Birdbrain

Johanna Sinisalo

Original title: Linnunaivot

Author: Johanna Sinisalo

Published: 2008

Publisher: Teos

Genre: Fantasy & Science Fiction

Pages: 332

Reading material:

English edition

Birdbrain is a skilful portrait of the unquenchable desire of Westerners for the pure and the primitive. A young Finnish couple, Jyrki and Heidi, go on the hiking trip of a lifetime in Australasia with Heart of Darkness as reading material. To Jyrki’s great surprise, his girlfriend Heidi demands to come with him, frightened by the idea of several months of solitude. The trip gradually turns into a tortuous thriller with belongings disappearing and, even more mysteriously, reappearing. The travellers come to be at the mercy of untamed nature Birdbrain describes Western people’s desperate longing for somewhere unspoilt and primitive with biting irony. At the same time, it reveals the dark side of this longing, showing it to be an insatiable desire to control, invade and destroy.. Birdbrain reveals the dark side of the explorer’s desire: the insatiable need to control, to invade and leave one’s mark on the landscape. But what happens when nature starts to fight back?

The Guardian newspaper and Publishers Weekly both included the novel on their list of recommendations.

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Rights sold:
FINLAND: Teos (orig.)
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm

About author

Johanna Sinisalo

Johanna Sinisalo (b. 1958) is a Finlandia Prize-winning superstar of Finnish speculative fiction. In addition to her nine novels, she has also written short fiction and film and television screenplays. Her works have been translated into twenty languages.

Sinisalo has won several literary prizes also abroad, such as the 2004 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2017 Prometheus Award, and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2008, the Prix Escapades in 2012, and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in 2017. In 2022, Johanna Sinisalo was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal for services to Finnish literature.

Bibliography


2021, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Johanna Sinisalo

The Storm Flute


2020, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Johanna Sinisalo

Strangers Inside


2018, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Johanna Sinisalo

IRON SKY: RENATE'S STORY


2013, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Johanna Sinisalo

The Core of The Sun


2011, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Johanna Sinisalo

Blood of Angels


2010, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

Johanna Sinisalo

The Möbius Twist


2008, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Johanna Sinisalo

Birdbrain


2000, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Johanna Sinisalo

Troll