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78th out of 514 books
—
503 voters
Blackwater
On Midsummer's Eve, 1974, Annie Raft arrives with her daughter Mia in the remote Swedish village of Blackwater to join her lover Dan on a nearby commune. On her journey through the deep forest, she sumbles upon the site of a grisly double murder--a crime that will remain unsolved for nearly twenty years, until the day Annie sees her grown daughter in the arms of one man sh...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
December 15th 1996
by Picador
(first published 1993)
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Part of what continues to fascinate me about Scandinavian crime fiction is the routine respect with which the authors approach their genre--the real quality of the prose and complexity not only of the plots themselves, but of the milieus--the characters and settings peripheral to the events that these books are 'about.' Ekman's Blackwater is currently my favorite example of this--an eliptical rendering of a brutal, unsolved crime in a mountain village in Northern Sweden. For although this crime...more
A welcome discovery for insatiable fans of Henning Mankell. This complicated, disturbing novel reminds me of the best of Ruth Rendell. The story is spread over a couple decades, involving a crime that evades understanding, let alone a solution. First published in Sweden in 1993, Blackwater won the Swedish Crime Academy's Award for Best Crime Novel, the August Prize and the Nordic Council's Literary Prize. The translation is excellent: it won't disappoint English-speaking readers either, although...more
Dec 07, 2010
Kirsty Darbyshire
added it
I'm not sure what to make of this book so far. It's got plenty of intriguing stuff going on but it's not unputdownable. It starts in what I presume is the present day, at least it's eighteen years after the story that starts to be told a few pages in. In those first few pages we see at least three of the characters from the main story that comes after them.
One of the problems I have with translated stories is that I wonder how much of the writing is what would have been in the original version.
...more
I had a hard time reading this book though it was very good. She is very descriptive in her writing but also very enigmatic. She starts out her chapters with "he" or "she" and it is only later into the page or pages you know which character she is referring to. As it takes place along the border of Sweden and Norway, the characters' names and the place names are very foreign so sometimes difficult to remember from chapter to chapter. I found myself skipping passages that were overly descriptive-...more
This reminded me somewhat of Kate Atkinson's novels in that it it's genre might be said to be It is Annie who mystery, althotugh that really just allows the author to explore the violence inherent in a It is Annie who discsociety, which in this case is a small isolated rural village in the beautiful and wild Scandanavian mountains. The story starts in the recent present, but is mostly set back to the seventies, when a violent double murder occurred, a crime which remains unsolved but still haunt...more
Shame on me for letting this story sit unloved on my bookshelf for years!
I really enjoyed this crime novel. It's different, firstly as it's not written from the usual perspective of the detective solving the murder case. Kerstin Ekman wrote Blackwater from the point of view of three main characters and I really felt like I could relate to the thoughts, feelings and perspectives of three distinct individuals throughout.
It was beautifully written but in a very 'real' way. For me, what makes it st...more
I really enjoyed this crime novel. It's different, firstly as it's not written from the usual perspective of the detective solving the murder case. Kerstin Ekman wrote Blackwater from the point of view of three main characters and I really felt like I could relate to the thoughts, feelings and perspectives of three distinct individuals throughout.
It was beautifully written but in a very 'real' way. For me, what makes it st...more
This book was different from all the other Scandinavian murder mysteries which I've read in that it was not told from an investigator's perspective. The action moves around in time a lot--going back to the past, returning to the present. At the beginning of each chapter, you have to read a couple of sentences to establish which character's perspective you are getting. It made me pay attention rather than reading quickly as I usually do. I found I really didn't like any of the characters, but tha...more
This book made me dream of living somewhere in Northern Sweden, near the Norwegian border; somewhere cold and desolate. Perhaps alone, if communities up there prove to be as difficult as they have been portrayed in this story. But living alone up there can make one go crazy.
As far as mystery & crime thrillers go, this was quite good - the mystery surrounding the double murder increases and the last 120 pages were quite surprising at some points - but the rest was not so compelling. Even thou...more
As far as mystery & crime thrillers go, this was quite good - the mystery surrounding the double murder increases and the last 120 pages were quite surprising at some points - but the rest was not so compelling. Even thou...more
I read this one for my book club. It was an odd but strangely alluring tale of Sweden, communes, an eel, and murder.
