Tea-Bag

by Henning Mankell, Verena Reichel (Übersetzung)

Jesper Humlin, Lyriker und Schöngeist, macht sich Sorgen: Sein Verleger verlangt nach dem Bestsellerkrimi, seine Freundin will ein Kind von ihm und die 87-jährige Mutter bessert ihr Konto mit Telefonsex auf. Da treten Tea-Bag, Leyla und Tatjana in sein Leben und wollen zu Schriftstellerinnen ausgebildet werden. Humlin wird mit der Realität der Flüchtlinge konfrontiert und fasst den Entschluss, den drei Frauen sein nächstes Buch zu widmen ...

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary, Roman, Scandinavian Literature, Thriller, Sweden

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Henning Mankell was an internationally known Swedish crime writer, children's author and playwright. He was best known for his literary character Kurt Wallander.

Mankell split his time between Sweden and Mozambique. He was married to Eva Bergman, Swedish director and daughter of Ingmar Bergman.

Reviews

[Amy Warrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Mankell, what did you WANT? Did you want to write something satirical about the growth in the crime book industry? (Because if you did, you kind of got close, and what you did write is pretty funny at times.) Did you want to write a moving portrait of the plight of Sweden's illegal immigrants? (Because if you did, a non-fiction book might have been more effective. Read 'Beyond the Beautiful Forevers' for an example of how to write about desperate peeps without becoming maudlin or clinical. Not that you got maudlin or clinical; you didn't...you just didn't tell me a whole lot other than it IS AN ISSUE.)

I wait to be enlightened. What you did write was one well-written mess, without a completely drawn character in sight.

[Junying · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book this is! Another classic Mankell which I hope will be read and loved by many more people.

On several occasions I was laughing out loud while reading it during my holiday in Madeira, as well as on the plane - I got a few curious glances from people but I did not care! There was so much humour, whether intended or not, that I just burst out laughing!

I also cried, on a couple of occasions, especially at the very end. A very touching story about immigrants - it inevitably reminded me of my own 'Land of Hope', which also dealt with similar issues.

A compelling read, beautifully written by a master story-teller. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

[Nahree · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book opens with a young Nigerian woman who has survived a shipwreck and is herded into a refugee camp. Out of desperation to escape, she (unsuccessfully) impersonates a Kurd and gives herself the English name, "Tea-Bag" after spotting the tin sitting on the official's desk. I loved her confidence and gutsiness despite her circumstances.

It goes downhill from there.

Cut scene to Jesper Humlin - a poet returning from his vacation research trip and is back in Sweden to enjoy reality and deal with a whole crew of annoying "friends and family". I was annoyed by his whining and helplessness from being tugged around his headstrong and demanding relationships. There's his demanding mother Märta, who guilt-trips him about not talking to her enough even though he has dinner with her every week without fail. There's his angry girlfriend Andrea who wants a kid a.s.a.p. and pulls out the "omg that's it, I'm breaking up with you this time. For serious. I mean it! Really, I mean it!"-card every other phone call. There's his pushy editor who wants him to forget poetry and hop on the crime-fiction bandwagon (a shout-out to Mankell's Wallander Series), who actually goes ahead to push a false tagline, press releases, and title because he's such a "good friend" and is looking out for him. Finally, there is his friend Tørnblom and three illegal immigrant girls that pull him into doing a writing seminar to teach them how to express themselves and write stories about how they came to Sweden. (leading you back to Tea-Bag's story)

Despite the fact that I hated Jesper the whiny, tired, self-important sucker, the plot sounded very promising and I continued reading because it was the "shadow girls" that got to me. I was hoping this would one of those inspirational books where the stuck-up protagonist is absolutely detestable in the beginning but then redeems himself when his eyes are opened to the plight of these girls. NOPE. The pathetic, manipulated man turns around and becomes the manipulator, hearing their stories and attempting to poach them for his own writing material. He calls them "shadow girls" and through his selfish actions, forces them to flee back into the shadows. I turned the last page in disbelief, hoping that there was some redeeming quality to this sad, sad man. My hopes were dashed.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the usual Mankell fare and a story about Sweden’s hidden illegal immigrants. Jesper Humlin is a mediocre narcissistic poet. His life is centered around him. His long suffering girlfriend Andrea wants a baby and delivers him several ultimatums of baby or she is gone. His publisher wants him to write a crime novel. Then he meets three immigrant girls. Teabag from Nigeria. Tanya from Estonia. Leyla from Iran.

