Someone I love rocommended me this one book. He said that it was one of the best books he had ever read and I really should read it. Couple of days after that I happened to talk about that same book with someone else I love and she also told that it was one of her favourite books. When she was young it was right this one book that taught her what literature could really be.

Ok, after these two conversations I was really curious but when I started to read it... I got this very strange feeling that I knew what was going to happen. I was absolutely sure that I hadn't read the book earlier myself but I had strong feeling that someone had told me about it and what the story was about. Or had I seen the film they had made after it? I still don't know. I think that propably there is one more of my loved ones who has also read this book earlier and told me about it.

What book am I talking about then? Tarjei Vesaas' ”Is-slottet” (”Jäälinna”, ”The Ice Palace”). It's a really strange book. Very strong. Not very long but very deep and powerful. It tells a tragic story about two girls. I don't want to tell too much about it. But it's so beautiful, so frightening, so strong. It really goes inside your skin.

As I told you the story felt familiar from the very begining. But it wasn't only because I think I had hear it before. It was also because all the feelings, all the secrets in this book felt familiar too. I have been a little girl myself once. I have had the best friend and we have told each others secrets that you can't describe with words. Somehow that book was full of that fascinating athmosphere that you can feel and touch only when you are still a child. When world around you is still full of secrets and your world is full of things that you can't explain. New girl come to your class and she glows in a way that you can't explain. You look into mirror and you see something that you can't explain. You find an ice-castle and all the secrets that lie around it feel so natural, so self-evident. I don't get that feeling any longer but I remember how it felt when I was a child. That feeling makes you run when you are walking home all alone at dark winter night. That feeling whispers into your ear that there's something behind you in the darkness. That feeling wakes you up in the middle of night and tells you that you are not alone in your room. That feeling that you hate and love because it takes you somewhere where you don't normally get to go. That feeling that I don't feel any longer. I'm too adult, too reasonable, too down to earth nowadays. I'm not scared of darkness anymore. I can watch horror-movies without nightmares afterwards. When I walk home alone I walk, I don't start to run. Have I lost something? Have I lost an ability to touch the fantasy? Have I lost an ability to feel deeply and strongly, be passionate? I don't know, I don't think so, but something I'm defenitely missing. Something that those girls in that book still have.

The other thing that I loved about that book was the fact that narrator didn't explain everything. There were great, huge things that she didn't tell at all. What was the big secret? What was it? Where did it went? Oh, I loved the fact that she didn't tell, afterall!

Interesting book in many ways. Defenitely something that you should read. And if you have read it and if you remember that you have told me about it earlier, please tell me that it was you. Otherwise I will have this strange feeling when I don't know where have I heard that story. How was it possible that I knew what was going to happen even when I know that I hadn't read it earlier myself? Do I still have a little bit of that sixth sense that I had when I was a child? Was it just part of the magic of the book? Was it me?

He istuivat hetken ikään kuin lepäämässä.
Siss ajatteli: on parasta, että lähden nyt.
Unn sanoi:
-Et saa lähteä Siss.
Tuli jälleen äänetöntä.
Tähän hiljaisuuteen ei kumminkaan ollut uskomista, ei siihen ollut voinut luottaa koko aikana. Täällä puhalsi oikukas ja puuskainen tuuli, joka äkkiä kääntyi ja saapui toiselta suunnalta. Se oli tyyntynyt, mutta nyt se tuli taas, odottamatta ja hätkähdyttävänä:
-Siss.
-Mitä?
-Minä en tiedä, pääsenkö taivaaseen.
(suom. Katri Ingman-Palola)