Lowest Common Denominator

<''Grandpa says everyone should leave me alone. If I want to be a boy, then I''m a boy: simple as that.''Writing in the wake of her father''s death, the narrator of Pirkko Saisio''s autofictional novel transports us to the 1950s Finland of her youth, where she navigates life as an only child of communist parents. Convinced she will grow up to become a man, a young Pirkko keeps trying and failing to meet the expectations of the adults around her.

With wit and style, Saisio captures the heart-wrenching intensity of childhood feeling, merging fever dreams with sensory-laden memories as each formative experience - with the Big Bad Wolf, a bikini-clad circus announcer, and Jesus Christ himself - drives her further and further from her family and others. Struggling to understand her place in the world around her, it''s in language that she discovers a refuge and a way to be seen at last.

An unforgettable story of transformation, Lowest Common Denominator is the first volume in a trilogy that has been celebrated in Finland as the best work of the century.<>

Product details

• Authors: Pirkko Saisio
• Assisted by: Mia Spangenberg (Translation)
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 07.08.2025
• EAN: 9780241730096
• ISBN: 978-0-241-73009-6
• No. of pages: 288
• Dimensions: 136 mm x 215 mm x 22 mm
• Series: The Helsinki Trilogy; Penguin International Writers
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; FICTION / Family Life / General, FICTION / Biographical, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Classics, Helsinki, Classic fiction (pre c 1945), 20th Century, Finland, Memoirs, Fiction in translation, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, FICTION / World Literature / Finland, Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction, Classic fiction: general and literary