Maija: A Novel - Softcover

Tiina Nunnally

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0940242680 ISBN 13: 9780940242685

Publisher: Fjord Pr, 1995

Synopsis

Book by Tiina Nunnally

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Beginning as it does with the death of the 60-something, Finnish American Maija, this first novel is like an elegy, tracing remembrances by family members before ending with Maija's funeral. The thread that binds together both the family?scattered from Copenhagen to Portland?and the novel itself is the relationship between Maija, a wise and independent retired schoolteacher who spent most of her life in Seattle, and her younger sister, Leena, a Milwaukee housewife, as played out through monthly phone calls. Maija's passing affects disparate members of her family?from the baby-boomer nephew whom she helped dodge the draft, to a niece who needed support in ending her marriage?and in her absence she becomes the agent of a new cohesion. There are compelling details here of the family's Scandinavian heritage?from snail-shaped pulla bread to Maija's respect for the "animalistic beliefs of her ancestors." Unfortunately, the novel doesn't contain the depth needed to match its breadth of character and circumstance, and Nunnally's often breezy, straightforward writing style adds to a sense that the story skims too easily from one dramatic moment to the next.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Nunnally, a gifted translator of Scandinavian literature, is now a novelist in her own right. Her debut, a modest but involving family portrait, is gentle, dignified, and full of ordinary but precious truths. Maija and her sister Leena immigrated to the U.S. from Finland and married Americans. Leena settled in Milwaukee while Maija trekked out to Seattle only to lose her husband after five fast years. She raised her daughter alone, taught kindergarten for 32 years, clung to her Finnish heritage, and never looked at another man. When the novel opens, Maija has just died unexpectedly at age 75, and her sister, daughter, nieces, and nephew are all flooded with memories of Maija and her decorum, love of art, generosity, and quiet strength and wisdom. As each character grieves, we learn about how Maija eased the pain of such crises as an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, the end of a sick marriage, and the fate of a draft resister. There's nothing ravishing or radical here, just a fine, old-fashioned tale about lives lived with care and conscience. Donna Seaman

About this edition

• Publisher: Fjord Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0940242680
• ISBN 13: 9780940242685
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220