Here There Be Monsters: Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo [2004] is speculative fiction, but also has a feel of literary fiction. I would probably call it dark fantasy because of tone, themes, a killing, and some domestic abuse. It’s the first novel by this Finnish author who also writes comics and scripts. The U.S. edition I read was edited from the British edition, Not Before Sundown [2003]; the original title was Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi.
I found that the short sections make it a quick read, if intense. Different points of view are mixed in with sections of academic articles, folk tales, poems, songs, and other data about trolls and their long relationship with humans. In this world, trolls have been known to be real animals since 1907, though they are rare and shy, living deep in the forest.
A gay photographer, Mikael, has just been turned down by his crush and is heading home, drunk, when he encounters a group of teens threatening an unseen figure. After Mikael and the building’s caretaker scare off the teens, he finds that the small figure is a young troll, obviously ill and starving. He brings it upstairs to his apartment and attempts to care for it, but doesn’t know how. He begins to gather information from various former partners, including a veterinarian, and a neighbor, all of which actions spiral out change in several directions.
This novel has multiple levels and themes, especially relating to humans and their relationship with nature, human moral ideas about nature, and human cruelty juxtaposed with animal behavior. The story leaves somewhat open the question of how intelligent the trolls actually are, and what their moral views might be; but the example of Palomita, Mikael’s neighbor suffering from sex-trafficked domestic abuse, shows intelligence can lead to abuses more insidious than the violence of a troll who feels attacked.
This is a good novel if you’re looking for something with a lot of depth.
