|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
There are no prizes for guessing that Henning Mankell feels very strongly about the AIDS crisis in Africa and the way the drug companies are using and abusing the African people. Mankell, in fact, postulates that said companies are deliberately infecting people with the virus. His hatred and anger seethe through the text of this excellently written work. Louise Cantor is an archaeologist on a dig in Greece. She must deliver a paper in Sweden and makes sporadic attempts to contact her son, Henrik, after leaving Greece. She lets herself into his flat in Stockholm and is horrified to discover Henrik's corpse. The police are certain Henrik committed suicide but Louise, who is convinced she knows her son better than anyone alive, knows that would be impossible. She has, in fact, good reason to believe this from various clues in Henrik's flat but she determines to examine his papers and track down his killers. Surprisingly, the police have diagnosed the cause of death as being barbiturates. Given that they are rather difficult to come by in this modern age, it's somewhat strange he didn't avail himself of the more readily obtainable benzodiazepines but perhaps Mankell is not quite au fait with the modern hypnotics of choice. Louise travels to Australia, specifically, to Victoria's Apollo Bay, in order to locate Henrik's father Aron and apprise him of their son's death. Aron, the man who seizes on any and every opportunity to run away from things, accompanies Louise back to Sweden but it is not long before he once again vanishes. Louise, still on the trail of whoever was responsible for her son's murder, travels to Africa in search of further scraps of Henrik's life. She needs, too, to discover how Henrik became HIV positive. The main theme is, of course, the perfidy of the developed world in the exploitation of third world cultures and peoples. In portraying this, the author does a sparklingly good job. His depiction of a bereaved mother too, is excellently done. The character of Henrik never comes clear, but, after all, his is an enigmatic face. His girlfriend, Lucinda, however, is portrayed vividly and she comes to life as intensely as Louise. The African landscape itself is also well drawn. Laurie Thompson has translated the text and while I have no means of comparing the translation with the original, not being a Swedish speaker, at least I can appreciate the way the prose flows with no hint of hesitation. I must say that of all Mankell's works that I have read, KENNEDY'S BRAIN seems to be the one into which the author has poured most of his passion but, despite this, there were places where the action dragged.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, September 2007
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