Oh what a surprise this novel turned out to be. A pleasant surprise. I'd read about Kerstin Ekman in an article on "Nordic Nor", so was expecting another Wallender style police procedural. Was I wrong! Yes, there is a crime and it resonates through the book, but there is so much more. This is literature of the highest order. The theme of nature runs through this book like a mountain stream. The descriptions of the forests lakes and mountains are outstanding. Poetic and beautiful. The natural wor...more
A Swedish crime novel first published in 1996, ahead of the wave of Stieg Larsson popularizing, this is an involving 20 year mystery with sidelights on the class and political tangles of a small Swedish town. The murder is of two vacationers, witnessed by a woman coming to town to join a hippie commune with her daughter, and the denouement is a generation later after she has matured to become the community's schoolteacher--leading to a marvelous several page passage where she teaches her class h...more
I loved this book and couldn't put it down. Kerstin Ekman is a wonderful writer and really creates the times (mid-70s and early 90s), but most especially the setting in central/northern Sweden. The mystery is embedded in a whole web of character relationships and incidents. The changing points of view are handled extremely well -- and I will definitely seek out more of her books. She and Karin Fossum (Norwegian) are the two best Scandinavian women writers I've read -- writing mysteries that are...more
I always felt like I was being kept at arm's length while I read this book, and unfortunately that meant that I didn't develop any sort of sympathy for any of the characters. I'm thinking this is an "atmospheric thriller," because it definitely had a sense of time and place. However, when the location is not only the main character, but the only one that grows and changes, that is a bit of a problem. I have to admit, I finished the book not completely understanding everything that had happened....more
I really can't decide if it was an amazing book or just okay, but I mark okay anyway. If anyone wants to read something breaking most writing rules, this is the right book. POV change, multiple POVs, tempus change, long descriptions with name after name of plants or lots of adjectives. Basically, all the wrongs I dislike. Nevertheless, the narrators' voice seeped into my mind and made my thoughts dark and windling, like the story was. A very special style, and quite admirable, yet a difficult bo...more
As a fan of mystery, particularly Scandinavian/Nordic and what I call natural-setting mystery, I really enjoyed this book. The characters are fascinating, the plot intriguing (I wouldn't consider this a plot-driven mystery, but more of a character-based mystery), and the use of setting is one of the best I've read (I generally prefer sparse description--this book is seeped in description, but in a way that lent greater substance to the characters and plot and drew me in more deeply, rather than...more
The story centers around Annie Raft, a single mother who is traveling to the northern part of Sweden to join her boyfriend Dan who lives in a sort of commune there. When Annie and her daughter get off the bus, however, Dan is nowhere to be found. She and her daughter scramble to find a way to get to the remote commune, and while hiking through a wooded area, Annie stumbles upon a murder scene. Two people camping in a tent have been stabbed to death. The murder remains unsolved and years later, A...more
Düsteres Drama rund um einen Mord an zwei Jugendliche im Norden von Schweden und wie sich das Leben der damaligen 'Zeitzeugen' 18 Jahre später entwickelt hat. Ganz besonders wird hier das Leben von Birger (dem Azt), Annie (der Lehrerin) und Johan (einem jugendlichen Ausreißer) betrachtet. Dieses Wechsel-Spiel der Geschichten, Perspektiven und Gefühle hat mich nicht so sehr gestört. Was mich viel mehr störte: sooo viele Namen von Menschen und Ort- oder Landschaften, und alle wurden einfach so unv...more
During the height of the popularity of the book Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the New York Times published a list of other Scandinavian authors in the same genre. This book was one of them listed. I had a hard time getting into the book and following the story line. There was a cast of characters listed in the front, but they randomly didn't list a few that were main people in the book. And then the translation was a little rough. Some sentence just plain didn't make sense. I would not recommend...more
I am plugging along with this book because I always finish books I have started. I read Kerstin Ekman's other book, Under the Snow, which I did not enjoy at all and blamed it on a stilled translation. This one started out easier to follow, but it never allows you to develop any relationship with the characters - they are simply there and things happen. Entire villages or groups participate in what happens, and daily life goes on. As it does in real life - but still there is something missing.
Dark dark dark, wow was this a dark book. The writing was strange and a bit confusing at first, but once I got used to the author's unique style, I enjoyed the book. While I remember liking it, at a certain point I tried to finish it as quickly as possible because the book seemed to be lowering a depressing pall over pretty much everything. It's good, but be prepared for dark, heavy stuff.
Oh, and the eel in the bucket was a particularly nice touch.
This started well. It was kind of weird but interesting and I thought it would keep me reading to the end then I found myself at about the halfway point and realised that absolutely nothing had happened, all of the characters had turned out to be fairly unlikable and I just didn't really care what was coming next.
