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| Review by Coll 4 1/2 Stars |
You know you are good friends with someone when you will read a book for them. ;-) I had requested this book because I saw it was Estonian, and I thought it would be cool to read because that is where Tiina is from. So she asked me if I would be able to read it and review it today in honor of Estonia’s Independence Day, so here is my review!
The Man Who Spoke Snakish is an adult fantasy tale. I stress the “adult” part of that description because it has its moments of violence and gore, as well as coarse language. It was an adult fairy tale and I loved it so much. The book is set in medieval Estonia and takes place in both a forest and a nearby village. The main character, Leemet, lives in the forest and follows the old ways of those who can speak a language known as Snakish, which allows them to communicate with snakes and all other animals. But the world is changing, and those of the forest are leaving to settle in villages where they begin to worship God and look up to the Iron Men (knights). Leemet watches as everything around him changes and those of the forest are left to fight to preserve their way of life, and to prevent the old ways from being lost to civilization, religion, and ignorance.
This story was highly fantastical and imaginative. You become completely immersed in a world where there are wondrous creatures and beautiful landscapes, all portrayed through rich descriptions. As you read you feel like you are part of the story and the old world, and it is such an enchanting feeling. But for all the beauty in this novel there is also much sadness and you are forced to feel the pain of the characters. This combination of beauty and pain makes for such a powerful story and saturates the reader with emotion and passion. The Man Who spoke Snakish is a stunning tale that will stick with you long after you have finished reading it.
As much of a fantasy story The Man Who Spoke Snakish is, it is also very deep and tackles some very critical subjects. The book is considered ecocriticism, where it shows and analyzes environmental issues and concerns, as well as the treatment of nature. Throughout the story we see the “progression” of people from being in tune with nature, to no longer understanding nature as they switch to a societal life. Then there are the animals, who go from living in harmony with humans to being frightened humans. Animals and people transition from understanding one another and working together to fearing and bringing harm upon one another. This draws a good parallel to the direction the world has taken where instead of humans living in unity with nature we have begun to take it for granted and abuse it. The book shows this change among species and way of life so perfectly and in a very profound manner.
Another major component of this book is the subject of religion and falling into the beliefs of the masses, forgoing your own heart and mind to follow others. Depending on how you read this book it can be viewed as religious criticism, but I feel like it is done in an intelligent way, full of intensity, and not in a means where it bashes religion. This aspect also ties into the subject matter prevalent through the book of the dangers of over-civilization and the creation of societies that are indoctrinated to live their lives a certain way and believe only the things they are told. This is such a powerful message that really pertains to the world today and the direction that humankind is headed in.
One area where I feel like this book suffered had nothing to do with the story itself, but I think had more to do with the translation into English. I know translations are never easy and in many cases the story is affected by it, which was an occasional issue with the English version of The Man Who Spoke Snakish. I think some of the phrasing was not effectively translated and also there was an overuse of language at times which made the story seem a little wordy. The main problem this created for me was that the story felt a little dragged out at times. I do not want to fault a novel at all based on the translation, but it is hard to view it any other way when I cannot read the original text. I was torn between four and five stars, and I think if I had been able to read the original this would be a five star book for me; I kind of want to say I give it five stars for story and four stars for translation (hence the 4.5 star rating).
If I tried to express all my feelings and my full analysis of this book my review would be several pages long, so there are a lot of things I must leave out, unfortunately. What I will say though is that this may be an Estonian novel, but it is something that every culture and country could understand and learn from. The book uses a beautiful and savage fairy tale to act as a vessel for some very important issues in the world today and it definitely is a story that everyone could learn from. The Man Who Spoke Snakish is not a story that can be taken lightly; it is brutal at times, highly opinionated, and heartbreaking, yet always beautiful and imaginative.
“At that moment it seemed to me that we knew perhaps too much that others didn’t know, and on the other hand too little that was known to everyone else…”
Interested in The Man Who Spoke Snakish? Check it out on Goodreads.
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