Popular Music

2005.12.29

Popular Music Warning: the book i’m going to talk about is very addictive, if you start reading it, it will ruin everything else you are supposed to do because you won’t be able to stop reading until the very end.

I bought this book last summer in sweden, i wanted something scandinavian translated in english. I found this one, Popular Music, by Mikael Niemi. I read the synopsis: a novel about music in nothern sweden in the seventies. Sounded perfect ! It’s very well written, quite easy to read, even if your english isn’t perfect. The story takes place in the lonely town of Pajala in nothern sweden, near the Finnish border. The book is semi-autobiographical because the author lived and still lives in this town, and the main character could be him: a teen finding out about rock n’ roll when it finally spread in the north.

Half of the novel is about rock n’ roll, how you first hear it with your sister, then you want to play the guitar and finally make your own rock n’ roll. The other half is, to me, the most interesting, it’s like a documentary about nothern sweden, the traditions, the civilisation aspect, their history, etc. It’s hard to live up there, and you won’t believe your eyes when you read about how they find happiness and what they do to entertain themselves.

Once again, the book is very addictive, the characters are so adorable, you want to know everything that happens to them. This book ruined a big concert I attempted, I prefered reading the book rather than watching the performance ! It’s the perfect book to read this winter. The european version had a much better cover I think.

You can get it the version with the cute cover HERE and the normal version HERE