There are huge sections of descriptive prose dotted throughout that are quite nice if you like that sort of thing but I just ended up skimming them, desperate for the actual story to ge...more
There are huge sections of descriptive prose dotted throughout that are quite nice if you like that sort of thing but I just ended up skimming them, desperate for the actual story to ge...more
Feb 22, 2009
Leland
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
crime-fiction,
scandinavia
This is a great example of the richness of Swedish crime writing. Ekman tells a chilling story that is marked by the remoteness and isolation of the northern setting, juxtaposed with a complex cast of characters. Ekman takes time to explore landscape and character at times beyond the confines of the story's main plot. This gives the novel a level of complexity and interest which is very interesting, but which at times makes it necessary for the reader to stop and take a bearing.
This is a work loosely connected to the actual murder of two Dutch holiday makers(The Stegehius couple, Appojaure, 1984) in the manner put forward in this book and after 18 years the crime was confessed to by Sture Ragnar Bergwall aka Toma Quick aka Sätermannen ("The Säter man" - Säter being the name of a place where they house the dangerously mentally disturbed). He is also known as Sweden's only serial killer.
Now there is some controversy surrounding Tomas Quick's admission of guilt, many hold...more
Now there is some controversy surrounding Tomas Quick's admission of guilt, many hold...more
2 likes · like · see review
Marvelous. Not simply a mystery novel, though many mysteries are explored; for one, how old and new cultures (even within the same very homogeneous country) do not fathom one another across the abyss of cultural changes that time brings. This is one novel I will read again because it doesn't matter one bit that I now know who did what, and why.
One of my favorite murder mysteries of all time. There are worlds within worlds in this book. It takes place in very northern Sweden at midsummer's eve. The murder is compelling, but the window into the culture is even more so. And I get the feeling that Swedes who live in the south in big cities would find this a strange place too.
I got a little bored in the middle, and a little confused by the interwoven stories and flashbacks without warning, and things don't really start to pick up until around page 350. I appreciate a quietly suspenseful story, but I didn't get any of the "can't put it down, intensely scary" feelings that the book jacket reviewers promised. That said, I ended up liking the book, and I'm looking forward to reading Ekman's other books.
Absolutely perfect. Although I have come to the conclusion after reading a lot of Scandinavian novels lately that the Nords are indeed different from you & me. Must be the long winters.
What a terrific book. Slow, yes, but addictively so. And a major whammy ending.
What a terrific book. Slow, yes, but addictively so. And a major whammy ending.
Bleeeech. I hated everyone in this book and wished they all would die, and i am pissed that i spent my precious time reading it for nothing. The story kept promising interest, but never delivered. Crappy, crappy book.
A murder mystery that was sometimes confusing, always interesting and very touching as I got to know the characters and the reasons behind the things they did. Even though the book has a lot of sadness throughout, the ending was very satisfying nevertheless.
Okay, I don't really understand how one nation can contain IKEA and artists like Kerstin Ekman and Ingmar Bergman. Sweden, you are a land of contradictions.
But seriously, Blackwater is an excellent, excellent book. Joan Tate's translation is graceful and clean, and just a bit spooky. The book itself is consistently unnerving, and I have to say that I never saw the resolution to the mystery. But calling Blackwater a mystery is really an oversimplification, and I say that as someone with a lot of...more
But seriously, Blackwater is an excellent, excellent book. Joan Tate's translation is graceful and clean, and just a bit spooky. The book itself is consistently unnerving, and I have to say that I never saw the resolution to the mystery. But calling Blackwater a mystery is really an oversimplification, and I say that as someone with a lot of...more
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Kerstin Lillemor Ekman is a Swedish novelist.
She began her career with a string of successful detective novels (among others De tre små mästarna ("The Three Little Masters") and Dödsklockan ("The Death Clock")) but later went on to persue psychological and social themes. Among her later works are Mörker och blåbärsris ("Darkness and Blueberries"), set in northern Sweden, and Händelser vid vatten (...more
More about Kerstin Ekman...
She began her career with a string of successful detective novels (among others De tre små mästarna ("The Three Little Masters") and Dödsklockan ("The Death Clock")) but later went on to persue psychological and social themes. Among her later works are Mörker och blåbärsris ("Darkness and Blueberries"), set in northern Sweden, and Händelser vid vatten (...more
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Jul 12, 2007 08:02pm