When they have to promote themselves. When an acquaintance says hello by kissing them on a cheek. When they owe a favour. When they wait for a bus in pouring rain, but there’s already someone under the pentice. When they run out of coffee.
That’s when it happens. A finnish awkward moment.
The character of Karoliina Korhonen’s comic strips is finnish Matti, who loves silence and personal space. If someone gets angry or is behaving badly, he wonders what he has done wrong.
Finnish Nightmares is a book about what it is like to be a finn in social occasions. For a foreigner the book opens implied codes that can be difficult to understand but are shared with all finns.
For finns we recommend they would read this book behind closed doors. Bursting with laughter in public is so embarrassing.
The book is available both in Finnish and in English.