The girls each tell him their harrowing stories and Jesper changes his attitude. His elderly curmudgeonly mother is entertaining with her zest for life. There are comical moments throughout the novel as well as the heartbreaking stories of the girls and their journeys to Sweden. However, the ending is disappointing with nothing resolved. I think the story was one written to highlight the plight of faceless immigrants in Sweden. A story about social consciousness.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mankell's social conscience at work here. A strange but interesting book about a pretentious, pompous Swedish poet and three immigrant women who rock his world. Jesper Humlin is the poet and he's a vain jerk and a racist in denial. He writes books no one buys or understands, is consumed about his tan, and fears his lover and mother will write books and get more fame than him. His publisher is even more of a jerk. There are many humorous and exasperating exchanges between them over his next literary project. But the real focus of the book is not Jesper but the three immigrant women who cross into his path. We have two illegals: a Russian and an African and then there is an Iranian born in Sweden. They are all free and independent types who lie, steal, and will do whatever it takes to have freedom and escape control of family or the state. You're never quite sure where this book is headed. Humlin starts a writing seminar for the girls but there are many cultural collisions during the collaboration of this project. You know he is going to get these girls to tell their stories and then steal them or is he? Will he have a transformation? Will he wake up and be a real person and not a phoney? Well, the ending just ends. Really not much of an ending but it was an enlightening and entertaining read that leaves you thinking about people who live in the shadows.

[Bonnie McCune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mankell is often categorized as a crime writer, but this novel, although it contains some undocumented, and thus illegal, visitors in Sweden, is primarily about the human condition. Protagonist Jesper Humlin is writer of poetry, and poets communicate, right? Wrong. Humlin and every other character fail to convey their thoughts and feelings, understandable when some are non-native Swedish speakers, bewildering when his mother, publisher, stock broker, and other friends also seem to be talking only to themselves. Faced with the challenge of conveying the appalling stories of the three women, or helping them to do so, Humlin finally turns from poetry to narration. And as Humlin wanders from place to place seeking solutions on behalf of the women, rather like Diogenes searching for an honest man, the author manages to bring humor to the situation. Mankell exposes readers to a side of society becoming common across the globe, although many are unaware of it. This is a first-rate novel with no conditions or exceptions.

[Beth Bruder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this in the Franfurt airport after the Book Fair expecting a Wallander novel but was pleasantly suprised at this revealing look into the lives of three immigrant women refugees in Sweden and their strufggle to survive. Not the usual Henning Mankell stuff but was beautifully written to reveal three girls harsh stories about surviving in Sweden.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shadow Girls by Henning Mankell is a fictional account about Jesper Humlin, a Swedish poet of moderate acclaim who is dealing with underwhelming book sales, an exasperated girlfriend, a demanding mother, and a rapidly fading tan. His boy-wonder stockbroker has squandered Humlin’s investments, and his editor, who says he must write a crime novel to survive, begins to pitch and promote the nonexistent book despite Humlin’s emphatic refusal to work on it. Then, when he travels to Gothenburg to give a reading, he finds himself in an entirely different world of immigrants, legal, illegal,and in between, whose names shift, stories overlap, and histories are both deeply secret and in profound need of retelling. The book centers on his dealings with three such characters: Leyla from Iran, Tanya from Russia, and Tea-Bag, who is from Africa but claims to be from Kurdistan (because Kurds might receive preferential treatment as refugees)—these are the shadow girls who become Humlin’s unlikely pupils in impromptu writing workshops. Though he had imagined their stories as fodder for writing his own book, soon their intertwining lives require him to play a much different role. I found the writing to be rather engaging as Humlin tries to get details from these Shadow Girls who are by nature suspicious and secretive due to how they have been mistreated in their lives.

