The Red Book of Farewells

Winner of the Finlandia Prize
Winner of the Aleksis Kivi Prize

“In Pirkko’s Helsinki, the personal and political are not collapsed but interlinked, and revolution is closely tied with sensuality. Idealistic young people rush, disguised in drab overcoats, to secret locations where coded knocks allow them inside to discuss the hot political topics of the day. And then, in those back rooms, private identities bloom… Long an object of study in Finland, Saisio’s work is beginning to gain more global recognition now, cementing her place in the canon of autofiction that also includes the Nordic writers Karl Ove Knausgaard and Tove Ditlevsen.”
—Niina Pollari, Los Angeles Review of Books

“A remarkable patchwork of narratives and literary devices in which every element is not only expertly expressed, but is a key player, baking up something of its own class entirely…The stories comprising The Red Book of Farewells are many things. They are poetries. They are critical and personally intimate experiences of Finnish LGBTQ history. They are love stories. They are stories of stepping in and out of one’s skin. They are stories of motherhood, daughterhood, personhood, and stories of the gains and unforgettable losses of one’s heart. They are multidimensional and oh-so-worthy of your full attention.”
—Elizabeth Hoover, Delphic Reviews

“The Red Book of Farewells is an at times overwhelming work, its structure shifting focus and moving across different windows of time. It’s also about the complex relationship between art and politics, and the challenges and hypocrisies of a society that advocates revolutionary politics while enforcing regressive social norms.”
—Tobias Carroll, Words Without Borders

“Saisio revisits the dawning of her sexuality and her development as an actor and political activist life in this illuminating work of autofiction.…There’s plenty of charm in Saisio’s free-flowing approach, as well as insights on her development as an artist.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Dreamlike…A moving, uneasy, and artistic novel about growing up queer in a time of conflict.”
—Foreword Reviews

“A beautifully rendered portrait of a strikingly queer life—Saisio troubles any distinction we might try to draw between the personal and the political, the remembered and the invented.”
—Morgan Thomas, author of Manywhere

“This Red Book of Farewells is also a book of welcoming: to life, to love, to death, to art, to revolution, to our ever-changing identities. It is hilarious and heartbreaking and like nothing I’ve ever read before.”
—Jazmina Barrera, author of Linea Nigra

“It’s rare that everyone on staff will be so excited for a book that we’ll all read it before it’s released, but Mia Spangenberg’s translation of Pirkko Saisio’s Red Book of Farewells feels tailor-made for our interests here at PCB, ‘where art and communist politics are hopelessly intertwined.’ Not only is it a tender and moving portrait of someone coming of age while both attempting to earnestly live their politics and come to terms with her sexuality (our favorite kind of bildungsroman!), but it’s also a thoughtful and surprising exploration of what it means to be subversive at a time when being queer was becoming state-sanctioned and, dare we say, mainstream. Saisio also perfectly captures the often fraught dynamic between spirited young comrades who attempt to meld the communal nature of a political project with the often solitary act of creating art, and the unconventional narrative threads mimic the way love and desire move through memory. This book will have a permanent place on our staff picks shelf for years to come.”
—Pilsen Community Books

“A beautiful, propulsive read that is a tender layer cake of life and love in a changing Finland. I was hooked from the first page and reluctant to admit it was finished on the last”
—Elizabeth Freeman, East Bay Booksellers

“Pirkko Saisio is sheer innovation on the page. With Mia Spangenberg’s wonderful translation, Saisio so beautifully details the formation of a queer, radical life. A truly phenomenal story of sexual, political, and artistic awakening(s)—I loved this book of becoming.”
—Mira Braneck, A Room of One’s Own (Madison, WI)

“An incredible book. I loved Mia Spangenberg’s elegant translation. An enigmatic love story entwined in communist politics and queer love.”
—Spencer Ruchti, Third Place Books (Seattle, WA)

“An autofictional novel by Pirkko Saisio—translated by Mia Spangenberg—about Saisio’s experience growing up (and growing older) as a queer radical in Finland. Don’t expect Saisio or Spangenberg to do all the heavy-lifting for you; like a work from ‘Bert’ Brecht (yes, she refers to Bertolt Brecht as Bert! Love!) the reader must participate to understand and reflect on the meaning of this work.”
—Tay Jones, White Whale Bookstore (Pittsburgh, PA)

“A beautifully observed work of performance and queer rebellion.”
—Audrey Kohler, BookWoman (Austin, TX)

Additional Materials

• “Something Reconstructed: On Pirkko Saisio’s The Red Book of Farewells,” in the Los Angeles Review of Books
• The Red Book of Farewells Reader’s Guide
• Request an Exam or Desk Copy