet-raped seven-year old, rendered mute, repeatedly, mechanically, plunging a fork into her palm. I want to forget her. I can't. I shouldn't. We need to be reminded. We need the insights of Okansen in PURGE because we must protect that seven-year-old. Today, Sept 11, 2014, Estonia is in the news again as former SOVIET leader Putin moves into former Soviet territories. This book is extremely relevant right now; it makes palpable the human suffering, the horrors of tyranny, big government, absolute power over individuals. It transcends "thriller" and is almost unbearable to read; however, better to read than to ignore --AND EXPERIENCE. less

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Reviews (see all)

Myzha

arkadaşımın biri bu kitabı okumuş Sıla sende oku deyip önerdi. Dikkat etcekmişim erotikmiş azcık. (grinin 50 tonu 3lemesine dayanabilen bir insanım etkilemez beni :) ) İşte kitap bir kitapçıda denk geldi bide bu kitaba para verdim. Kİtabın bası anyada kı.ı konyada. Bölük börçük mehteran takımı gibi 2 ileri bir geri rezaletin daniskası. Hiç birşey anlamadım. Kafam allak bullak oldu. Bitsede gitsek durumundaydım. Adam gibi bir teklikle yazılsa, hadi bu günden baslayıp geriye doğru gitse biraz daha güzel olacakmış. Bir 1991den bi bölüm okurken hooop 1930 a ordan 1950 ye ordanda bi tur 1941e bir sürü sorum cevapsız kaldı. Sonu bile yok kitabın, saçma gereksiz bir sürü ajancılık oyunu raporu..belediye binasında noldu mesela ben orayı anlamadım. bana birazda Bosna da gecen leyla kitabını anımsattı. Bu kadar....

nala1107

Jamás había leído literatura finlandesa y sin duda me sorprendió, no creí que podría quedar embelesada desde el primer párrafo, hasta ahora.Narrada en capítulos cortos que alternan presente y pasado a un ritmo cautivador. Cada una de las historias presentadas por las dos personajes principales es sin duda lo que mantiene al lector con el alma recogida y el corazón en la mano hasta la última página.Una novela que con sus rivalidades y deslealtades nos llena de emociones, hasta llegar a un final bastante peculiar.

sha

Öde, total diffus, verhackstückelt.

poppy

Unputdownable, must read!

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