Människohamn
by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Swedish
451 pages
Ordfront
ISBN: 978-91-7037-373-2

First line: Välkommen till Domarö.

Back cover blurb:
“Pappa, vad är det där? PÃ¥ isen?”
Det är en strålande vinterdag. Högst upp i Gåvastens fyr står Anders med sin sexåriga dotter Maja. Isen ligger snötäckt så långt ögat kan nå och Anders kan inte se något speciellt där hans dotter pekar.
Maja går för att undersöka och fem minuter senare börjar mardrömmen. Trots att det inte finns någonstans där Maja kan försvinna, är det just det som händer. Hon försvinner. Spårlöst. Anders och hans hustru Cecilia har inte längre något barn.
Det lyckliga livet på ön Domarö i Roslagens skärgård är slut. Bara förtvivlan och skilsmässa återstår.
Ett par år senare återvänder Anders till ön, nersupen och deprimerad men fast besluten att leva. Då nås han av ett meddelande som tänder ett vansinnigt hopp: Maja finns ännu i världen, på en plats där han inte kan nå henne.
Ett sökande tar sin början. Det kommer att föra Anders till Domarös hemlighållna förflutna, mot havets mörka hjärta. Genom avgrunden måste han gå för att finna den han älskar. Om det nu verkligen är hon.
En mopedmotor hörs i skogen om nätterna. Brevlådor vandaliseras och hus brinner. Havet kastar sig mot klipporna. Någon hatar oss.

Thoughts: Människohamn is Ajvide Lindqvist’s most recent novel and as I’ve liked his previous books a whole lot, I pretty much had to go out and get this as soon as I could when it was out.

On the whole, it’s a good book, but I felt that the ending was a bit lacking (endings are, to be honest, not Ajvide Lindqvist’s forte) and so it doesn’t reach the same heights as LÃ¥t den rätte komma in (his first novel, now available in English as Let the Right One In — read it) did.

Människohamn does have its moments, though. I’m thinking, of course, of the Smiths-quoting ghosts. It’s impossible not to feel utter glee at them. Well, it’s impossible if your name is Love and you happen to be a big Smiths/Morrissey fan…

När sommaren kom stod det klart att Henrik och Björn hade hittat sin grej. Meat is murder [sic] hade kommit några månader tidigare och Anders tyckte att var en helt okej skiva, men inte som Hatful of hollow [sic]. Henrik och Björn tyckte annorlunda. De kunde varenda textrad på skivan och båda hade blivit vegetarianer, möjligen de första någonsin på Domarö.

That John Ajvide Lindqvist is a big Morrissey fan is a fact well-known to those who know it well¹, and the title of his first novel is actually taken from a song written by Morrissey. It bothers me slightly that the English title of that book isn’t quite what it should be (Let the Right One Slip In), but I guess you can’t have it all.

Människohamn is a decent book, but not scary, which was both quite nice (as it didn’t keep me from falling asleep) and quite disappointing (I was expecting to be scared). I’m giving it a C, which would have been a higher grade if the ending had been better and the rest of the book hadn’t had quite so many passages that didn’t really move the story forward.

1. Cookies to the person who can tell me who I stole that phrase from.

En liten chock
by Johanna Lindbäck

Swedish
272 pages
Tiden
ISBN: 978-91-85243-98-3

First line: Han ansträngde sig inte direkt för att komma i tid, det kan man inte säga.

Back cover blurb:
Gustav hoppades på tre saker när han började gymnasiet:

1. En flickvän, eller en tillfällig tjej att ha sex med, åtminstone en gång.
2. En massa nya kompisar med samma intressen som han, det vill säga inte sport.
3. En ny personlighet.

Nu är det bara ett par mÃ¥nader kvar till studenten och Gustav har nästan gett upp hoppet. Men sÃ¥ bildar han och Elin i klassen en pakt. De ska göra nÃ¥got oväntat—nÃ¥got som gör dem mindre missnöjda med varandra och sina förutsägbara liv. NÃ¥got som gör att de slipper dö av tristess och leda.
Det drar ihop sig till en liten chock…

Thoughts: This was a decent little YA read. Most of the reason I liked it as much as I did (not more than a C rating, though) is because it’s set in UmeÃ¥, which is where I studied at university, so I know the city. It’s always neat to have places you are familiar with appear in fiction.

Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad

For the Decades ’08 reading challenge (first published 1902).

English
111 pages
a Project Gutenberg e-book

First line: The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest.

Back cover blurb:
In this tale of colonial exploitation, the narrator, Marlowe, journeys deep into the heart of Africa. But there he encounters Kurtz, an idealist apparently crazed and depraved by his power over the natives, and the meeting prompts Marlowe to reflect on the darkness at the heart of all men.
This text refers to an edition other than the one I read.

Thoughts: I’ve heard this book mentioned again and again, and I’ve always sort of meant to read it, but I’ve never really known anything about it except the title.

This afternoon I took the time to read it and it was an interesting story. Very dark, but I should maybe have clued into that from the title, had I not been a complete idiot. I did find the narrative a little hard to follow at times, but I’m not sure how much that had to do with the format I read it in (e-book), and how much it was due to the actual writing.

Heart of Darkness receives a C rating. It was an okay read, but I had some issues with the flow of narrative, and at times I was made exceedingly uncomfortable by the blatant racism. It’s true that it was written over a hundred years ago, when racism was more accepted, but I’m reading it now, with 21st century sensitivities, and of course that’s going to colour my reading experience.

Doctor Who: I Am a Dalek
by Gareth Roberts

English
106 pages
BBC Books
ISBN: 0-563-48648-1

First line: Rose checked the seal on her space helmet, then she looked across the TARDIS controls to the Doctor.

Back cover blurb:
Equipped with space suits, golf clubs and a flag, the Doctor and Rose are planning to live it up on the Moon, Apollo-mission style. But the TARDIS has other plans, landing them instead in a village on the south coast of England; a picture-postcard sort of place where nothing much happens… until now.

Archaeologists have dug up a Roman mosaic, dating from the year 70 AD. It shows scenes from ancient myths, bunches of grapes—and a Dalek. A few days later a young woman, rushing to get to work, is knocked over and killed by a bus. Then she comes back to life.

It’s not long before all hell breaks loose, and the Doctor and Rose must use all their courage and cunning against an alien enemy—and a not-quite-alien accomplice—who are intent on destroying humanity.

Thoughts: I had a dream a couple of weeks back that I went to a bookstore to pick up some of the Doctor Who novels and I had the tenth Doctor help me look. It was pretty brilliant, to be honest. When I woke up, I went to my favourite online bookstore and ordered two of the Ten/Rose novels that exist. I didn’t want to order too many at once, in case I decided the writing really, really sucked.

I Am a Dalek is one of the two I ordered. I missed that it was a Quick Reads book at first, but it was decent all the same. Being a Quick Reads book, it was a quick read that left me wanting more. I’m giving it a C rating, which would’ve been a B, had it been a regular book.

Sent i november
by Tove Jansson

Swedish
164 pages
Alfabeta
ISBN: 91-501-0473-X

First line: En tidig morgon i Mumindalen vaknade Snusmumriken i sitt tält och kände att det var höst och uppbrott i luften.

Back cover blurb:
Det är höst i Mumindalen. För dem som kommer dit ser allting annorlunda ut, inte riktigt som de hade tänkt sig. Och muminfamiljen tycks inte vara hemma. De som samlas i det tomma muminhuset får försöka bo och leva med varandra bäst de kan. Det är Filifjonkan och Hemulen, Mymlan, Onkelskruttet och den lilla homsan Toft. Långt bortifrån kommer Snusmumriken vandrande tillbaka i dalen där han tappat något mycket viktigt. Ute i trädgården ligger den blå glaskulan på sin pelare och speglar stora förändringar medan mörkret blir tätare omkring dem. Och slutligen en kväll börjar en helt liten men stadig ljuspunkt lysa inne i glaskulan.

Thoughts: In this book, we don’t even meet the Moomins. They are off somewhere (probably on the island they relocated to in Pappan och havet), and other characters move into their house in Moomin valley. Again, it’s a bleak and depressing tale, and most of the people populating the story are unappealing. At least Snufkin hangs around for a greater part of the story.

A C grade is what I give this. It’s not that it’s a bad story, exactly, it’s just that compared to Jansson’s earlier works, I don’t like it at all as much.