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Review: When The Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen

WHEN THE DOVES DISAPPEARED by Sofi Oksanen (Anansi), 296 pages, $22.95 paper. Rating: NNN


People trying to survive war can do terrible things. Then again, they can also be tremendously heroic. Rarely is there an in-between.

That’s one of the themes of Finnish sensation Sofi Oksanen’s When The Doves Disappeared, the story of two Estonian cousins who live through the 1943 German occupation and the brutal Soviet regime in 1963.

Roland yearns for Estonia’s independence, battling both occupiers however he can, while Edgar is a professional collaborator who insinuates himself with the authorities in ingenious ways.

Edgar’s wife, Judith, has her own method of coping: she has an affair with a German officer.

These are all expertly drawn characters. The sexually impotent Edgar, favoured by his aunt over her own son Roland, turns into a preening egotist Judith, desperate to avoid war-time shortages, can’t resist the perks of power, even as Roland tries to engage her in the resistance. Oksanen is skilled at making you care about her not very likeable characters, and her sense of place is astounding. She’s mined stories of survival to create a vivid landscapes.

But the narrative careens through time confusingly. Although each chapter gives the date and circumstances of the action, it’s hard to keep track of who’s done what to whom. It’s actually the author’s intention to keep us guessing, but it can get in the way of the flow.

And Oksanen’s attention to detail is both a blessing and a curse. Unlike the gemlike stories in Tamaz Dobozy’s Writers’ Trust prizewinning Siege 13 – about Hungarians caught between Nazi occupiers and Russian Communist invaders in 1944 Budapest – Doves is a dense, difficult read. 

But the writing is often gorgeous and the insight into human frailty deep. Just use the glossary at the end to keep your bearings.

Oksanen gives the keynote address as part of the Toronto Conference On Repression & Human Rights: Commemorating The March 1949 Soviet Deportations In The Baltic States, at Isabel Bader Theatre, Friday (March 27). See Readings.

susanc@nowtoronto.com | @susangcole

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