An understated work with poetic intensity - Rated 
I found Vida's work enjoyable and engaging for two reasons. First, her prose is economical, compact, and almost Impressionist in its preference for momentarily glimpsed images. It is far more delicately wrought than the vast majority of over-written, wordy bestsellers of today. Vida's plot, to my eyes, is only as important as the sensory, uncannily familiar experience offered by her prose in itself. If you're someone who gets agigated by paragraph after anodyne paragraph of glacial narrative, this book will be a refreshing change.
Secondly, I would commend this book for being markedly unromantic (apart from a few tacked-on closing paragraphs which read tritely, almost as if the publisher requested Vida to simply the tone somewhat). Clarissa (the protagonist) is a character who veers between pedantic arrogance, warm empathy and detached, world-weary cynicism. She is not willing to simplistically moralize over her past or present. She is a three-dimensional, uncomfortably recognizable character.
Simple and charming - Rated
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name is the story of a young woman who discovers, on the day of her father's funeral, that he was not actually her father. Abandoned by her mother at a young age she sets out impulsively to discover her real father and roots among the Sami people in Scandinavia.
The early part of the book, describing both her grief and her relationship with her partner, seemed the strongest to me, written with clarity and depth. The later section, amongst the Sami, was not as well achieved.
Vida manages to pass on quite a lot of information about the Sami and their lives, without overloading the story with anthropological detail. There is colour and understanding, but the facts to do not occlude the humanity of the story.
This book is character driven, rather than plot driven, so don't expect too many exciting, unforeseen twists and turns, just vignettes of people living their lives.
This is an enjoyable read, well-executed, although not great. Recommended.
misleading blurbs - Rated 
I was very disappointed by this book. On the cover it is described as an unforgettable story, full of warmth and surprising humour about a young woman's search to find the truth about her past and her own identity, and the main character is described as funny and fearless. I could find no warmth at all in this story and no humour either. It is about a mother and her daughter who both have the habit of running away from the problems in their lives instead of dealing with them and hurting other people in the process, which seems to me a very cowardly way of dealing with life and not fearless at all. Clarissa is doing to Pankaj, who by all accounts is a really nice caring sort of person , exactly what her mother has done to Richard, who was also a loving sort of person. Pankaj's only fault is that he didn't discuss with Clarissa a rumour which he heard from his mother as a teenager that Richard is not Clarissa's real father.
Much is made in the reviews of how Clarissa comes to know the Sami, the indigenous population, and how the writer has discovered that rare thing, a people's untold story, and brought it brilliantly to life. The main character spends about two weeks in Lapland, mainly in hotels as a tourist and doesn't speak the language, and the only things we are told about the Sami is that they herd reindeer which is generally known and that they protested against the Alta dam. An amazing cultural discovery!
And is it credible that Clarissa after unexpectedly finding her mother who left her when she was fourteen without any explanations and who was assumed to be dead, that she meekly leaves her behind after spending one night in her company when her mother has avoided answering any questions with the explanation that if she had had anything to say before she had left she would have written a letter to her husband and daughter? Both the mother and daughter strike me as chilly, selfish characters without any warmth or humour.
And what of the weird episode involving Kari with whom Clarissa is about to indulge in sex although she doesn't find him very interesting and he doesn't understand her jokes. He suddenly starts vomiting and passes out in her bathroom. She drapes a sheet over him and starts watching tv. The next morning she is surprised to see him still on the floor on his stomach. She gets dressed and checks out of the hotel without checking to see if he is still breathing or informing anybody else in the hotel about his presence in the bathroom. We never hear of him again.
Although it is well written, I find the characters unsympathetic and pretty unconvincing.
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