Het vrouweneiland

by Inger Frimansson, Erica Weeda (translator)

Tobias Elmkvist is schrijver. Hij heeft een aantal goed gerecenseerde maar slecht verkopende dichtbundel gepubliceerd. Hij woont vlak bij Stockholm, maar aan het begin van het verhaal bevindt hij zich op de afgelegen boerderij van zijn vader Carl. Daar is Tobias naartoe gegaan om zijn vader en diens jongere vrouw Sabina te helpen met het werk op de boerderij.
Tobias en Sabina krijgen een verhouding, die niet verborgen blijft voor Hardy, een onaangename, half criminele dorpsbewoner. Als Hardy probeert Tobias af te persen, steekt deze hem neer. Sabina treft Tobias aan met het lijk. Koelbloedig en draadkrachtig zorgt ze ervoor dat de plaats van het misdrijf wordt schoongemaakt en dat het lijk verdwijnt.
Maar om hun geheim te bewaren moet er nog meer gebeuren.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Swedish Literature, Scandinavian Literature

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2000

About the author

Inger Frimansson is a popular Swedish novelist and crime writer. Having previously worked for 30 years as a journalist, her first novel The Double Bed (Dubbelsängen) was published in 1984. Since then she has written around twenty-five books including poetry, short stories, and books for children. Her breakthrough was with Godnatt, min älskade in 1998. Her crime novels are best described as psychological thrillers.

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Labs trilleris. Lieliski lauku darba vides apraksti. Sajūta, ka, sakot ko vairāk, tā jau būs "spoilošana".

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olen nyt muutaman Frimanssonin kirjan lukenut ja kirjailijaan selvästi tykästynyt! Minä imaistuin tarinaan vahvasti mukaan, ja pidin siitä, että ulkonaisten tapahtumien sijasta keskityttiin päänsisäisiin tapahtumiin. Olipas tässä vahva psykologinen jännite, huh. Ahdistuksella luin tätä loppuun, paljastuuko syyllinen vai ei? Enkä edes tiennyt, halusinko päästää murhaajan pälkähästä vai en. Mielenkiintoinen loppu.

[Mike Cuthbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this novel is a bit misleading as the island of naked women was a place of punishment. The island’s name was “Shame” and that reflects the fact that the naked women on it were there because they were adulteresses or otherwise sexually too active for their Swedish neighbors. Since the setting is modern, there are no more naked women on the island, but there are cattle that have to be brought back to the mainland for marketing. The cattle are the property of Sabina, the young wife of Carl Sigvard who at the moment is out of action due to a fall from the second story of his barn onto the concrete floor. The novelist Tobias is there to look after his father and, of course, to “meet” Sabina in the most carnal way possible. In the meantime, Hardy, the handyman, witnesses Tobias and Sabina in the throes of sexual ecstasy and threatens to blackmail Tobias and/or Sabina over the event. Tobias and Hardy eventually get into an argument over the issue and Tobias, much the weaker of the two, manages to stab Handy in the neck with a screwdriver. He flees, Hardy allegedly dies and Tobias ends up back in Södertälje with the woman who loves him, Marit. Tobias is trying desperately to start a new novel at the urging of his publisher while Marit is trying desperately to get Tobias to commit to a permanent relationship. The mystery of the novel revolves about the disappearance of Hardy altogether and what that means for loyalties and relationships between Tobias and Sabina, Tobias and Marit, Tobias and his ex-wife, Tobias and his daughter, Klara and Carl Sigvard’s place when all the dust settles. The ending is a bit strange and the pace is slower than molasses in a Swedish winter, but the characters are interesting and almost compelling. The novel is worth a few otherwise listless afternoons of reading.

[John M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so much a 'mystery' as a moody, slow-burn noir novel in the classic tradition. "Island of the Naked Women" is a highly-focused story about the unraveling of relationships among family and neighbours in a small community in rural Sweden. A farmer becomes bedridden due to an accident, with no one to take over the work except his wife, his developmentally-disabled stepson, and an undependable and rather unsavory hired man. The farmer's son, a troubled writer between books, comes up from the city, partly to help and partly to evade pressures from his publisher (to get on with his work) and his partner (who wants commitment). Personalities rub the wrong way and a sudden crime sets this already fragile situation on a downward spiral which begins to affect neighbors and everyone else connected to the family. Will anyone come out of this in one piece?
The constricted world of rural life creates a pressure-cooker of suspense and intrigue evocative of the great old American noir writers like James M. Cain, Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson, and Horace McCoy. It took me straight back to fifty years ago when I was discovering those authors and others like them. Frimansson has written other novels which are referenced here, but only briefly and non-essentially to the plot. She definitely knows how to write about the pervasive destabilizing influence of crime (and suspicion of crime) within family and friendship circles.
If you like a well-constructed plot, you may be a little disappointed by how it winds out, as some reviewers are. But this story goes for realism and psychology over literary tidiness. Had it failed in the attempt, I would not be writing this review. But it succeeds so well that I for one am willing to give a good review and forgive some neglect of the usual writers' devices to dot all the I's and cross the T's.

[Terhi Piispa-Helisten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jotenkin kökkö kokonaisuus, ei ainakaan minuun iskenyt yhtään. Erityisen hankalaksi luettavuuden teki se, että vuorosanoissa piti jatkuvasti miettiä, kuka sanoo mitäkin (johtolauseita hyvin vähän, ehkä ruotsinkielisessä alkuperäistekstissä hon/han on selventänyt yhteyksiä..), eikä läheskään aina pohtimallakaan asia selvinnyt. Lisäksi juoni oli jotenkin häiritsevä ja epäuskottava. Tuskin tartun saman kirjailijan kirjaan enää tämän kokemuksen jälkeen.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dette ble for traurig, uinteressant og trist - klarte ikke fenge meg i det hele tatt, og måtte gi opp!

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite good.

But perhaps I have lately read too many books by Nordic writers with the similar kind of melancholy (or even pessimism) as the basic tone of the story. Every now and then it would be different and refreshing but four or five in a row starts to make one numb.

I gave three stars anyway as this was not Frimansson's fault entirely. This was not a bad book. Just slightly depressed. And happened to be in the line of several similarly gloomy novels.

I really should read something hilarious next. Westlake or Vonnegut perhaps... or Roald Dahl.


Alastomien naisten saari.

LIKE 2003

[Elina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alastomien naisten saari.
Olipas haastava, genrenä surkeus-osasto ei oikein oo mun juttu.
Jottei unohdu, tää oli se missä kirjailijapoika innostuu äitipuolestaan, tappaa kiukuspäissään todistajan, joka sopivasti olikin ikävä ihminen. Peittelyyn meneekin loppukirja. Isä on sairas, tyttöystävä riippa, velipuoli hengeltään sairas. Surkeutta!
Mutta ei nyt genressään huono kuitenkaan.

[Virginia]

Enjoyed the description of the countryside. Characters were intriguing, and I never guessed the ending.

[Nani · Rating 4 out of 5]

As great as any Frimansson.

Really great.