Fishing for the Little Pike
In the utterly original, genre-defying, English-language debut of Finnish author Juhani Karila, a young woman's annual pilgrimage to her home in Lapland to catch an elusive pike in three days is complicated by a host of mythical creatures, a murder detective hot on her trail, and a deadly curse hanging over her head.
When Elina makes her annual summer pilgrimage to her remote family farm in Lapland, she has three days to catch the pike in a local pond or she and the love of her life will both die. This year her task is made more difficult by the intervention of a host of deadly supernatural creatures and a murder detective on her tail.
Can Elina catch the pike and put to rest the curse that has been hanging over her head since a youthful love affair turned sour? Can Sergeant Janatuinen make it back to civilization in one piece? And just why is Lapland in summer so weird?
Fishing for the Little Pike is an audacious, genre-defying blend of fantasy, folk tale, and nature writing.
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"Karila's magnificent novel is magic realism with a Lappish twist. The soul of this book lies in its language. The story's eco-philosophical view of life digs deep into the [Nordic] landscape, and its description is Finnish prose at its best." -- Jury statement for the 2019 Kalevi Jäntti's Literature Prize
"Seasoned with several additional storylines and all kinds of mythical creatures, this rich novel is a delight; even better, however, is a warmly ironic portrayal of the locals. Nothing bewilders these colorful characters, even the most unbelievable, odd things are perceived as an everyday given." -- Toni Jerrman, Helsingin Sanomat
"This son of Lapland has truly hit a bull's-eye; as someone who has a teacher's mentality, I feel like giving him 6 stars out of 5 -- and this is exactly what I will do. Juhani Karila stretches the limits and borders of the normative world so wildly, that it only seems appropriate for the literature critic to do the same. Karila writes world literature in a carnevalesque spirit of Rabelais and with Don Quijote type of characters -- only he digs even deeper." -- Jussi Leinonen, Lapin Kansa
"In Fishing for the Little Pike, the first novel from Juhani Karila who has previously distinguished himself as short-stories' writer, the author cooks up such a fix of love story and thriller, realism and fantasy, folk comedy and all sorts of popular beliefs that it should remedy the worst case of humorlessness. Kalevi Jäntti's prize was delivered to the right address." -- Raijan kirjareppu book blog
