Overview

An internationally bestselling comic novel in which a man—with the help of a bunny—suddenly realizes what’s important in life “Escapism at its best . . . Just pure fun.” —NPR.org “Which of us has not had that wonderfully seditious idea: to play hooky for a while from life as we know it?” With these words from his foreword, Pico Iyer puts his finger on the exhilaratingly anarchic appeal of The Year of the Hare, a novel in the bestselling tradition of Watership Down, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and Life of Pi. While out on assignment, a journalist hits a hare with his car. This small incident becomes life-changing: he decides to quit his job, leave his wife, sell his possessions, and spend a year wandering the wilds of Finland—with the bunny as his boon companion. What ensues is a series of comic misadventures, as everywhere they go—whether chased up a tree by dogs, or to a formal state dinner, or in pursuit of a bear across the Finnish border with Russia—they leave mayhem (and laughter!) in their wake.

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9780143117926

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Reviews

This is escapism at its best. . . . Really, it's just pure fun, like an adult fairy tale-a fantasy of what might happen if one day you just said, 'Oh, the hell with it.'

This is escapism at its best. . . . Really, it's just pure fun, like an adult fairy tale-a fantasy of what might happen if one day you just said, 'Oh, the hell with it.' <br> -Lynn Neary, NPR.org <br> [A] wonderful book . . . If you are too timid to actually cut all the ties to your 'civilized' life, but still have a yearning to get away from clocks and calendars, Arto Paasilinna's The Year of the Hare provides the perfect escape literature. . . . The humor in this book just sneaks up on you. . . . [It] will have you laughing and gasping by turns. . . . The writing is as spare and clean as the lines of Scandinavian design. . . . Of the many lines in this book that I cherished, the last is one of the most delicious: 'Vatanen is a man to be reckoned with.' So is this book. <br> -Lonely Planet <br> A fable of the joys of freedom . . . The hare proves to be a delightful, undemanding, and loyal companion, who can laugh, listen, and feel embarrassment. <br> - The Boston Glob

Author Information

Arto Paasilinna (1942–2018) was born in Lapland, Finland. By turns woodcutter, agricultural laborer, journalist, and poet, he was also an award-winning author of more than thirty novels, all of which have been translated into numerous languages. Pico Iyer (foreword) wrote an essay that became one of The New York Times’ most e-mailed articles, about leaving a life as a successful journalist for a simpler life. He is the author of two novels and numerous nonfiction books about the cultures of the world, including The Art of Stillness, The Open Road, Autumn Light, and A Beginner’s Guide to Japan. He has never been to Finland except through the pages of this book.

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