Book Review: Let the Northern Lights Erase your Name

If your ideal day includes curling up with a good book, either an e-book or a traditional book, than you likely live in the Pacific Northwest, or more specifically Seattle. According to Amazon, Seattle is the most well-read city in the nation in 2015 and again in 2016. Personally speaking, I read a lot. Mostly non-fiction, but occasionally fiction. The last book I read was 'Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name' as an ebook from my local library.

Having read it in one day, I consider it to be a quick read. The book was published in 2007 by Ecco and has 687 reviews on GoodReads.com. The setting is in Finland, but beyond that I'll let you experience for yourself.

Good Reads: Description

"Far, far north, sitting above the Arctic Circle, Lapland is a world made of ice; a place both foreign and perilous that unexpectedly lures New Yorker Clarissa Iverton from what had finally become a comfortable life. At 14, her mother disappeared. Now 28, and just days after the death of her father, Clarissa discovers that he wasn't her father after all, and the only clues to her true heritage are a world away. Abandoning her fiancé, she flies to Helsinki, seeking to uncover the secrets her mother kept for so long. While piecing together the fragments of her mother's mysterious past, Clarissa is led to the Sami, Lapland's native "reindeer people," who dwell in a stark and frozen landscape, under the northern lights. It is there that she must summon the courage to confront an unbearable truth, and the violent act that ties her to this ancient people."

About the Author: Vendela Vida

Her writing has been described as spare, elegant and haunting.

Born on September 6, 1971 in San Francisco, CA, the daughter of Paul & Inger Vida. Her father Paul descends from a Hungarian family, and her mother Inger is Swedish born. Vendela is an American novelist, journalist, and editor; married to writer Dave Eggers, she lives in the Bay Area. She is the author of five books, and a writing teacher. Here are some more links about this author. 

• An Interview with the author: Identity Theory
• SFGATE:  Vendela Vida wraps trilogy on women in crisis

A POEM ... which inspired the novel, with the same name.

Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name 

By Marry A. Somby*

Barren Rock Plains

ringed by tall mountains

The Inca Warrior snatches

a lizard

and consumes it alive

Days and nights

time runs out like shoofly liquor

from the bottoms of empty bottles

blurry talk and lashing words

clenched fists strike

batter and strike

Come with me

to my lavvo

my soot-stained tent

let us light 

a fire

and gaze steadily

into the flames

Dressed in a wedding gown

of netted sinews

and spider's web

I step 

into your canoe

waiting

at the clouds' edge

your coal-dark eyes flash

you push me from the shore

alone, I travel

far, far

to what which is not

May the Northern Lights

burn 

your name

engulf it in flames

that flicker

as intensely

as all the silk skirts

you have touched

The sun 

that has been away

for so long

ascends

I sprinkle rock crystals

and glass beads

from a leather pouch

tanned with alder bark

I sacrifice 

to the birch tree

The bridal crown

of fluttering silk ribbons

and signs of the moon

I hang in the tree

The yoik-king and the wolf-singer

come with me

The ptarmigans are shell-white

with black-tipped wings

From Krigeren, Elskeren og Kovnen/Mu Apache Rahkesvuokta, 1994

Translated by Edi Thorstensson

*Somby is a common Sami surname.

The name has most likely been made as a Norwegian language adapted variation based on the Sami town of Sombio (or Sompio) in the Kemi region of north Finland. The name has probably also risen from the personal male name like Sompia, Sompi, Sombie, Sombe, Sombby, Sombi, Sumby and Sobbe. The name has been used as a family name written as Sombio, Sompio, Sombi and Somby. (see more)