Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu

Only a year and a month after it was released, I finally finished Andrus Kivirähk's latest novel over the weekend. Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu or 'The man who could speak the language of snakes' is an unrelentingly dark and sullen tale of decay laced with black humour and unflinching in its atheism.

Set somewhere in Estonia at some point in the Middle Ages when the old world was steadily being submerged by the new, it features a memorable cast of characters and tells an unfolding story that spirals ever downwards from the first line until it reaches its inevitably gloomy (but still rather moving) conclusion. Needless to say it is not for those looking for cheery bed-time reading.

Indeed, it's not for people who don't understand Estonian either, at least until it appears in translation. But if you're a foreigner with a grasp of the language and a desire to look at the country in a different light, it's a book I highly recommend. Everyone else should keep their eyes and ears open for it in the hope it hits the shelves in other languages over the next few years.

(Oh, and by the way: the author, Andrus Kivirähk, has also written a fantastic children's book called Kaelkirjak or 'The giraffe'. Not sure whether that's available in translation either, but the recommendation applies all the same to this. Plus it's recently been re-released in a new hardcover version with lavish illustrations which makes a great read for [more advanced] learners of the language.)