Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo

 

We are now on the final, Nordic leg of our round-the-world journey, and in to Finland. Like my new possibly-favourite-author Michele Mari, Johanna Sinisalo straddles the worlds of genre and literary fiction. She is described on Wikipedia as a fantasy and sci-fi writer, and has worked on comics, film scripts and anthologies as well as novels. Troll is definitely a fantasy book, or more precisely magical realism, but it has literary chops.

Troll (first published in English as the more direct translation of its Finnish - and I reckon better - title, Not Before Sundown) is billed on the back cover as 'erotic'. I must admit this put me off a bit, as I hadn't been expecting an erotic novel when I ordered it. But, to my relief, it really isn't. It is heavily sexually charged, and doesn't pull its punches. There are scenes which are explicit, but they are very much part of the plot, not in any way intended to titillate. Having said that, this won't be going into the 'lend to the mother-in-law' pile.

The novel centres around Angel, a photographer, who finds a young Troll outside his block of flats, being taunted by youths. Trolls are presented as animal, rather than mythical. A so-called cat-ape, trolls are thought to have had convergent evolution with primates, but being shy and reclusive were only properly documented in (I think) 1917. There are numerous articles and extracts dotted through the book delving into the biology, discovery and folklore surrounding trolls.

At its heart Troll explores relationships, and the dynamics, and abuse, of power within them. The troll becomes a de facto captive of Angel, but also entirely reliant on him. This relationship is mirrored by that of a Malay woman living a couple of floors down, who came to Finland as a mail order bride. There is also a lot about Angel's relationships. In most, he lacks power and is used by those he desires, but in turn he plays out this same role, using others. As the novel progresses and Angel loses his, for want of a better word, neediness, the power shifts in his relationships, he becomes less reliant and more desirable. 

Sinisalo says she made the deliberate decision to make Angel gay, to remove the gender aspect from the power balance. I do wonder though, whether the animalistic, verging on predatory, sexuality represented by the troll plays into homosexual stereotypes. The characters ae all believable and well fleshed out, but none of them are very nice, nor have a healthy approach to relationships. This is always the danger when featuring a group of which you are not part; when does realism become criticism? My guess would be that Sinsalo has managed to stay just the right side of the line, but not being a part of that demographic either, it is hard for me to say.

Troll was a highly original and refreshing read, presenting a topic used for generations in a new light. ★★★★☆