Thirty letters sent to an old lover by a rather foolish woman who has come to live in a city of insects for reasons she has forgotten. As with most epistolary works, it takes a while to build. Several letters in the middle to end begin to suggest larger themes. However, full enlightenment never really seems to dawn on the protagonist (although there are hints here and there that she is either changing or losing her mind), so the end, which is undoubtedly the right one, seems unsupported by what has gone before. Loved Longhorn though. 3.5 stars. ( )

First, the copy I have is of a small hardback book that’s a delight to hold with an eye-catching slip cover, and drawings dotted throughout; a fast read at only 124 pages. The story from this Finnish prize-winning author is a fantasy told in a series of letters written by a foreign visitor and sent from an insect city. There’s no plot. We never know the recipient of these letters and only get to know the writer obliquely. I’ve heard the character writing the letters is female, but I never picked up on that and saw the letter writer as male, lost and adrift, having travelled to Tainaron seeking a promise that may never be fulfilled unless it’s found within. The most obvious nuance is one of change. There’s something visceral in the narrative, making this a book with an amorphous emotional impact. I’m sure many will find this nonsensical, bizarre, maybe pointless, yet there’s something memorable and almost poetic about the book. And, like a poem, will have significance for some, be meaningless to others. ( )

Strange and mesmerizing. Unsure what to call it - it's not exactly a novel, but it's not a collection of short stores either. Calvino's Invisible cities comes to mind, but this feels mote personal and internal. ( )

Tainaron on fantastinen kirjemuotoon kirjoitettu kertomus hyönteisten kaupungista, josta siellä vieraileva nimettömäksi jäävä kertoja käy yksipuolista kirjeenvaihtoa myöskin nimeämättömän vastaanottajan kanssa. Kirjeissään kertoja kuvaa elämää Tainaronissa; eliöiden luonne ja elämäntavat ovat kaikessa hyönteismäisyydessään kummastuttavan ihmismäisiä ja näitä piirteitä hän huomaa tavatessaan erilaisia asukkaita oppaansa Jäärän kanssa kulkiessaan, havainnoidessaan kukkakedon houkutuksia ja todistaessaan metamorfooseja. Kertoja muistelee kirjeissään mennyttä ja kirjeiden vastaanottajaa, mutta talven lähestyessä kirjeiden kirjoittajan ulkopuolisuus Tainaronissa alkaa kadota, ja muiden asettuessa kaiken uudeksi muuttavalle talvilevolle hänkin alkaa odottaa omaa muutostaan. Kieli on kaunista ja jopa runollista, ja Inari Krohnin kuvitukset tukevat kirjallista ilmaisua tekstin lomassa. Kirjaa oli ilo lukea, ja se tutustutti minut kiinnostavan kirjailijan tuotantoon. ( )

Tainaron was recommended by Jeff VanderMeer -- in fact, he had a special deal where he was selling copies of this book along with one of his (the Select Fire Remix of Secret Lives).

Leena Krohn has been writing for years, and the book includes a long list of publications. Tainaron was originally published in Finland in 1985, and seems to be one of the few books by Krohn to be translated into English. That may change, as Tainaron was nominated for both the World Fantasy Award and the International Horror Guild Award in 2005.

I can definitely see why Jeff likes this book, which is a series of letters written from an unknown correspondent to an unknown recipient, possibly a former lover. The letters describe the writer's daily experiences in the city of Tainaron, a colorful, bustling town whose inhabitants (save, perhaps, for the writer) are various sorts of insects. Early on, there's an implication that the flowers and inhabitants have grown larger, although the opposite is just as believable.

As time passes, the writer grows both more and less comfortable in Tainaron. Some creatures die, others change their opinions of the writer, and with the approach of winter, most go into hibernation or build cocoons in which they will metamorphose into new beings, not quite like their past selves.

Tainaron is somewhat reminiscent of VanderMeer's Ambergris stories, in presenting a detailed world whose odd details shock the reader into realizing they're not in Kansas any longer. If you like Jeff's work, Tainaron is worth checking out. ( )