In the outstanding Core of the Sun, Finnish novelist Johanna Sinisalo (Troll: A Love Story) depicts a country strangled by a patriarchal government that claims to care about its citizens' health.
The Finnish people in this dystopia live under a form of government wherein decisions supposedly hinge on the health and safety of the people. Tobacco and alcohol no longer exist within Finnish borders. Only the antioxidant-rich dark form of chocolate is legal without a prescription. The most recent prohibition concerns capsaicin, the chemical that gives chili peppers their heat. Vanna, a young woman, hides her capsaicin addiction but constantly looks for her next fix, the only way to dull the pain of losing Manna, her younger sister.
The addiction is far from Vanna's only secret. For decades, Finland has worked at creating a perfect breed of domesticated women: obedient and focused on making a home and pleasing a husband. Called eloi or femiwomen, only these ideal specimens may reproduce. Vanna's sister is an eloi, but Vanna only passes as one. Really she is a morlock, an independent woman with as much sense and desire for knowledge as any man.
At times the novel reads a bit like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale with a sense of humor; a PSA on chili pepper addiction from a recovering addict is particularly hilarious, while marriage-minded deodorant ads and rewritten fairy tales will elicit laughs with a bitter aftertaste. A testament to the power of the human soul to escape oppression and a smirking social commentary, The Core of the Sun is one deliciously spicy package. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads