The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen is about a young couple who
falls in love. In 1851, Mad Lasse was a Lutheran minister in a remote
town located on the Scandinavian tundra. Mad Lasse is trying to convert
the native Sami reindeer herders to his faith. He is having a hard time
with his mission as most of the natives are staying true to their pagan
beliefs.
Things change when Bietter, a shaman from the native
religion and a well respected herder, has a dramatic awakening and
converts to a Lutheran. He leaves his son, Ivvar, to watch over their
dwindling herd while Bietter spends his time with Mad Lasse to learn
more about the religion. Ivvar is annoyed that his father abandoned his
herding and religion so easily. Ivvar heads to the city to purchase
liquor when he crosses paths with Mad Lasse’s daughter, Willa. He finds
that he enjoys her company and is excited to see her in the town. Will
Ivvar’s infatuation with the preacher’s daughter allow him to be more
accepting of his father’s conversion?
This book was a
disappointing and dull read. I picked the book because I liked the cover
but that was the only thing I liked about the book. The summary of the
book was a bit deceptive because the story was told from alternating
points of views and there were several main characters in the story. The
book was focused on at least 6 characters and described how they all
related to each other.
I found the book to be confusing as the
narrator would switch between the many different characters in the
middle of a paragraph without making it clear that a new person is
narrating. The author had a lot of long run-on sentences that were
confusing and unclear what they were trying to communicate. I felt that
the novel was boring and nothing happened for pages at a time. I read
more than one fourth of the novel but the story didn’t progress at all.
The only benefit I got from reading this book is that it cured my
insomnia.