[Rebecca Stonehill · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting themes and characters but I felt this book never amounted to what it could have - and intended to.

[Sofia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dos piores livros que li nos últimos tempos. Nem o tom satírico, nem os momentos de absurdo, salvam um livro que tinha potencial para ser muito mais.

[Lukas Rupp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nicht so wirklich mein Geschmack. Viele langweilige und nervige Wiederholungen, sodass man während dem Lesen nicht wirklich in Fahrt kommt. Das Buch hätte man in 100 Seiten schreiben können. Was die drei Flüchtlinge erzählten, war spannend und geht einem Nahe, aber wie die Geschichte rund um den Protagonisten Jesper Humlin erzählt wurde, finde ich ziemlich schwach. Ich weiss nicht wieviel es auch an der Übersetzung liegt, aber auch der Sprachstil hat mich gar nicht angesprochen.

So richtig gepackt hat mich das Buch leider erst auf der letzten Seite, dessen Auszug ich gerne teilen möchte:

… „Ich weiss, dass diese Brücke, die wir alle zu sehen meinen, als wir am Strand am nördlichsten Punkt von Afrika standen, dem Kontinent, von dem wir flohen und um den wir schon trauerten, ich weiss, dass diese Brücke gebaut werden wird. Denn so hoch wird der Berg von zusammengepressten Leichen auf dem Boden des Meeres einmal werden, das versichere ich dir, dass der Gipfel sich wie ein neues Land aus dem Meer erheben wird, und das Fundament aus Schädeln und Rippen wird die Brücke zwischen den Kontinenten schlagen, die keine Wächter, keine Hunde, keine betrunkenen Seeleute, keine Menschenschmuggler werden niederreisen können.“ …

[Maria João Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Estava sozinha e fazia todos os possíveis para não pensar que essa solidão teria um fim, pois sabia que iria acompanha-lá durante um período de tempo que podia ser extremamente longo."

Henning Mankell conta histórias que ficam connosco, não só pelas suas personagens de personalidade forte, mas também pelos temas importantes que partilha connosco, deixando-nos espreitar o seu leque de valores. Esta é uma história sobre as pessoas que não tem vozes e Tea-Bag é a rapariga que lhe dá início.

"O que é que se pode dizer sobre o quotidiano que seja digno de consideração, excepto o facto de ser aborrecido?"

Jesper Humlin, um poeta relativamente conhecido, recebe uma ordem, disfarçada de sugestão, do seu editor. O editor, obeso e fumador assíduo, pede, da forma menos subtil e mais evidente, a entrega de um romance policial. Apesar da recusa e indignação do poeta, a editora publicita e anuncia o livro que está a escrever mas que nunca será escrito. Ao mesmo tempo, a namorada controladora, o inimigo concorrente com quem se encontra mensalmente, o seu corretor de bolsa milionário e a sua mãe que nunca se deita antes do sol nascer anunciam que estão a escrever o mesmo género de livro que ele devia estar a escrever: um romance policial!

"Antigamente era costume perguntar às pessoas como estavam. Hoje em dia, pergunta-se onde estão."

Ao ver-se rodeado de um pequeno grupo de imigrantes, Jesper Humlin assume a missão de dar voz àqueles que não a têm. O tema pode não ser novo, mas a forma como Henning Mankell o aborda é, definitivamente, única. O autor sueco junta situações divertidas e diálogos com humor a passagens profundas e reflexões intimas.

"Nesta vida há muito poucas coisas que estejam bem."

Para além da importância das histórias que contam a Jesper Humlin, que faz parte da história que estamos a ler, Mankell proporciona vários momentos da vida do protagonista: a relação atribulada com a mãe, os atriburos com a namorada que insiste em ter filhos, a incapacidade de comunicar com o seu corretor de bolsa, a personalidade peculiar do seu editor, que parece nunca o ouvir e a inimizade com um inimigo e concorrente literário, com quem se encontra há vários anos.

