Dog Park

A VILLAGE,
MYKOLAIV OBLAST
2006

When I entered the bedroom for the first time since childhood, I recoiled at the sight I encountered. Framed pictures of me graced the table, the chest of drawers, and the wall. For the most part they were yellowed advertisements cut from newspapers, showing me using my curves to peddle everything from stain removers to car parts. I d sent the pictures to my mother as proof of my modeling work, assuming they would end up in a scrapbook, but Mom had turned them into a full-­room shrine with eye-­catching splashes of color and mark-­down percentages competing for attention. There was nothing in these pictures to celebrate, let alone remember with pride. They made me ill.

After removing the clippings from the walls, I swept the pictures on the chest of drawers into my arms and shoved the whole lot into the closet. On top of the pile lay a yarn ad featuring skeins that glowed with all the colors of a crackling fire.

By suppertime, the pictures were back in their places ­even the chestnut puree ad, which I despised. My mother s swiftness astonished me. She had managed it while I was outside inspecting the garden with my aunt. When my aunt entered the bedroom, she put a hand on my back and whispered that I shouldn t deny a mother the right to be proud of her children. I couldn t tell her how wrong everything had gone. My aunt looked at me and gave me a squeeze.

We re expanding the plantings, and Ivan is helping, so we re fine, she said. I m so glad we have you home again, Olenka.

My aunt had aged, as had my mother. The dog standing guard in the yard was new. Otherwise nothing had changed since I left. A stork s nest still sat on top of the electric pole, though the birds had already flown south, and there were still dead men s jackets hanging next to the front door. One was my father s, and the other belonged to his sister s deceased husband. According to my aunt, it was good for visitors to

SOFI OKSANEN is a Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright. She has received numerous prizes for her work, including the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, the Prix Femina Étranger, the Budapest Grand Prize, the European Book Prize, and the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She lives in Helsinki. Translated from the Finnish by Owen Witesman.

"A rising Scandinavian star poses troubling questions about the double-edged sword of motherhood and the rancorous debates over women s bodies."  Oprah Daily

"An intricate, textured slow-burner that paints a vivid picture of a post-Soviet state where gangsters rule and the exploitation of the female body is big business...The pathos is fuel for real suspense." Guardian

"Remarkably ambitious...The translation conveys the mounting tension...Oksanen has much to say about the price of parenthood and the cost for young women who, with few other options to escape poverty, become egg donors or surrogates."  Sarah Weinman, New York Times Book Review

"There is nothing average about this knotty thriller." Daily Mail

Dog Park will tantalize...Oksanen s tactic of deliberate opacity is popular in prestige television suspense series like 'Killing Eve,' and 'The Flight Attendant,' whose fans, enthralled by pervasive dread and beguiled by jumps between alien settings, don t mind when motives, identities and places are hard to pin down. The confusion is intrinsic to the allure. Wall Street Journal

"A dystopian novel that seems all too real...We learn much about the precarious state of post-Soviet Ukraine...Oksanen subtly but viscerally depicts jeopardy and romance." Kirkus Reviews

The Soviet Union s collapse looms large over Oksanen s intricate plot, which rivets...Fans of slow-burning suspense will find much to enjoy." Publishers Weekly

FINLAND
Breathtaking With Dog Park, Sofi Oksanen truly does triumph. Kainuun Sanomat

Dog Park is a stunning, furious depiction of the traumas and struggles of the survivors of the Soviet Union Oksanen is a master. Mesta

FRANCE
Nerve-racking until the last page. Les Inrockuptibles

Both a thriller and a historical novel, Dog Park is, in a nutshell, a Grimms fairy tale made reality. Lire

DENMARK