This short Finnish tale follows Vatanen, a journalist who decides his meandering life comprising of a dull job, miserable and controlling wife and insufficient friend, isn't what he wants or needs. He arrives at this realisation upon running to the aid of a young hare that he and his friend have hit whilst driving. In outrage to his illogical worry towards a common countryside creature his friend decides to teach Vatanen a lesson by driving off leaving him stranded in the wilderness. The lesson Vatanen learns spans the entire year as he sheds his former restrictive life and roams wild and free across Finland as a trusted ward to the hare. And in their companionship they share many an adventure, which in turn gives the reader a taste of Finnish life and the pertinent characters and politics of the time. ( )

Now that I've decided to try to 'review' each book that I have cataloged, there will be books( like this one) where I may recall reading it some years ago, may or may not remember how or why I liked it, but still can recall only a few or maybe no details about the experience. ( )

This is a delightful little gem of a book. Only a 143 pages long but at the end of the novel the hero Vatanen, is accused of committing 22 different crimes ! That being said he's one of the most likeable criminals I've ever come across and it makes we wonder about the Finnish legal system. ( )

Vatanen es periodista, y está cansado de su trabajo, harto de la vida que lleva en la ciudad. Una tarde de verano, cuando viaja por una carretera secundaria enviado en una misión por su periódico, atropella a una liebre. Este incidente sin importancia se convierte en una experiencia de esas que cambian el rumbo de su vida. Vatanen decide romper todos sus vínculos con lo que hasta ese momento es su vida. Se despide de su trabajo, deja a su mujer y vende todas sus posesiones para internarse, en compañía de su nueva amiga, en al más remota y agreste Finlandia.

The Year of the Hare in Estonian
Review of the Loomingu Raamatukogu Kuldsari (Gold Series) nr. 13 (January, 2022 #1) reissue of Loomingu Raamatukogu "Jänese aasta" (1995 nr. 28-30) translated by Sirje Kiin from the Finnish language original "Jäniksen vuosi" (1975)

I had already read/listened to Finnish writer Arto Paasilinna's The Year of the Hare in an English language translation several years ago, so it was an easy choice to pick up this recently republished Estonian translation. Knowing the story in advance would help my comprehension in reading in my heritage language. Sirje Kiin's translation was very comfortable to read and the story was as entertaining as I remembered it.

As with all of the Loomingu Raamatukogu translations there was a very informative Afterword by the translator which provided an overview of the prolific one-book-a-year writer. The Year of the Hare is his most popular work and it also established his style of the picaresque adventure.
His story of the disillusioned journalist Vatanen adopting an injured hare, abandoning his wife and job and then carrying the animal along on his often crazy plots and adventures throughout Finland remains as entertaining as ever, even with a spot of magic realism towards the end.

See photograph at https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.fe6ce43012b3f48f4beac5ec61a11772?rik=ApgwCenKkvXRAA&...
Actor Antti Litja and the hare in the 1977 Finnish film adaptation of "The Year of the Hare". Image sourced from Rare FilmM.

Trivia and Links
The Year of the Hare has been adapted twice for film. The first adaptation was the Finnish language Jäniksen vuosi (1977) directed by Risto Jarva. There does not appear to be a trailer available for it, but a clip excerpt can be viewed on YouTube here. It is the scene where the fisherman Hannikaisen reveals his conspiracy theory to Vatanen about the Finnish President Kekkonen having been replaced by a body double.
The second adaptation was the French language Le lièvre de Vatanen (2006) directed by Marc Rivière. A French language trailer without subtitles can be viewed on YouTube here.

The LR Kuldsari (Estonian: Golden Series) presents readers with a selection of works published in the Loomingu Raamatukogu (Estonian: The Creation Library) throughout the ages. These are favorites from over the past six decades which confirm that the classics never get old! Six books will be published annually, one every two months. - translated from the publisher's website.

The Loomingu Raamatukogu is a modestly priced Estonian literary journal which initially published weekly (from 1957 to 1994) and which now publishes 40 issues a year as of 1995. It is a great source for discovery as its relatively cheap prices (currently 3 to 5€ per issue) allow for access to a multitude of international writers in Estonian translation and of shorter works by Estonian authors themselves. These include poetry, theatre, essays, short stories, novellas and novels (the lengthier works are usually parcelled out over several issues).

For a complete listing of all works issued to date by Loomingu Raamatukogu including those in the Golden Series (at the bottom) see Estonian Wikipedia at: https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loomingu_Raamatukogus_ilmunud_teoste_loend_aastak%... ( )