One of them, Immu, starts to develop a critical stand toward death and war.

[1] The novel can be seen as continuing the tradition of depicting Oulu-based boys from started by Teuvo Pakkala (1862–1925).

[2] Rintala returned to the life of Immu, the disillusioned idealist, in his follow-up novel Pikkuvirkamiehen kuolema in 1959.

[2][3] The novel was adapted in 1962 to the screen as Pojat by the Finnish director Mikko Niskanen.

[2] The film is also known by its English title The Boys with certain deviations from the text of the original 1958 novel.