Book ReviewThe White Lioness, the third in the Kurt Wallander series is perhaps intended as Mankell's most ambitious Wallander novel to date. I say "intended" because on some levels it doesn't succeed as such. I'm a big fan of Wallander: his idiosyncrasies, his anti-authority attitude, his loneliness and faltering family relations - they all evoke a reader's empathy in just the right amounts - but Mankell's ambitions to incorporate in this book a world stage of politics, assassinations, and third person point of views stretching across two continents may have stretched this book beyond the pale of a single mystery novel.This book was published some 20 years since Henning Mankell's first trip to the African continent, a continent he now calls his second home. We write what we know and so it is to be expected that some of Mankell's fondness for Africa would show up in a Wallander book (he has written stand alones that focus on Africa, novels such as A Treacherous Paradise, The Eye of the Leopard, or his Chronicler of the Winds), but the case can be made that as an author just because you know Africa or love its people, it doesn't mean that one should attempt to incorporate it in a Wallander series that takes place far removed from such passions. This can create problems for the author. For example: Kurt Wallander is relatively ignorant of international politics (we know this from reading Dog of Riga). To create a book that focuses on the flammable politics of a nation far removed and place it within a Wallander book can stretch a reader's credulity as it did with me. To circumvent this problem, Mankell created various third person viewpoints that includes allowing the reader to enter the mind of de Klerk, president of South Africa. It didn't work for me. Not when reading a Wallander book.This is not to say that the parts taking place in South Africa didn't evoke interest. Mankell does a good job of outlining the problem and giving some salient plot elements to drive the point home...but in many ways it was a superficial glossing over and served to divide the book so that it became as if I were reading two novels, instead of one. (Reminder to self: read one of Mankell's stand-alones taking place in Africa). The metaphor of the White Lioness concretized by an observation of several very minor characters while on safari works only to a certain degree to accent the issue of apartheid. Did it really drive home the essence of the novel? I didn't think so.On the other hand, I had a few problems with the aspects of this novel that take place in Sweden. I know Wallander despises authority, I know he bucks the system...but to start pointing guns at his colleagues, and to wander into a fog like a lunatic without sufficient cause when the solution is to behave rationally to outsmart a villain? What is the deep underlying cause for this behavior? Lack of sleep? I don't think so, Wallander has never slept well.Having said all of the above and the resultant 3 star rating, I still enjoyed the book. That after all, is the magic of Henning Mankell. To cause us to care about Wallander.-----------------------------------------------------Series ReviewHenning Mankell is an internationally known Swedish crime writer known mostly for this fictional character Kurt Wallander. He is married to Eva Bergman.Henning Mankell - AuthorIt might be said that the fall of communism and the consequent increase in Swedish immigration and asylum seekers has been the engine that drives much of Swedish crime fiction. Mankell's social conscience, his cool attitude towards nationalism and intolerance is largely a result of the writer's commitment to helping the disadvantaged (see his theater work in Africa). In this vein, readers might be interested in his stand-alone novel Kennedy's Brain a thriller set in Africa and inspired by the AIDS epidemic (Mankell often traveled to Africa to help third world populations); or read his The Eye of the Leopard, a haunting novel juxtaposing a man's coming of age in Sweden and his life in Zambia. Mankell's love of Africa, his theater work on that continent, and his exploits in helping the disadvantaged is not generally known by his American readers. In fact, an international news story that has largely gone unnoticed is that while the world watched as Israeli soldiers captured ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade, few people are aware that among the prisoners of the Israelis was one of the world's most successful and acclaimed writers: Henning Mankell. It is no exaggeration when I say that Henning Mankell is by far one of the most successful writers in Scandinavia, especially in his own country of Sweden. The Nordic weather, cold to the bones, drives its populace indoors for much of the year where cuddling up to read the latest in crime fiction is a national pastime.For many GR readers who have been introduced to Kurt Wallander it is interesting to note that ultimately the success of bringing Mankell to English speaking audiences only came after bringing in the same production company responsible for Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy for the wildly popular BBC version starring Kenneth Branagh. Viewers had no problem with an anglicized version of Mankell's work, an English speaking cast set down in a genuine Swedish countryside. Of course, to those fans thoroughly familiar with Mankell's work, it is the Swedish televised version that is found to be a more accurately portrayal of Mankell's novels...not the British, sensationalized version. And there's a reason for that.Henning's prose is straightforward, organized, written mostly in linear fashion, a straightforward contract with the reader. It is largely quantified as police procedural work. The work of men who are dogged and patient to a fault. Kurt Wallander, the hero in Mankell's novels, is the alter ego of his creator: a lonely man, a dogged policeman, a flawed hero, out of shape, suffering from headaches and diabetes, and possessing a scarred soul. Understandably so and if some of the GR reviews are an indication; like his famous father-in-law Ingmar Bergman, Mankell is from a country noted for its Nordic gloom. But before you make the assumption that this is yet another addition to the somberness and darkness that characterizes Nordic writing Mankell often confounds this cliche with guarded optimism and passages crammed with humanity (for Mankell, this is true both personally and professionally as a writer).As Americans we often think of Sweden as possessing an very open attitude towards sex and that this is in marked contrast (or perhaps reprieve) to the somber attitudes of its populace. But this is a view that often confounds Swedish people. The idea of Nordic carnality is notably absent in Mankell's work, as much a statement of its erroneous perception (Swedes do not see themselves as part of any sexual revolution at all) and in the case of Mankell ironic because the film director most responsible for advancing these explicit sexual parameters (for his time) was his own father-in-law the great Ingmar Bergman. In a world where Bergman moves in a universe where characters are dark, violent, extreme and aggressive - take note that the ultimate root of this bloody death and ennui lies in the Norse and Icelandic Viking sagas of Scandinavian history - that dark, somber view ascribed to both Mankell and Bergman's work was often a topic of intense jovial interest between these two artists.For any reader of Nordic crime fiction, Henning Mankell is an immensely popular and staple read.Enjoy!
