A one-day road trip straight into the heart of capitalism and it’s beastlike actions.
Author: Kari Hotakainen
Finnish original: Jumalan sana
Publisher: Siltala, 2011
Genre: literary fiction
Number of pages: 324 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample
Why has the legendary straight-talking investment banker and CEO Jukka Hopeaniemi, who has always steered clear of television, agreed to appear on live morning TV? And will the impetuous pundit make it on time after a cloud of islandic ash strands him in northern Finland?
Why does the retired Armas, who used to chauffeur Hopeaniemi’s father, an old style tycoon, agree to one more job? And what message has the tycoon left his son and his chauffeur on a crackling cassette tape?
The cross-country trip to the television studios in Helsinki is long and dark, but with Kari Hotakainen at the wheel, the ride is light and easy. Hotakainen takes things seriously; that’s why the read is such fun.
The Word of God is a novel about capitalism, an attempt to explain the visible and the invisible, generalities and minutiae. Its pulse in the present, Hotakainen’s latest work is a one-day travelogue into the heart of the economic system and a few minutes of publicity that change everything.
Also available:
The Disciple (2022)
Story (2020)
Lifeline (2015)
The Human Part (2009)
Trench Road (2002)
About the author:
Kari Hotakainen