“I’m an ambassador of joy and proud of it, no matter what the police say.”
Author: Tuuve Aro
Finnish original: Universumin takahuone
Publisher: Siltala, 2023
Genre: literary fiction
Number of pages: 160 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample
With her 11th work, Tuuve Aro returns to her roots and the exuberant, irreverent short prose that launched her career. The short story collection The Big Back Room gives voice to characters from paths both shadowy and well lit, from representatives of minority and majority populations alike. Grim topics morph into laughter and absolutism into carnival as we slide from Hitchcockian moods into religious fervor or a strip-club glow.
The texts in the collection reflect the absurdity of the world today, commenting, among other things, on cultures of therapy, diets, and self-improvement. Life spirals into comedy, but there’s also room for tragedy in the human stories told here. Above all, The Big Back Room echoes with the human craving to be seen and heard as one is, and as a part of the world.
“My initial thought was: I need to pick up the child from daycare. That’s important. Then all sorts of other things started to pile up, the things I’m being accused of. It feels like no one is listening to me, or only hearing selectively, and the truth can’t come out. I wanted to pick up the child from daycare. I focused all my energies on that, pick up the child pick up the child even though I had all sorts of other things to think about! I had to put some time into the Christmas shopping, a shortage of fancy toys is not something you’d ever see in our home, the stores were packed with loudly bickering families, but we never argue, teamwork is non-negotiable for us, and meanwhile I ordered tile for the swimming pool renovation, tossed living and raw food and cloth diapers into the cart, lists upon lists, artisanal rolls from the bakery and the vermillion pantsuit from the dry cleaner for the conference, what did I forget, the phone rang again, pick up the child, pick up the child. What made the situation tricky was that I didn’t have a child. I’ve always been a big-picture person; I’m not easily fazed. People’s pettiness astonishes me. Isn’t there more you want from life? My affairs were in order, my future secure, but something was still missing. And so I approached the daycare and its colorful playground equipment with confidence.”
About the author:
Tuuve Aro