In 1971 he published what was to be the first volume in the 26-volume series Juuret Iijoen törmässä ('Roots in the Bank of River Ii'), probably the longest autobiographical narrative in the world (some 17,000 pages in total).

The series charts Päätalo's life from his early childhood to the publication of his first novel, at the same time offering an interesting view of Finnish history over some four decades as seen from an individual's viewpoint.

Some found the slowness of his narration and its seeming sticking to trifles tedious, while his innumerable fans, mostly among his own generation, were fascinated by the very abundance of detail, a meticulous reconstruction of the past.

Other strengths of Päätalo's style are his absolute sincerity to the reader - he seemed to leave nothing of his life untold, yet his writing is never merely sensational - and his skillful way with spoken Finnish, especially his native dialect.

Kalle peeped on the home path with a crank in the camper's vekkuli, in the ecclesiastical autism, the vekkulisti made a play, the hooves were always playing, the murderer sang, I pee, I poop, the boy, I want to be a girl, Kalle was made a pimp at the transpol so that those boys can fuck him there, then they ran to Tipotie, to the church for coffee, everyone was allowed to eat many butter eye buns except Janne, because he is not autism, the old lady Janne got his dicks kicked.