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kingabee's review against another edition
2.0
Henning Mankell is known for his Kurt Wallander crime novels, so even though I knew this wasn't one of them, I still expected it to be a thriller of sorts. There is a man who lives alone on an isolated island, separated from the society, until, one day, someone from his past visits him and sets off a chain of events.
You too would think this would be a thriller, right?
But no, it's a typical tale of an old uninteresting man, looking back on his uninteresting life. A bunch of characters are introduced, all quirky and acting in various bizarre and confusing ways that pushes this laboured plot forward. Women are particularly mysterious, and act in the most irrational ways. Because women, who can really understand them, am I right?
The only thing I found authentic and believable in this whole story was the main character's guilt over the medical error which effectively ended his surgical career.
All in all, not my kind of thing. Twee characters, lots of things whose only purpose is to be symbolic (an anthill in the middle of the room, for example), and generic cliched conclusions.
You too would think this would be a thriller, right?
But no, it's a typical tale of an old uninteresting man, looking back on his uninteresting life. A bunch of characters are introduced, all quirky and acting in various bizarre and confusing ways that pushes this laboured plot forward. Women are particularly mysterious, and act in the most irrational ways. Because women, who can really understand them, am I right?
The only thing I found authentic and believable in this whole story was the main character's guilt over the medical error which effectively ended his surgical career.
All in all, not my kind of thing. Twee characters, lots of things whose only purpose is to be symbolic (an anthill in the middle of the room, for example), and generic cliched conclusions.
askatknits's review against another edition
5.0
"I keep a diary of a life that has lost its way."
How have I never read anything by Mankell?
This book was wonderful - the writing, the story, the growth of the characters were all brilliant. I laughed, I hoped for the changes that did happen, and yes I cried. I highly recommend!
How have I never read anything by Mankell?
This book was wonderful - the writing, the story, the growth of the characters were all brilliant. I laughed, I hoped for the changes that did happen, and yes I cried. I highly recommend!
noel_rene_cisneros's review against another edition
5.0
Un hombre en sus sesenta que fue médico y cree que la vida no tiene más que ofrecerle más que la muerte recibe una visita inesperada de una mujer de su pasado. Así el narrador se enfrenta a las decisiones que tomó (y de cuyas consecuencias siempre huyó) para descubrir que su vida es más amplia que lo que había pensado, pero también que ha de enfrentar el dolor que ha causado y cargar con las consecuencias de haberlo infringido, no sólo huyendo, sino aceptando sus errores y reconociendo que a veces no se recibe el perdón, pero éste ha de ser solicitado.
joaniesickler's review against another edition
2.0
It was on the 2-week shelf at the library. I knew Henning Menkel had a new book out - a wonderfully gory, bloody Inspector What's His Name mystery. So I grabbed it. Ooops. This is a recently released translation of a 2006 book, and it is quintesential Swedish depression and angst. Still, I finished it and found it worthwhile. The images will stay with me - the folly of regret, the unexpectedness of life's twists and turns, the value in stepping out of one's homemade prisonl
cinnamon_girl9's review against another edition
4.0
من زمان ما قرأت رواية مليانة مشاعر، ومناسبة جدًا لأجواء الشتا.
benbru's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
e_etcetera's review against another edition
5.0
J'ai adoré Ce roman. Il n'y a plus de doutes, ce genre de récits de vie c'est sans doute un des genres que je préfère en littérature.
J'ai aimé voir les personnages évoluer, partager leurs sentiments et leur colère. J'ai aimé ce petit vieux qui petit à petit fait face à la vie.
J'ai aimé voir les personnages évoluer, partager leurs sentiments et leur colère. J'ai aimé ce petit vieux qui petit à petit fait face à la vie.
jacki_f's review against another edition
4.0
Frederick Welin is a former surgeon who made a terrible mistake on the operating table. He retired from the world and when the book opens he has been living in isolation on a small Swedish island for 12 years. One day, unexpectedly, a woman arrives to see him. Harriet is a former lover whom he abruptly abandoned almost 40 years ago. Now terminally ill, she wants him to take her to a lake that he had told her about many years ago. However, it emerges that she has another motive for visiting him - one that will prove to be the catalyst for major changes in his life. Over the course of the book, he realises "that everything (he'd) thought was definite and done with was starting to change".
If this sounds dry, I can only say that it's utterly absorbing. Mankell has a lovely, spare writing style reminiscent of Helen Garner. This is a beautifully written book that is quintessentially Swedish. The characters are perfectly realized, right down to the hypochondriac postman. Reading this book is rather like watching a very satisfying piece of theatre.
I did feel that this is a novel that always keeps the reader at a slight distance. I empathized with Welin but I never particularly liked him (everytime I did start to like him he'd do something very self-centered or unpleasant). However this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel.
I don't usually comment on a book's cover but I did think that this one was perfectly chosen. The Swedish countryside is deeply woven into the story. I also thought that for a book originally written in Swedish, the translation appears flawless.
If this sounds dry, I can only say that it's utterly absorbing. Mankell has a lovely, spare writing style reminiscent of Helen Garner. This is a beautifully written book that is quintessentially Swedish. The characters are perfectly realized, right down to the hypochondriac postman. Reading this book is rather like watching a very satisfying piece of theatre.