"Acho que a liberdade, se é que existe, implica sempre um risco, uma vida cheia de perigos, onde se é perseguido e é preciso fugir constantemente."

Henning Mankell destaca-se em qualquer género que se propõem a escrever. "Tea-Bag" é, simultaneamente, o romance mais triste e divertido que já li.

"Preciso de ouvir mais alguém para além de mim mesma. Tenho a cabeça cheia das minhas próprias palavras. Andam às voltas cá dentro, a voar como borboletas de quem ninguém gosta."

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt this was the most unsatisfactory of all Mankell's novels that I've read. Of his "non Wallander" novels I really liked one (The man from Beijing) and found another a bit odd but interesting (xxx). But "The shadow girls" deeply irritated me. I think he was trying to show that the worries and concerns of people from rich countries are trivial compared to the terrible circumstances of illegal refugees from Africa and Asia. While I have a lot of sympathy for that point of view, Mankell created the most idiotic set of Swedish characters who all seemed totally self-centred and lacking in any responsibility for their lives. Yes, they did contrast with the refugee characters, but to me they were just silly stereotypes. Even when the main character tried to do the "right" thing by the refugees, he did it in a mindless, meaningless way. I had no interest or sympathy for the Swedish characters. So the only part of the story I was interested in was the part dealing with the refugees.

[Stefaan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Het boek gaat overal en nergens heen, en mogelijk is dat juist de bedoeling. Net als de vluchteling komt het niet thuis, kan het geen aansluiting vinden bij de massa, beweegt het zich in de schemerzone van een verhaal, en dan toch weer niet.... Je leest, je legt weg...je denkt nu gaat het komen, maar het komt niet. Het is een onmoeting met meisjes, jonge vrouwen uit verre landen die elk met hun rugzak gevuld met leed, geloof, cultuur, ervaring... op zoek zijn naar een luisterend oor binnen de Zweedse samenleving. Die luisteraar vinden ze terug in de persoon van een vertwijfelde dichter die vluchteling is voor zijn eigen bestaan en een moeilijke relatie met zijn omgeving heeft.
Er waren momenten dat ik dacht, ik stop er mee, ik lees niet verder, maar na een bladzijde een paar keer herkauwd te hebben, slikte ik door en draaide ik de volgende pagina om. De kracht van het boek lag bij mij nog eerder in het gevoeld dat het overbracht ...dit moet een vluchteling van onze "vrije" samenleving denken, voelen..dan in de kracht van het verhaal zelf.

[Phyllis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is so terribly, terribly earnest, I just wish it had been a lot more interesting. There's really no plot as such. A Swedish poet is in a quandary about his life and accidentally ends up trying to help three illegal aliens. Turns out (SPOILER ALERT?) he's not necessarily any better at this than anything else in his life.

None of the characters are innately interesting. All of the aliens do have (SPOILER ALERT) horrible back stories of abuse. None of them have found a real life in Sweden and it's pretty likely that none of them ever will. It is sad and it is tragic. But it's not really worth rereading.

[Ivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

An unbearably boring and nombrilistic book to the point to be unreadable. If you want to waste your time, you're welcome, but this is beyond social satyre - it's just dumb and I have a strong suspicion that all the a-hole personalities are, in reality, a dissociative Henning Mankell writing about himself there.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mankell begins this incredibly powerful book by introducing the reader to Tea Bag, a young woman living--if one can call it that--in a refugee camp in Spain. By age, she's more girl than woman, but her life experiences have forced on her a wisdom and maturity many adults never achieve. Then there is a jump to Jester Humlin, a critically successful poet whose books don't sell. We readers spend a lot of time with Humlin, perhaps wondering if this book is a comedy rather than a serious novel of refugees. Humlin is such a wimp that he can't tell his girlfriend he doesn't want to have a child; he lets his elderly mother force him to visit her at midnight--plying him with wine and food he doesn't want; his editor not only decides he should write a crime novel, but begins a publicity campaign for it, despite Humlin's protestations that he will not write it; his investment advisor leads him into financial ruin and, though not stated, presumably small children bully him in the street. Then he meets Tea Bag and slowly but surely becomes personally and deeply involved with helping three young refugees tell their stories. As he comes to know Sweden's new immigrant community, the novel becomes much more serious, as does Humlin. Oh, he bumbles and fumbles as often as not. Yet he can't walk away. As the story progresses, the three young women share their stories--clearly and poetically--and Humlin becomes a changed man, as he discovers what really matters to him and finds the strength to pursue it (still fumbling, of course; he's learning, not suddenly accomplished). Mankell's characters and their lives are incredible; you can't not care about them. You know they're real, long before reaching the afterword.

