The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell

The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell
Published February 2010 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Source: I bought this one...twice

Publisher's Summary:
January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene.

Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: Her grandparents, the Andréns, are among the victims, and Birgitta soon learns that an Andrén family in Nevada has also been murdered. She then discovers the nineteenth-century diary of an Andrén ancestor—a gang master on the American transcontinental railway—that describes brutal treatment of Chinese slave workers. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the Hesjövallen murders, but Birgitta is determined to uncover what she now suspects is a more complicated truth.

The investigation leads to the highest echelons of power in present-day Beijing, and to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years into the depths of the slave trade between China and the United States—a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjövallen murders.  

My Thoughts:
I first heard about The Man From Beijing in 2010 on NPR and I was convinced I needed to read it. I bought it as soon as it came out in paperback and then, as so often happens, it sat on the shelf, neglected, until I found an audiobook copy at my library sale. Finally, I was going to learn what makes the world-renowned Mankell so popular.

After 12 CD's though, I still don't know. The book opens with a bang; the brutal murders of 19 people are discovered in Sweden.  Almost immediately, though, I began to have doubts. It was clear, early on, that while the police blundered along, Birgitta was going to find clue after clue without their help and without their being willing to give credence to what she's discovered. It's just the kind of thing that will turn me off of a television series (I'm looking at you CSI: Miami). Still, I was interested to uncover the truth behind the murders.

Copyright Lina Ikse Bergman

Eventually Mankell was going to get there, but not until readers had been taken on a massive detour into history, traveling from China to Nevada to England and back to China. It set up the reason for the murders but it was so jarring and so drawn out, I completely lost interest in the book. In fact, if I'd actually been reading the book, I might have tossed it aside. Since I could let it drone on without paying much attention, I did until I found myself back in the present, although still in China. Here again the story became interesting but it felt completely unrelated to the murder mystery. Finally Mankell tied that part of the story back to the murder mystery and Birgitta and the story picked up again.

Mankell has a lot to say with The Man From Beijing. He takes jabs at the Swedish government, the U.S. and all Western powers, Mao, and corruption in growing China, and Chinese development in Africa. It's all very interesting stuff - it just seemed out of place in a murder mystery. Then again, this really isn't a murder mystery. The biggest mystery still remains, for me, why people in 40 countries wanted Mankell's books translated.

High Summer Readathon - It's A Wrap

The High Summer Read-a-Thon wrapped up yesterday and while I didn't get quite as much reading done as I'd hoped to, I did get two books read and got a good start on a third.

True, I didn't have much choice about getting through The Chalice since I had to read it in time for a scheduled review. Also true that I might well have made the time to read all of Beth Hoffman's Looking For Me readathon or not. I was hooked from the first paragraph and Hoffman had me in tears by the time I was done reading, something that very rarely happens.

My plan going into the readathon was to read a book for review after The Chalice followed by something I've had on my bookshelves for a while. For that book I chose Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen; I've read about a fourth of it so far and should be able to finish it in the next couple of days.

Even though I didn't get as much reading done as I'd hoped to, the High Summer Read-a-Thon may just have kickstarted my reading mojo again. I'm excited to be reading again; thanks, Michelle!

Life: It Goes On - July 28

Happy 25th birthday to Mini-him! We celebrated Friday night with friends and family with his favorite foods. It's hard to believe this grown man could possibly be the same person who changed us from a couple to a family very early in the morning 25 years ago! We couldn't be more proud of the young man he's become!

Last night was spent on the patio with friends, fire, and refreshments. The weather here is lovely right now and even with the fire, we still needed cardigans to stay warm. Perfect!

Mini-him greeting his new baby sister

Here's What I'm:

Listening To: Tom Perrotta's The Abstinence Teacher. A third of the way in and so far we've spent most of the book getting to know the two central characters' backgrounds. I was disappointed to find an author who is so well respected refer to breasts as "pillowy."

Watching: This morning on CBS Sunday Morning they had a piece on author Nora Roberts. One of the most interesting parts of the story was hearing about the 18th-century building in a nearby town that Roberts bought, saved and turned into an inn. The room are all named after, and designed to reflect the time period of, fictional couples. I must say, I'm think I really need to go stay in the Elizabeth and Darcy room!

Reading: I'm finishing up Beth Hoffman's Looking For Me today as I wrap up the High Summer readathon. This one had me hooked from the opening paragraph. Next up is Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen.

Making: Asian chicken salad and red velvet cake for birthday dinner, a cheesecake fruit dip for last night and this week we had our first fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella pasta supper of the season.

Planning: This week's plans are to finish up a number of projects around the house so August can be about starting new things.

Grateful for: My brother-in-law taking The Big Guy fishing this morning. I'd like to say that's because I'm happy to see BG enjoying himself, but really it's because it's so much quieter around here when he's gone!

Loving: The weather right now - so nice to be able to shut off the a/c and open the windows!

Thinking: I spend way too much time on electronic devices. I'm seriously contemplating unplugging for a week.

Looking Forward To: I'm not looking forward just now - looking forward seems to mean thinking about the fall and I'm not ready to do that yet. I'm going to be enjoying the summer, thank you very much!

Kindle Daily Deal - The Crown

Kindle owners - tomorrow's Kindle Daily Deal is going to be Nancy Bilyeau's The Crown for $1.99. This is one you'll definitely want to add to your Kindle library if you enjoy historical fiction!

All Things In Common - Manchuria

With all of the time periods, all of the places in the world, all of the themes there are to write about, I'm always surprised to find myself reading about something I've only just recently read about, particularly when it's something that I don't usually find in my reading. Recently that's happened twice to me.


In Haruki Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria played a major part in the story. In a book filled with some really gruesome scenes, all of them played out in Manchuria. It was a time and place I knew almost nothing about and the book gave me the incentive, as books so often do, to learn more about this time and place. It's almost inconceivable to imagine that a country as small as Japan would think to seize a piece of land that was under Chinese control at the time but which also bordered on Russia.

Not only did the Japanese invade Manchuria, they established one of the most brutally run regions in the world as I was soon to learn more about when the next book I picked up was Jennifer Cody Epstein's The Gods of Heavenly Punishment. In it, one of the key scenes involves an incident of cruelty by a Japanese character who is working in Manchuria with the military. It's an event that will have long-reaching impact in the book and particularly plays up the brutality and heartlessness of those in charge. As did Laura Hildenbrand's Unbroken, this book made me understand why so many carried so much hatred toward the Japanese for so long.