The White Lioness, by Henning Mankell B-minus.Narrated by Dick Hill, produced by Blackstone audio, downloaded from audible.comThis is the first Mankell book that I’ve been disappointed with. In this book, Wallander and the national police force of Sweden inadvertently become involved in an assassination plot in South Africa. The perpetrators are being trained in Sweden. Wallander’s involvement begins when a man comes into his office and says that his wife, a real estate agent, has disappeared. She was going to look at a house before showing it, and she never came back. After several days, her body was found, with one shot directly in the forehead, execution style. They soon come to believe she was only killed because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but what was really going on?This book was disappointing to me because it was not well organized. The parts involving South Africa were more like education material for the reader. But what was really off was Wallander. It’s clear he was losing it after he was responsible for killing a man. He was extremely depressed and was not acting rationally either in his personal life or in his investigations. What really didn’t work for me here was Wallander’s mood swings, and still being held up as a leader to the rest of the force. The chief, (I can’t remember what he’s really called) has always been shown as somewhat of a buffoon, but Wallander always goes his own way and doesn’t listen to orders given by the chief. In this book he does the same, but his own orders seem even more irrational than usual. I guess it doesn’t seem credible in this book that he would hold the respect he seems to hold by the police and even his enemies. I think it is disappointing that Blackstone has chosen to have Dick Hill narrate the Mankell books. He overacts these books and triesto use what he thinks of as a Scandinavian accented English. It doesnt work.
What do You think about The White Lioness (2003)?
Remember the old commercial for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the US, where two people run into each other and complain about getting "your peanut butter on my chocolate" and vice versa, then discovering the combination was enjoyable? Here Mankell combines two kinds of books, a Nordic police procedural and a South African political assassination thriller. But in my mind, he doesn't match Reese's combinatorial genius. It seems Mankell has taken his cop, Wallander, who I enjoyed in his previous incantations, and made him a bit different - less coffee and sandwiches and more whiskey and craziness in this one. The South African plot seemed like an entirely different story. It was jarring when the scenes changed. I still very much enjoyed Wallander's time on the page, I just wished there was more of it in this one.
—Jay
Published in 1993, this is the third book in the Kurt Wallander series, and the best in my opinion, preceded by-Faceless Killers and The Dogs of Riga. Wallander is a detective inspector in a small city in Sweden. He is divorced, out of shape and experiences waves of self-doubt concerning his abilities as a police officer, father, and son. When Wallander has a case to solve, he is like a dog with a bone. He cannot let it go, and all else goes by the wayside. In this book, he is still reeling from his last case, laid out in the The Dogs of Riga. He would like to begin a relationship with a women he met while on that case, but is gun shy. Suddenly, he must cope with a missing person's case. A female real estate agent is missing, and Wallander's instincts tell him that the case will not end happily. More than half of this book takes place in South Africa, with the political turmoil of Nelson Mandela's rise to power, as the country is on the verge of its first free elections in April of 1994. Markell places Wallander, via the case he is working, in the middle of a complicated plot to assassinate Mandela as he speaks to a huge crowd. How can the missing woman, an explosion at a deserted farm house and the discovery of a unknown black man's amputated finger, found at the explosion scene, all be related? Wallander must unravel an exceptionally puzzling case. Along the way, Mankell offers some insight into the political, social, and cultural powder keg that was apartheid South Africa, in 1994. His epilogue at the back of the book is dated June,1993.It is ironic that as I have been reading this book over the last few days, the news has been filled with reports of Nelson Mandela's ever-worsening illness. At age 94, his countrymen and the world are beginning to realize that this great man is going to be lost to us. But all that he has achieved will remain. I gained some insight into the power struggles between white Afrikaners determined to keep black South Africans bound by the horrific restraints of apartheid, of underground groups within the black population working to end apartheid, and the enormous rift between the two groups and cultures. Notwithstanding a riveting plot, readingThe White Lioness has been enlightening and most worthwhile.
—Laurel
This is another very good Wallander book, the third in the series. The best part of each of these books is Wallander himself. He is a conflicted, insecure jumble doing extraordinary things as a police detective. The writing style is smooth and even and enjoyable.All these Wallander books are nearly 4-star efforts. In White Lioness, the plot is a bit flabby and not very believable in parts. Mankell tries to juggle 3 or 4 different locations and subplots, but only to moderate success. We're in South Africa and Wallander's tiny hometown of Ystad and Stockholm, etc. Also, it's tough to portray famous people and make them seem real. Mankell introduces the President of South Africa, de Klerk, and it's not really very effective.The money is Wallander himself... his quirky, middle-aged response to the chaos that is surrounding him. The description of Wallander and his feelings and failings ring true, and it's why I'll cue up Wallander #4 after I'm done with this review.My internal comparison between Wallander and Mitch Rapp runs continuously in the background. Wallander is everyman. Rapp is superman. Wallander is depressed by the violence he encounters, Mitch Rapp revels in it. Can you imagine Mitch Rapp not knowing how some weapon works? No way!QOTD The man nodded. "I brought this shotgun," he said. Wallander hesitated for a moment. "Show me how it works," he said. "I know next to nothing about shotguns." - The White Lioness Good read.yow, bill
—Bill Krieger