[Mauro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una desilusion. Estoy tratando de conseguir todos los libros de MAnkell porque es un autor que me interesa. Es un gra narrador, y eso hace que sus novelas sean agiles. pero esta vez siento que el argumento es muy desordenado.
Trata sobre un escritor, un poeta mas precisamente, que esta en crisis porque en su vida su mujer lo apura porque quiere hijos, su madre tiene una vida mas aventurera que la de el, y en su trabajo la editorial lo presiona para que escriba un policial que es lo que mas vende. A esto se suman los problemas propios de su edad (unos 40 años).
Casi de casualidad conoce a unas jovenes inmigrantes que le muestran su mundo y el se siente intrigado porque es un aspecto de Suecia que el no conocia ni sospechaba.
Entiendo que Mankell quiera mostrar el drama de los inmigrantes no solo en Suecia, sino en todo Europa. De hecho, al principio aclara que por lo menos 2 de estas chicas existen, el las conoció, pero esta todo tan mezclado que mas que compasion por los inmigrantes me dio casi gracia, como si esto fuera una comedia de enredos. Por momentos parece una comedia de los hermanos Marx pero sin el humor inteligente.
Mas alla del protagonista que tiene tintes autobiograficos, ningun personaje es verosimil, ni el titulo de novela da una pista, la chica que se hace llamar Tea Bag es un personaje tan plano como todos los demas. La madre (que aporta un poco de ironia) y la mujer que quiere quedar embarazada me terminan cayendo mal, no logro empatizar con nada de lo que cuenta aca. Es la novela mas floja que lei de Makell hasta ahora.

[Mish Middelmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary bridge into the world of illegal immigrants in Europe. Mankell's own life experience (spread across Europe and Africa) enables him to write with passion and compassion for migrants. He helped me get into the awful world of illegal immigrants in a way that didn't pull punches about their pain yet left them empowered even in the most hopeless situations.

I didn't like the book at all at first. It opens into a dystopian Sweden, and the dysfunctional life of an unsuccessful Swedish poet. Everything seems rather meaningless, and you might say the poet has lost his identity, while his life and that of his girlfriend and his mother (who is a phone sex operator) are absurd.

Into this world of displacement, lost identity and hopelessness come the immigrants whose displacement, lost identity and hopelessness are exponentially greater by all measures than those of the Swedes in the story.

Ultimately Mankell helps us connect with both the common humanity of all these characters, and the extraordinary ugly reality of oppression, desperate flight and unwelcome landing experienced by so many migrants in this world.

[Minty McBunny · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read and enjoyed all of the Wallander books, I absolutely loved his last stand alone novel and I was delighted to see one I hadn't read in my library's catalog.

Until I read it. Or tried to. What on earth? It's horrible.

My son is at the stage in school where he has to figure out the author's intent when writing a story. I've been helping him, and it's pretty easy. Not in this case. I'm stumped. Was it supposed to be satire? It wasn't funny. Social commentary? Not relevant or insightful, quite the opposite. Really really a disaster & I have no idea what he hoped to accomplish with it.

