Book Review | Book Chatter

The Snowman
Book #7 (Harry Hole Series)
By Jo Nesbø; Don Bartlett (Translator)
(Knopf, Hardcover, 9780307595867, 400pp, May 2011)

*No Spoilers*

The Short of It:

The Snowman is full of twists and turns. It’s the type of book that you cook with, sleep with and eat with. I could not turn the pages fast enough. It was that good.

The Rest of It:

A funny thing happened while reading this book. Jill and I were gushing over The Devil’s Star, which is also part of the Harry Hole series so when an opportunity came up for us to read The Snowman, we jumped at the chance. We jumped so fast that we didn’t realize that we missed the book in between (#6, The Redeemer). Jill informed me of this when I was about three chapters in, but you know what? It didn’t matter! Yes, there were some personal tidbits regarding Harry himself that would have been nice to know, but it didn’t affect the story at all. I mean, I started the series with book #5 anyway so it really didn’t matter.

This book was fantastic! I am loving Scandinavian crime fiction and Nesbø is a master storyteller. There’s just something about the texture and mood of his writing that appeals to me. The story begins in Oslo with a young boy waking up to the first snow of the season. His mother is missing, and in her place is a snowman, wearing her scarf. As Harry is called in to investigate, another woman is reported missing and the pattern is repeated. Each time, the snowman becoming more gruesome than the last.

Harry is an interesting character and constantly evolving. His personal life is always stressed in some way and he’s always teetering on the edge of destruction. Sometimes he’s on the wagon (recovering alcoholic) and other times he caves to his weaknesses, but this is what I love about Harry. Professionally, there is never anyone else more suited to the job, yet you wonder if he will ever pull it together and as a reader, you cheer him on and hope for the best. I can’t think of any other time when I’ve cheered a detective on.

I got my coworker to read it and he’s come in here three times to tell me who the killer is, and each time he’s been wrong! Nesbø is so good at what he does.

If you’ve never read Scandinavian crime fiction, give this series a try. The only challenge is that some of the books are not currently available in the US. That’s why Jill and I had to read them out-of-order, but The Book Depository has a few of them (they ship for free) and you might be able to get some of them from other sources. I am hoping that once the entire series has been released someone will publish them as a complete set. It sounds like a hassle to seek these books out but you won’t be sorry if you do.

Jill is also reviewing it today, so stop by and see what she has to say about it!

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.

Note:

Mr. Nesbø doesn’t know it but I am completely obsessed with ~~him~~ his writing. So much so, that I have a small poster of him hanging in my office. If you’d like to know more about Mr. Nesbø, visit his website.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

A Canticle for Leibowitz
By Walter M. Miller
(Harper Voyager, Paperback, 9780060892999, May 2006, 352pp.)

The Short of It:

First published in 1960, A Canticle for Leibowitz is at once a telling tale of what happens to civilization after a nuclear war, and a reminder that history has a tendency to repeat itself.

The Rest of It:

This story spans thousands of years as civilization attempts to rebuild itself after a nuclear war. The monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz are charged with preserving historical remnants and protecting technological advances until the world is ready to once again accept them.

I’m not even sure what to say about this one. In a lot of ways it’s a brilliant novel, yet… there was a simpleness to it which made it seem less so. At least, while reading it, I didn’t get a sense that this was one of the greatest literary works to have been published. However, it was (and is) considered a literary masterpiece by many.

As quiet as the delivery is, the message that Miller delivers packs a powerful punch and that message is clearly, that history has a way of repeating itself. As he describes the “simplification” process where all who are learned are either killed or attacked by mobs, you can’t help but think about other historical events which involved the hatred of others just because they were different.

Oh, and let’s talk about industrialization for a moment. The advances in technology that we make use of each and every day are welcomed for the most part, but at some point, the effects of having them will take their toll. We know this, so while reading this story, I found it amusing that these monks were fighting to protect technology.

This is definitely the kind of book that you have to ponder for a while and I must say, I’ve read a lot of apocalyptic novels yet none of them had this “bigger than self” feel. There is so much to discuss between the religious themes, the theme of recurrence and the balance between church and state.

My book club chose this book and we discuss it this Thursday. It will be interesting to hear their reactions.

Source: Borrowed from the library.