Troll

Such a weird tale. A gay man finds a baby troll being beaten by ruffians, rescues him and grows obsessed with caring for his wild charge. And then things became uncomfortable to me as paternal love morphs into something else. I like the dawning wtf horror this book gave me, and it stuck in my head as a unique piece of unmagical realism. I think it might be a criticism of pedophilia, which makes me uncomfortable because the characters are mostly gay men, though the juxtaposition of the mail order bride in the story seems to suggest a more general critique of any exploitation. Lets just hope that trolls stay hidden.

I'm not giving this book a start rating. It wasn't a book for me. That doesn't make it bad, but it does mean I can't fairly review it.

I also don't want to give it a rating because I suspect the translation is part of what makes it weird. It read like Finnish-in-English and felt clunky.

If you want to read something really different, do give it a try. I'm glad I finished it, but it was tough going for a while.

While the constant shift in pov is incredibly annoying and the characters border on the stereotypic, the story does have its merits; particularly if you stay with to the end.