A Finnish journalist and a photographer out on assignment one June evening suddenly hit a young hare on a country road. The photographer, ultimately unsympathetic, abandons his journalist companion Vatanen, who sets off to find the wounded hare. Vatanen develops a close bond with the hare and in their adventures together, they witness people's avarice, inhumaneness, hypocrisy, cruelty, participation in bureaucracy, and mere existence, rather than living, in the world. This last realization in particular is life altering for Vatanen: he quits his job, discards his hopeless marriage, sacrifices financial security, and sells his most prized possession (a boat). All this Vatanen replaces with a life of odd jobs and on-the-road experiences. This picaresque novel could simply depict a middle-age crisis, but it reaches beyond fantasy or fiction, becoming mythic in its universal themes. The story is inventive, satirical, and quite humorous. It is also refreshingly sentimental in the sense that Paasilinna reaffirms our connection with the animal world and our inherent need for happiness and freedom to maintain quality of life.

阿托·帕西林纳 Arto Paasilinna，1942年出生于芬兰北部拉普兰地区，曾做过伐木工人、制衣工人、记者，是芬兰当代相当重要的作家。自1972年以来，阿托几乎每年发表一部作 品 ，目前已累积近四十部，其中有诗集、散文集，半数以上是小说。阿托的作品出版商形容：“每年帕西林纳的作品出版，和每年白桦树落叶一样，是构成芬兰秋天的一个重要元素。”他的作品已被翻译成四十余种文字，尤其畅销于法国、美国、德国、日本。他的故事多聚焦在小人物身上，笔触总保持着一种芬兰式的幽默和轻盈从容的举态。阿托的作品获得过多项文学奖，包括1989年以《遇见野兔的那一年》获得的法国Prix Litteraire Air Inter等三项国际文学奖。他是近几十年来少数能从芬兰跨至国际文坛、声势历久不坠的作家。