When a man’s business goes under, he needs his family and running spikes to keep himself afloat. While he is pushing off the long-jump board at minor competitions, his wife is pushing in the delivery room. While he is fighting for a podium place, his son is fighting for his life. As he leans against his son’s incubator, Ilmari Kivi promises to jump seven metres if the boy lives.

700 Grams is a comic novel about father, son and the holy long jump. It’s a novel about mothers, sons and writing, parenthood, fellowship and the world’s first long jump catapult. It’s the story of a boy who grows up to be himself, a person who is not his father. The story of a disintegrating and uniting family. The story of a battle on the sports field and in the community, of the unrealistic goals people set themselves – and of the legal and illegal methods they employ to attain them.

See other books from this author:

Benjamin

Union