I have not read a lot of books by Henning Mankell. I think for most people he is known as a Swedish mystery writer along the same lines as Steig Larsson. If you have read a lot of his books I am sure you also know of the Wallander series which was made into a British TV series starring Kenneth Branagh. I liked the TV series but really couldn't get into the books all that much.

I think I have read 3 of the Wallander books but it was at a time where I was reading less and less of the mystery/crime genre and moving on to other things. This is ironic because, this book, Mankell's first, is more like the other things I have moved onto. Looking at the reviews, I think a lot of people come to this book expecting a crime novel and when they get something else they are disappointed. I was not disappointed. In fact, I thought that for a first novel this was a very good effort. Certainly it is a better effort than the first novel I recently read by Wallace Stegner, Remembering Laughter, which I thought was not his finest. Not that I think Mankell, as a writer, is in the class of Stegner, but it is interesting to compare their first efforts.

I am not going to describe the plot of the book because, one, I think that is a waste of time and, two, there really isn't much of one. Let's just say it is about a Swedish everyman who is almost killed in a rock blast, his quiet life and his eventual death which, for me, was quite poignant. It is deeply introspective and philosophical and definitely a book for those who feel socialism is under-rated as a political system.

It was a 4.5 star book for me.

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Oskar is a rock blaster meaning he uses dynamite to blow up rocks so construction can be done. One of his charges does not go off so he goes to see what happens and there is a delayed explosion causing him severe injuries. As an old man he tells his story to the narrator during the summer. The narrator then puts his story together so we know what Oskar's life was.

This is an odd book. Little snippets tell Oskar's story. It's as if he remembers one little piece at a time. It is not told linearly. It rambles but the narrator puts some order to it so we get to know Oskar. Oskar was not a talkative man. He tells his story as he remembers it or as something reminds him of the past.

I do not know what I feel about the story. Oskar was a lonely man. He also had a lot of life experiences that many of us won't have. After his accident he learns the value of companionship and friendship. I liked how he visited Lindgren. I also liked he and Elvira could tell each other anything and not be judged. His children seemed to feel his was beneath them. They did not come around much. The narrator was more in his life than his children were.

Oskar is more like most of us. He does not become a "star" but lives a life of small things--triumphs and hurts. He survives it and lives a long life. ( )

Un dynamiteur raconte son accident d’explosion au travail de dynamique et raconte sa vie en même temps ( )

El dinamitero que en una explosión perdió gran parte de sus miembros ( )

Nachdenklicher Roman über das Leben eines schwedischen Arbeiters, der in jungen Jahren durch einen Unfall zum Invaliden wird und dennoch ein halbwegs normales Leben weiterführt. ( )