For a translated work of fiction its rather neat having a story that is all about language. In this case a man with a lost memory is encouraged to relearn Finnish and start to head back towards his home.
The action is set against the backdrop of the second world war and the subject of the book starts with the relationship between a doctor and his patient. The doctor finds himself in the service of the German army far from home and identifies with the sailor who is in the same position in terms of being far from his native land.
This relationship between doctor and patient is one that is fairly crucial in the early stages and one based on a shared language, or at least a presumed sharing of language.
So far very good and looking forward to how it unfolds further...
