Lowest Common Denominator

For readers of Eileen Myles and Patti Smith, Lowest Common Denominator is an ecstatic coming-of-age novel by the Finlandia-prize-winning author of The Red Book of FarewellsWriting in the wake of her fathers death, the narrator of Pirkko Saisios autofictional novel (translated from Finnish by Mia Spangenberg) transports us to the 1950s Finland of her youth, where she navigates life as an only child of communist parents.Convinced she will grow up to become a man, a young Saisio keeps trying and failing to meet the expectations of the adults around her. Writing with her trademark wit and style, each formative experiencewith the Big Bad Wolf, a bikini-clad circus announcer, and Jesus Christ who has a beard like a man but a skirt and long hair like a womandrives her further and further from her family and others. Struggling to understand her place in the world around her, its in language that she discoversa refuge and a way to be seen at last.