The Rabbit Back Literature Society

January 12, 2015
Part detective story, part fantasy tale, Jaaskelainen's novel succeeds only partly in its efforts to elucidate the mysteries of literary creativity. On the night that substitute teacher Ella Amanda Milana is to be inducted as the 10th member of the elite Rabbit Back Literature Societyâa prestigious writers group that has nurtured from childhood "the most important names in Finnish literature")âthe group's founder, celebrated children's book author Laura White, disappears under seemingly supernatural circumstances. Induced by an offer to write a history of the notoriously secretive society, Ella begins delving into the group's past and challenging fellow members through "The Game," a truth-detecting process of stripping away the personal fictions each has come to believe inâ"people dress themselves in stories" is the way one member puts itâin exchange for intimate personal information that the challenged can later use in their own fiction. In the course of her investigations, Ella uncovers evidence of a previous 10th member whose involvement with the group and premature death are shrouded in mystery. Jaaskelainen tells his tale with a variety of quirky, offbeat subplots, among them a book virus that rearranges the letters of printed texts and rewrites scenes of classic novels, a fantastical dog pack that menaces one of the group's writers, and Laura White's own bestselling Creatureville novels, whose characters sometimes seem to have achieved a life independent of the printed page. While these help to invest his insights into writers and their imaginations with a sense of the magical, their lack of explanation and resolution makes this tale read like a shaggy-dog story.

November 15, 2014
"Secret members, stolen notebooks, pilfered writing ideas-it was all so ridiculous!" So rages Jaaskelainen's exasperated heroine, and she does have a point. Mystery is the thing in this strange, dreamlike fantasy that explores the power of stories and those who write them and what happens when the buried secrets of an exclusive group of authors threaten to overtake the laws of nature. In the town of Rabbit Back, revered children's novelist Laura White has taken nine writers under her wing as the mysterious Rabbit Back Literary Society, and she chooses Ella Milana, a young literature teacher, to take the coveted 10th spot in the group. But at the party to celebrate Ella's membership, White suddenly disappears as her house fills with snow. Children in town soon report disturbing nightmares about White's body showing up to read her stories to them, and Ella determines to use her ties to the Literary Society to research the true story of White's life and the fate of the original 10th member, who died years ago. But the rules of The Game, a ritual dictated by the society's members, require that every confession be a two-way street. At its best, the novel gives a compelling view of the strangeness that lurks beneath the most "normal" places and people, and it draws on elements of myth, fairy tale and ghost story to increase the scary factor. Sometimes, Jaaskelainen hits the right creepy note to make the hairs on the neck stand up, but sometimes the story crosses the line into just too weird. Has some Twin Peaks moments even if it tries a little too hard. Still, read with all the lights on!

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December 1, 2014

Ella Milana, a language teacher in the town of Rabbit Back, Finland, receives an invitation to join the Rabbit Back Literature Society. This small, elite group was founded by Laura White, a children's author famous for her "Creatureville" series. Ella notices that words are rearranging themselves on the pages of the books in the local library. (The librarian is also a member of the society.) What other secrets does the society hide? And what is the Game in which members "spill" (as in spill their guts)? Why and where has Laura White disappeared? Is the society covering up a dark deed from the past? Written by an award-winning Finnish author just beginning to publish here, the novel starts out very slowly and meanders around these questions until the reader doesn't care much one way or the other. Although the author makes many clever and witty observations along the way, the story reads like a creative writing exercise that goes on for too long. VERDICT This quirky Nordic tale is really a satire on writers and writing disguised as a mystery. Those seeking a more traditional mystery (and a more enjoyable read) should look elsewhere.--Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA

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