Purge (2007) is Sofi Oksanen’s third novel, a showcase of her new style and a strong reading experience.
Purge takes place in the Estonian countryside in the early 19th century and creates a mythic background to the women generation’s history.
Purge’s describing style is a rare treat for Finnish novelty, known for its hard, minimalistic telling.
Purge’s main character, Aliide Truu is an elderly Estonian lady who tries to live her life in the family farm until the history comes hunting back. Aliide had had an affair with her sister’s husband, Hans Pek, and this is the key for the family tragedy. Hans’s wife Ingel is the true image of the Estonian pride, perfect in her beauty, pure in her thoughts and actions. Aliide is jealous of her sister’s life, capable of being bad. The book gives its reader bits of history of women after the soviet and communism period, how they experienced sexual violence and lost their humanity. One day Aliide gets a visitor, Ingel’s granddaughter Zara, who had been forced to practice prostitution in Berlin. She tells her story about the hard times women went through during those years. Characters share the same experiences and have caught an admirable hardiness.
Oksanen has knitted secrets and twists in Purge carefully and they open to its reader only very late in the book.
Purge has a strong message; love destroys always, weather it was for your country, house, language or a man. Purge leaves its reader almost uncomfortable with its hard truthfulness.
