For my birthday in April, my roommate gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card and I picked up this book. Between final exams and moving out of my apartment, I never had the time for it. So this gem just sat there, collecting dust for almost four months, unopened.

Purge

Purge, by Sofi Oksanen

This novel, Puhdistus or Purge, is suspenseful and riddled with secrets. These secrets impelled me to keep turning the pages late into the night. I wouldn’t even say that I “read” this book; “devoured” seems like a more accurate term.

Its two protaganists, Aliide Truu and Zara Pekk, are connected by an invisible thread of family connections and betrayals. They both share suffering and mutilation at the hands of two governments — the Communist and Fascist regimes that alternately dominated the Russian/Estonian block. Aliide is an old woman burdened with shame and guilt at betraying Zara’s mother and grandmother thirty years before by turning them over to the Soviets. Zara is a young sex-trafficking victim who has a photo of Aliide and her mother in her pocket, but does not know any details of their relationship.

The book dances between Aliide’s story and Zara’s story, leaving the reader to discover the intersections. Both Aliide and Zara are victims of sexual violence in a time of war, forced to submit to men in “chrome-tipped boots.” Aliide discovers that no matter how much she pretends to be Communist or Fascist, the men come after her nonetheless. She realizes that to survive in Estonia is to be implicated. It is to betray herself or to betray the ones she loves. She even betrays her beloved, Hans Pekk, by forging letters to him and keeping him locked up in a room against his will.

The scenic town of Haapsalu, in Läänemaa, Estonia, where this novel takes place.

The novel culminates in Part Five, where the tone shifts markedly. Part Five is a series of secret service reports that shed light on characters’ actions. Sometimes these reports entirely change the meaning of these actions as they were portrayed in previous sections of the novel.

For me, this was equal parts “good read” and “history lesson.” I admit to being completely ignorant of Estonia’s condition during the Soviet occupation. Even though this book reflected primarily on the plight of women during this time, I learned a lot about the general condition during those times. I was especially surprised about the emotional and sexual warfare imposed on the inhabitants of Estonia in order to “rehabilitate” them for the Communist regimes.

Sofi Oksanen received both the Finlandia and Runeberg prizes.

Oksanen’s raw, minimal writing style colored this book with compassion and honesty. None of the characters (with the notable exception of Aliide’s sister, Ingel Pekk) are idealized. Aliide “smells like onions,” and she is plagued by flies that symbolize her decay. Zara has “tatters of skin torn from her lower lip,” a reminder of her sexual domination. For this novel, Oksanen received both of Finland’s prestigious writing awards, the Finlandia and the Runeberg. Purge is currently sold in more than 25 countries. If you have the time, please pick up this book – I promise you won’t be disappointed by this exciting, touching novel.