Henning Mankell

[[deleted user]]

Currently reading and enjoying SIDETRACKED by Henning Mankell. Very excited at being invited to join audience on Radio 4 Bookclub in January to discuss SIDETRACKED with James Naughtie and Henning Mankell. Has anyone else read the book? What do you think of it?

[harshv]

A bit late to respond (especially since the member asking the question is now known as 'deleted member'!)... but if anyone else is interested, Sidetracked was a good read in my opinion. Here's a link to my review

[Patrick]

I think what makes Wallander so appealing is that he is a rather flawed character. Unlike many fictional heros, he does get scared in certain dangerous situations. There is also something very haunting about how Mankell describes the Swedish landscape. (Maybe I am influenced here by the BEAUTIFUL cinematography of the television series!)

I am making my way through all the Wallander novel, and will be sad when I am finished.

[Pat]

I have just finished this and found the more Wallender I read, the better they get. I too am reading through the series, with other books in between. Rewarding and interesting reads.

[Mj]

Agree with all the posts to date. As does my partner. We're both reading the series and like Pat reading numerous other books in between. (Too many books, too little time.) I too like Wallander because he's flawed and very human. A great detective as well as a sensitive soul. I really enjoy all the different aspects of his personaltiy and the other characters as well. Henning Mankell is a terrific author and does a terrific job of police procedurals. Each book gets better and better - both the writing and of course getting to know Kurt more. When I'm done the series, I'm hoping to read some of his standalone books. If you're interested I've read all the books up to Sidetracked and have The Fifth Woman out if the library right now and have written reviews for each on Goodreads.

[Tony]

I love Mankells style. How we grow to love a boring, grumply, selfish Swdish Detective who seems to pee and pooh on every other page......inlcuding in the middle of the Latvian Police Department criminal files archive.

[Brad]

Wallander's wisdom and kind humor for others, is underpinned by sadness and fatalism. I find the combination to be compelling.

Mankell's spare prose seems the perfect way to communicate Wallander's existence.

[Mj]

Brad wrote: "Wallander's wisdom and kind humor for others, is underpinned by sadness and fatalism. I find the combination to be compelling.

Mankell's spare prose seems the perfect way to communicate Wallander..."

Brad, I agree with you that Wallander's personality is compelling. I think of him as an empathic anti-hero and love his wisdom, humour, flaws, love of opera, humility and fear of public speaking.

I started reading at Book 1 and will be reading Book 8 shortly. I have found reading the books in order has been very beneficial to my enjoyment. With each book I learned more about Wallander and related to him more. I also found that each book seemed to improve on the previous one, in no doubt due to my relationship with Wallander. I think Mankell's character development is a key component of the series' success which seems to be unusual in mysteries and police procedurals.

I have been checking out some new potential series for a similar strong character and seem to be drawn to authors outside of North America.

I don't agree that Mankell's prose is spare but perhaps I misunderstand. He doesn't use a lot of flowery words....but I find his prose to be very powerful and to say an awful lot. Will check it out again in my next book - Firewall and try to be more specific.

Do yourself a favour. I see you've read book 1 - Faceless Killers in addition to Book 5 - Sidetracked. Why not pick up Book 2 The Dogs of Riga and keep going. It's a great series. Hopefully you'll enjoy each book in the series more than the last one like I have done.

[Tony]

I have really enjoyed the Wallander series...that is ..until ..FIREWALL. Its as if the second half of this book had to be written in a hurry. Mankell has a style where he leaves unanswered questions that may be picked up in later books. In this book lots of events that seem important to the plot end up unanswered with an ending so predictable it makes you fell reading the book was a waste of time.

[Brad]

Mj -

I will take your suggestion to heart and try to read the remainder of the series in order.

Brad

[Ian]

I would recommend you read the short stories of 'The Pyramid' to get the back story of how Wallander got to where he is at the beginning of the series....rather brilliantly the book ends right where 'Faceless Killers' begins.

[Mj]

Good suggestion Ian.

I think it's a matter of personal preference but it's great to have choices in such a terrific series.

I noticed on a website for English readers of The Kurt Wallander series; they also recommend reading The Pyramid before all the others, because even though it was written as the ninth book in the series, nine years after the first book was written - The Pyramid takes place in time before all the other books.

http://www.inspector-wallander.org/gu...

On Henning Mankell's website however, The Pyramid is listed as the ninth book in the series. The ordering of The Kurt Wallander Series on the Goodreads website honours the author's website chronology.

http://henningmankell.com/books/walla...

I think either way would work. I very much enjoy Mankell's writing and his central character.

[Suzanne]

I read The Pyramid after I'd read 3 or 4 of his books. Didn't bother me at all. He's such an excellent author and the Wallander character is just so full-bodied - warts and all