| Author: |
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Henning Mankell
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| Title: |
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Depths |
| Moochable copies: |
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No copies available |
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| Recommended: |
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| Topics: |
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| Published in: |
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English |
| Binding: |
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Mass Market Paperback |
| Pages: |
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528 |
| Date: |
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2007-10-04 |
| ISBN: |
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0099488655 |
| Publisher: |
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Vintage |
| Weight: |
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0.49 pounds |
| Size: |
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1.26 x 4.33 x 7.01 inches |
| Edition: |
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New edition |
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| Description: |
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Product Description
Crime - It is October 1914: the destroyer Svea emerged from the Stockholm archipelago bearing south-south-east. On board was Lars Tobiasson-Svartman, a naval engineer charged with making depth soundings to find a navigable channel for the Swedish navy. As a child Tobiasson-Svartman was fascinated by measurement; nothing is as magical as exact knowledge. His instinct for his profession is reflected in the comfortable domesticity he enjoys with his wife - herself meticulous in every detail. Close to the waters where soundings are taken Tobiasson-Svartman alights on a barren skerry, presumed uninhabited, and is surprised to discover there a young woman, Sara Fredrika. Despite her almost feral appearance, something about her strikes him to the core. The mission is a success and the Svea returns to Gothenburg. Tobiasson-Svartman, however, remains haunted by this chance encounter; his equilibrium has been disturbed, and he is now compelled to find any pretence to return to the remote islet. In "Depths", Mankell confirms his status as a writer beyond the crime genre. By delving deep into the male psyche, he has produced a novel both as tense and compelling in every way as the "Wallander" series, but also powerful, moving and ultimately tragic.
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| Reviews: |
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June (France) (2011/09/29):
This is pure Henning Mankell. This is unlike any Henning Mankell you have ever read.
I am a huge Mankell fan, but am wary of non-Wallander Mankell. I didn't like the long non-Wallander sections of the White Lioness and was just moderately impressed with the Return of the Dancing Master.
So I stepped into Depths cautiously but was soon blown away. This is a remarkable novel that has a depth to it greater than any of the Wallander novels. It is, in part, a character study, a love story (perverse at that), a gothic novel, a thriller, and almost a horror novel.
Without giving too much away, this is a story about a sailor in the Swedish navy around 1915. He is married, but meets a woman on a remote island. Things get complicated. Very complicated. The protagonist is one of the more reprehensible characters I've ever read, and yet the incredible, harrowing ending made me sympathetic for him. Never before has Mankell so masterfully placed characters in tough situations and lead the reader through such sharp narrative twists and turns.
The sea features heavily in the novel and reminded me more, in many ways, of a Joseph Conrad novel than one of Mankell's crime novels, the depth of character and narrative reminds me of Ian McEwan. This is not a police procedural, but it is very thrilling. It's a novel about the frailty of the human heart, about making wrong choices, about hope and pain. It's pure literature and not only one of Mankell's best novels, but one of the best novels I've read in many, many years.
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| URL: |
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http://bookmooch.com/0099488655 |
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