[Haaike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best wel een goed boek. De combinatie van de pretentieuze schrijver en de meisjes op de vlucht (Tea-Bag, Tanja en Leyla) werkt goed, al zijn het vooral de verhalen van die laatste die dit boek de moeite waard maken. De schrijver voelt iets te cliché als personage en zijn belevenissen/beslommeringen met o.a. zijn vriendin en zijn uitgever zijn in het begin wel grappig, maar steken na een tijdje wat tegen (bijvoorbeeld dat Mankell als misdaadschrijver dat genre op de korrel neemt). Al bij al een ontspannend boek om even in weg te duiken met toch net dat tikkeltje meer door de 13 jaar na publicatie meer dan ooit actuele vluchtelingenproblematiek.

[Paul Servini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quel joyaux. Un poète découvre le monde de ténèbres des réfugiés et finit par les reconnaître en tant qu'individus, chacun avec leur propre histoire. Peut-être le centre du livre ce ne sont pas les histoires des filles, mais son propre histoire à lui.


What a little jewel. A poet discovers the underworld existence of a group of refugees and as he penetrates their existence he begins to see them as real persons, each with their own story. Perhaps the key to this book is not what happens to the girls, but what happens to him.

[Marissa Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout his crime-writing career, Mankell often highlighted the misfortunes of refugees to Sweden. In this novel, Mankell's protagonist is a writer who struggles with telling refugees' stories while also coming up with a marketable plot. The writer's utter disdain for crime fiction (combined with seemingly everyone else's thirst for that genre) proves hilarious. There's enough humor here to balance out the very sad stories of the refugees.

I was surprised by Mankell's ability to be funny and also oh-so-happy to be once again reading his idiosyncratic sentences.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has taken me several days to write this review. This book left me both hot and cold in my feelings of it. I liked the premise of the storyline, but didn't like the story. Instead of it being a book on the tragedy of refugee camps and illegal immigration, it became some bizarre soap opera of this author.

[Bunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Count me in with those who enjoyed this side of Mankell. In these days of trying to pass serious legislation on immigration, it was a timely read on the plight of immigrants around the world trying to get to a better life. I listened to this as an audiobook.

[فریبا ارجمند · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend of mine, who has been living in Sweden for the past forty years, told me once that in Sweden attempting to write a crime novel is like attempting to write a poem in Iran. So, it's not strange that we read so much about every other person planning to write one. The main character of the book however is a poet, and despite being under pressure by his publisher refuses to write a crime novel. Instead, in a slow process that has been forced on him by an old friend, he decides to write the story of three girls who are in Sweden either illegally, or are part of an oppressive family. This could somehow be called a "crime against humanity" novel. Quite different from other books I have read from this author.
The black girl and the eastern European girl are illegal residents, trying hard to make ends meet and to avoid deportation. The third is Iranian. From a family that has left Iran to live in freedom but still forces the daughters into unwanted marriages and chaperones them all the time.
I know that Europeans like to see people of other cultures as exotic creatures. In this book, the black girl has somewhat magical powers and the eastern European is very beautiful and has fled from a brothel into which she had been tricked by human traffickers.
The Iranian girl has come to Sweden with her family. She is fat and ugly (not my words) and her family watches her every move like a hawk.
The girl dreams of writing to her grandmother and tell her about snow! (Seriously? We don't have snow in Iran?)
I know that here in Iran we have honour killings, forced marriages and child brides, but people who do such things do not flee the country. Where can they go better than Iran? Where the government turns a blind eye on these practices?
At the end of the book the author says that all these girls, including Leila (the Iranian) are real. But Leila's family sounds more like an Afghan or Iraqi family, not an Iranian expatriate one.
According to Wikipedia:
There are approximately 63,828 people born in Iran living in Sweden today, as well as 28,600 people born in Sweden with at least one parent born in Iran. They are one of Sweden's largest immigrant groups, accounting for about 1.7% of the population.

The very first wave of Iranian refugees consisted of 5,000 Iranian refugees who fled to Sweden in 1979-1980. Most of them were middle-aged, middle-class Pahlavi supporters who were opposing the revolution. When the Iran-Iraq War broke out in 1980, almost 20,000 Iranian citizens found asylum in Sweden. Second generation Iranian Swedes are well-represented in higher education and in some well paying professions like dentistry and engineering.

