The Year of the Hare

Author: Arto Paasilinna; Translated from the Finnish by Herbert Lomas; Foreword by Pico Iyer

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 4 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Published: 12/28/2010

Categories: Fiction

Synopsis

Vatanen, a journalist, is feeling burned out and sick of the city. One summer evening, he and a photographer set out on an assignment, and as they drive through the country, the car hits a young hare. Vatanen leaves the car to save the injured creature, and the grateful animal adopts him. This small incident becomes a turning point in Vatanens life as he decides to break free from the worlds constraints. He quits his job, leaves his wife, and sells his possessions to travel the Finnish wilds with his newfound friend. During their farcical adventures they encounter forest fires, pagan sacrifices, military war games, killer bears, political scandals, and much more.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Luca on September 09, 2021

ENGLISH (The Year of the Hare) / ITALIANO Vatanen, a Finnish journalist, is in conflict with his life. The dissatisfaction comes out one day after hitting a hare. After rescue the wild animal, inexplicably Vatanen running through the woods together with his new friend. He starts down a path of inner......more

Goodreads review by Jim on December 26, 2017

A fun romp: the “comic misadventures” of a young Finnish male journalist who hits a hare and injures it with his car. He chases the hare into the forest and begins an off-the-grid adventure. He decides to quit his job, divorce his wife of his loveless marriage and spend a year wandering the wilds and......more

Goodreads review by Jim on August 24, 2022

Over Christmas I met a Swedish woman at a dinner party – we got talking about Scandinavian literature, a recently acquired passion of mine. She suggested Paasilinna's The Year of the Hare – which is apparently a classic in Finland, where it was first published in 1975. What a marvelous book! It perfe......more