I did feel that this is a novel that always keeps the reader at a slight distance. I empathized with Welin but I never particularly liked him (everytime I did start to like him he'd do something very self-centered or unpleasant). However this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel.
I don't usually comment on a book's cover but I did think that this one was perfectly chosen. The Swedish countryside is deeply woven into the story. I also thought that for a book originally written in Swedish, the translation appears flawless.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
4.0
ITALIAN SHOES by Henning Mankell goes to prove, once again, that a really good writer is a really good writer, regardless of the genre, styling, or setting of the book. Exploring the themes of estrangement, loss, fear and isolation ITALIAN SHOES isn't a crime fiction novel, it's a poignant, beautiful, sad, uplifting and evocative look at a man, his life, his mistakes and his redemption.
Frederick Welin is sixty-six years old, a former surgeon who has spent the last 12 years of his life, purposely exiled to the island home that his grandparents left him. He has carved out a life with his dog, his cat, and occasional visits from Jansson the postman. Woken just before dawn on a dark December morning, the sound of the "ice singing" evokes memories of his past - his father, his grandparents, his island, his professional and personal mistakes.
In a strange way he's not surprised then, when early in the New Year his past comes back to him in the form of a little old lady on a walker, making painful slow progress across the ice towards him. He had loved Harriet Hörnfeldt intensely, and he'd abandoned her abruptly in 1966. Dying of cancer, she has come looking for him. She wants answers, she wants Frederick to finally make good on a promise he made all those years ago. She wants to see the pool in the middle of the northern forest, where he talked of one joyous day with his father.
A road journey, in a beat up old car, in the harshest weather in decades, follows. Unsure if he can even find the pond, the two embark not just on a quest for the place, but also, in a touchingly clumsy manner, some understanding of how they both got to where they are now jointly and separately in their lives. They argue and bicker, rescue abandoned dogs, leave behind Frederick's own pets in a mildly distracting way, but find the pool. Frederick nearly loses his own life on the ice in the pond, Harriet saves him, they move on in the journey, to somebody, somewhere... but more would be telling too much.
ITALIAN SHOES is a moving, tightly drawn portrait of a couple of people who could seem, on the face of it, emotionally shut down and withdrawn. What Mankell does is draw you into the lives and thoughts of Frederick mostly, and Harriet to a slightly lesser degree as Frederick is forced to consider his past and how he wants his future to be. What Mankell has done is written a central character who it is really easy to dislike, and yet... A profoundly self-centred man, Frederick's life has been an odd combination of bravado and running away. He's a faithless lover, a haphazard animal owner, a brilliant surgeon whose arrogance led him to make a profound mistake - which he ran away from. A snoop, a bad-tempered man, a loner who regards the world with suspicion there's an awful lot to dislike about Frederick, and yet, Frederick is very human and his slow, hesitant steps to redemption, recompense, are profoundly touching in the main because of their simple humanity.
Quiet, intense, low key almost ITALIAN SHOES is a beautiful, glorious tale of confrontation, human frailty and redemption.
Frederick Welin is sixty-six years old, a former surgeon who has spent the last 12 years of his life, purposely exiled to the island home that his grandparents left him. He has carved out a life with his dog, his cat, and occasional visits from Jansson the postman. Woken just before dawn on a dark December morning, the sound of the "ice singing" evokes memories of his past - his father, his grandparents, his island, his professional and personal mistakes.
In a strange way he's not surprised then, when early in the New Year his past comes back to him in the form of a little old lady on a walker, making painful slow progress across the ice towards him. He had loved Harriet Hörnfeldt intensely, and he'd abandoned her abruptly in 1966. Dying of cancer, she has come looking for him. She wants answers, she wants Frederick to finally make good on a promise he made all those years ago. She wants to see the pool in the middle of the northern forest, where he talked of one joyous day with his father.
A road journey, in a beat up old car, in the harshest weather in decades, follows. Unsure if he can even find the pond, the two embark not just on a quest for the place, but also, in a touchingly clumsy manner, some understanding of how they both got to where they are now jointly and separately in their lives. They argue and bicker, rescue abandoned dogs, leave behind Frederick's own pets in a mildly distracting way, but find the pool. Frederick nearly loses his own life on the ice in the pond, Harriet saves him, they move on in the journey, to somebody, somewhere... but more would be telling too much.
ITALIAN SHOES is a moving, tightly drawn portrait of a couple of people who could seem, on the face of it, emotionally shut down and withdrawn. What Mankell does is draw you into the lives and thoughts of Frederick mostly, and Harriet to a slightly lesser degree as Frederick is forced to consider his past and how he wants his future to be. What Mankell has done is written a central character who it is really easy to dislike, and yet... A profoundly self-centred man, Frederick's life has been an odd combination of bravado and running away. He's a faithless lover, a haphazard animal owner, a brilliant surgeon whose arrogance led him to make a profound mistake - which he ran away from. A snoop, a bad-tempered man, a loner who regards the world with suspicion there's an awful lot to dislike about Frederick, and yet, Frederick is very human and his slow, hesitant steps to redemption, recompense, are profoundly touching in the main because of their simple humanity.
Quiet, intense, low key almost ITALIAN SHOES is a beautiful, glorious tale of confrontation, human frailty and redemption.
iamcurie's review against another edition
2.0
Not my kind of literature... Frederik is an old stupid guy. Impression of the first few pages... And never changed throughout the book =/