About 60% percent of Swedish Iranians go on to higher education – more than the Swedish average (45%). Iranian culture with its emphasis on education may be part of the reason for this. Becoming an engineer or a doctor is a mantra in many families. Abundantly represented minorities amongst the Swedish Iranians, like in other Iranian diaspora nations are Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Armenians and Assyrians.
So, I'm asking the author:
Is Leila a typical Iranian immigrant? I don't think so. As I said, families like Leila's cannot find a place that suits them better than Iran under the current regime.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

A colleague recommended this book and it sat on my bookshelf for over a year.....because the fear with a book that is recommended is that you will not enjoy or it will alarm you about your acquaintance's preferences....which was the case with this book. I hated it. Read the first 1/3 looking for what was good....and dragged my feet through the last 1/3 just wanting to get it over with.
There was nothing wrong with the writing--- that part was fine, enjoyable, even--- so we cannot blame the translation. My issue with the book was the main character, not only was he unlikeable--- but he was also unrealistic. No one in his life listened to what he said or what he wanted--- everyone spoke over him, did as they pleased and ignored his plans/thoughts. I found it aggravating and wanted to throttle him.
Humlin (main character) is a poet who has a pretty blah life. He crosses paths with 3 immigrants (2 are "illegal") in Sweden and decides to help them find their voices through writing--- or does he help them because he is forced to.... or because he wants to put their lives into a book? He follows them about, trying to get them to tell their stories and hears tidbits and parts and learns to care for this group he'd never really thought of before. Tea Bag, Tanya (or is it Irina....or...?) and Leila are all neglected parts of society that Humlin is forced to understand when he finds himself crossing paths with them numerous times. Meanwhile--- his girlfriend wants a child, his mother is working as a phone sex operator, his financial guy can't tell him where his investments are and his book editor has him writig a crime novel.

Read if you enjoy hating the main character.

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2021: A book with something broken on the cover

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s an odd book. The purpose of this didactic work is to tell the story of illegal immigrants and thereby increase public awareness of their plight and perhaps of the restrictive immigration policies of European countries, Sweden in particular. I wonder why it took eleven years to be translated into English and published in the United States. We certainly have our own problems with the treatment of illegal immigrants. It’s a well-crafted novel. Humlin, the central character, and those around him are made to appear ridiculous, totally preoccupied with their own petty problems and unaware of the plight of immigrants, whose goal is “to become visible” (p. 145), although they are protected by their invisibility. The first portion of the novel deals with Humlin’s own efforts – and the efforts of those around him – to gain greater visibility by the standards of the society. The vehicle suggested is to write a crime novel. Humlin’s publisher suggests that he do so, although he refuses even as the company starts a publicity campaign about a novel which doesn’t exist; his mother claims she is writing one; his rival claims to be writing one; his girlfriend claims to be writing a tell all novel. Humlin is afraid that they might be more skilled than he, thus taking the spotlight, no matter how small, away from him. It’s absurdist literature at its best and funniest. The main theme is “there are few things that make any sense in this life”(p. 165), and Humlin’s world becomes ever more absurd, especially after his encounter with a world which he did not know existed, an underworld of people who “don’t exist.” The people in Humlin’s normal world, of course, take their own existence for granted, just as the illegal immigrants depend on their non-existence for survival.

When Humlin becomes involved with some immigrant girls (one legal, two illegal), his perspective begins to change. “He then thought that Sweden had turned into a country he really knew very little about” (p. 175); indeed a friend tells him “’Life isn’t what you think it is, Humlin . . . [you think] this is essentially a peaceful and harmonious country'” (p. 233). Writing a crime novel is the route to greater visibility (financial reward) envisioned by Humlin’s associates. The girls envision learning to write so they can tell their stories, and Humlin coaxes each of them, partially through a “writing seminar” he conducts, to tell her story. The stories, the heart of the novel, however, are composites, many stories crammed into the tales of these girls. The reader senses that even with the stories told, all will return to the status quo. The girls disappear, leaving Humlin with only an idea in which no one is interested and in which he will soon lose interest because it is not a visible part of his world. The immigrants are invisible to others.

