Rikki (Broken), a posthumously published short novel by Henry Parland is a good book. Actually, given that the author died at the age of 23, and that the book was not completely finished then, the book is surprisingly good. What a pity that Mr. Parland died so young.
The book tells a story in which Herny (Mr. Parland himself) tries to resurrect his late girlfriend by developing photographs of her. The girl come back to live as a photo and talks to Henry, scolds him for his bad behavior and dirty clothes. Henry then tells their story, how they met, spend their time as rich (or well off at least) young adults in the Helsinki of 1920s. The book is worth reading for historical anecdotes as well.
It is remarkable that most contemporary Finnish novel are far simpler, far less ambitious than Rikki was back in 1920s. The novel employs several different narrators (Henry himself, and the implicit one, and others), refers to itself (is a metanovel), while all the time feeling effortless.
It would be worthwhile to read the book in Swedish, its original language.
27.01.2007