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Un Paradis Trompeur (2013)

by Henning Mankell(Favorite Author)

3.47 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

2021079708 (ISBN13: 9782021079708)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Seuil

review 1: I expected this book to be good but not a page turner in the same way I've found his other non Wallander books. I read them as I think they're all worth reading but they can be a little hard going. However this book I thought was great. I found it to be a lovely simple story beautifully told. I guess it's fair to say that not much happens, at least it's not action packed, but I really enjoyed the process of reading this. I'm useless at saying why I like something but I think it was the simplicity of this book that appealed to me.
review 2: Before encountering this book, I was only familiar with Henning Mankell's work from the "Wallander" t.v. show from BBC (Masterpiece Mystery on PBS) starring Kenneth Branagh - which is a straight-up mystery series. I was, ther... moreefore, surprised and delighted to read "A Treacherous Paradise", which has been described as being more aligned with "Heart of Darkness". The book retains the sort of bleakness and isolation that I've often found in work from Nordic countries (albeit mostly films) and is pretty overt in "Wallander", but the story is from a unique perspective - that of a young woman from Sweden in the late 1800's - and the majority of the story takes place in Africa. The unusual combination of heroine and place makes for a fascinating juxtaposition and results in a gripping exploration of race, colonialism, and gender politics. I admit that I was frustrated by the heroine on occasion - she's just seemed so naive and ill-informed, but I suppose that was kind of the point. She grows enormously from the very beginning to the nebulous end, and it was a journey that I very much enjoyed taking with her. less

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