Absurd nature of the world captured in the series of strange events
Author: Katja Raunio
Finnish original: Viime ajat
Publisher: Teos, 2023
Genre: literary fiction
Number of pages: 117 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample
A woman works in customer service at a summer exhibition of a museum. She has to. While those around her think of their careers and the housing market, she lives in a dilapidated shared apartment and calculates where to find money for food and rent. Life has led to a dead end.
Work in customer service includes encounters with men searching for attention, and even on the streets you won’t be left in peace. But at least there is one ray of sunshine in her life: on a rainy evening a young man lends her his raincoat. He’s just a little hard to figure out, even though he always has something to say. On top of that, a summer of changing weather brings a stalker under the protagonist’s window. And, of course, suspicions arise – is it all her own fault? Is that the story of our times? How far can we go in protecting ourselves?
As of Late is an agonizing novel about the abuse of power in everyday life. Katja Raunio’s delicate narrative catches you off guard, showing a world that feels like a fairy tale but at the same time is painfully real.
“The book is funny, but also heavy. There is something recognizable in its absurdity, that is hard to put into words, or in other words it is strongly fictional. The similarities with Grimm’s fairy tales are insightful and open up more possibilities for interpretation” —Riikka Pulkkinen, writer, jury of the Torch-bearer Prize
About the author:
Katja Raunio