Although absurdist literature, the plight of the girls is painful to the reader. Mankell’s novel is an effective medium because it tries to compress many stories into one, demonstrating to the reader that “there are few things that make any sense in this life” (p. 115) and that the ultimate absurdity of the world of invisibility taken on by the immigrants is that “ . . . it is harder to get rid of a person without papers than if one still had a name, an identity.” To exist, one must not exist. Humlin never understands that they cannot exist publicly. This is Mankell’s protest. Perhaps we can learn by laughing at our own absurdities.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is NOT a Kurt Wallander book. It is important to remember this to enjoy this book, which is quite different from the Wallander mysteries.

And enjoy it I did. Our protagonist is a poet, a published poet who seems to actually be living off his poetry, e is fairly self centered and has some worries about remaining a published poet when his publisher decides he really needs to, no must publish a crime story. He doesn't want to write a crime novel, even though virtually everyone he knows, including his mother and girlfriend, seem to be writing crime novels.

Instead of a book reading, poetry reading, he finds himself at a writing workshop where he meets 3 women who are illegal immigrants and despite his best efforts to avoid them, their families and actually conducting a writing workshop he finds himself being drawn into their stories. And those stories, as well as the women's names, seem to be very flexible which compels him to continue trying to seek out the truth about their lives, before they came to Sweden, how they got there, and what is life like for them in Sweden.

In addition to the illegal immigration theme I also, again, found myself pondering the message of which is truer, what actually happens or the stories told about what happened. Which best captures the essence of what the storyteller is trying to tell us? I also quite enjoyed the constant reference to crime novels. Probably my favorite line, and sorry I can't quote it, the book was overdue, was the moment he is speaking to a colleague about the idea of writing about these women and immigration. The colleague (not his publisher unfortunately) thinks it's a great idea and say he was surprised to hear about the crime novel, didn't seem like his type of thing after all. Our poet reiterates that he is NOT going to write a crime novel. His colleague then wonders what is happening to Swedish literature as everyone else sure seems to be writing thriller and crime fiction.

My book group didn't bite but I recommend this to Mankell fans with the caveat that this is a different Mankell.

[Flo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a different type of book for Henning Mankell whose detective hero, Wallender, comes across as a dour, sad man. The Shadow Girls begins with the story of Tea-bag, a refugee, running away from her native home in Africa to the Promised Land of Sweden where she is sure she will be accepted. Of course, she is not. The subject matter is not surprising since Mankell is known for his support of the downtrodden--even to joining an illegal flotilla of ships trying to crash the blockade of Gaza set in place by the Israelis because of contraband shipping of armament. He is also very involved in working with native Africans.

Suddenly the whole tone of the novel changes from serious life altering problems to comedy. We jump with hardly a breathing space to the protagonist of The Shadow Girls, an erstwhile poet, Jesper Humlin, whose slim books of poetry are not selling and whose agent wants him to write a blockbuster crime novel. Humlin's agent doesn't listen to a word Humlin says as he refuses. Actually, no one listens to him: not his agent, not his financial adviser, not his mother, not his girlfriend who is only interested in getting him to commit himself to beginning a family. And everyone seems to be planning to write a crime novel. Moreover,they all sound alike,even the school friend he contacts who puts him in touch with other "shadow" girls. Mankell does return to the illegal girls; their stories are woven into the endeavors of Humlin to make sense of all this, countering requests for a crime novel with a possible new book in which he will tell of their plight.

In the beginning this is funny; you smile, then laugh. It's very un-Wallenderish. But, these conversations goes on and on and on so what was funny in the beginning begins to get boring by mid-book. For the first time in a Henning Menkell book, I found myself skipping repetitive conversations between these characters, to the stories of the illegal refugees, then flipping to the end where nothing is resolved except Humlin's plan to write a book about The Shadow Girls. That said, I read this together with my husband, who liked it a lot.