Purge

3.5 stars I'm a little disappointed because I thought this would be a 4 or 5 star, but I still highly recommend it. Le début est très accrocheur, j'étais impatiente de voir comment la relation entre Aliide et Zara allait se développer... Mais en fait on voit très peut de leurs interactions. J'aurais aimé en apprendre d'avantage sur Zara et vraiment moins sur Aliide. Je l'ai trouvée froide et égoïste; toutes les actions qu'elle a posées dans le passé étaient calculées pour SA survie. Je peux pas comprendre pourquoi elle en veut tant à sa soeur... Sinon c'est un excellent ‘glimpse' sur la vie rurale dans le temps des conflits communistes/fascistes.

The title word of the book appears once in the (English edition) text. Aliide and her sister and niece are on the way home from a terrible night. Her sister Ingel tells her to ‘purge' her face of the tears and snot that cover it. Before they all would enter into their home, pretending nothing terrible had happened to them.

The female characters in this novel have a lot terrible things happen to them, and out of shame or fear they decide to hide it. They recognize the truth in the eyes of women who've lived through the same.

My second Oksanen, and again it's quite a thriller of a novel, featuring female protagonists living through rough times in Eastern Europe. I learned a lot about Estonia.

Wow, in the end Aliide had quite the body count on her conscience.