“Was he really the only one who felt something was badly out of whack?”
Who is the Butcher? An uninvited guest in your garden; the embodiment of a sudden and unforeseen turn in life.
In the stories contained in Tuuve Aro’s ninth novel, a truck comes barreling around a blind corner and the ground slips away beneath your running feet. A gay karaoke bar, a maternity hospital ward: both can be the backdrop to unfolding, startling events. Whether the spotlight is on a bullied child or a pensioner pilfering from a department store, a razor-sharp imagination is a more effective weapon than an axe.
Tuuve Aro’s The Butcher is a rich goulash of short stories. It takes an eviscerating view of modern life, exposing a cross-section of its tragi-comic, disquieting, and yet sometimes beautiful moments.
Finnish PDF
English sample translation (here)