I had no idea Henning Mankell wrote this series of young adult novels and I enjoy this and found it quietly moving. Joel and his father live in a small village in rural Sweden in what I think is the 1950s (I can't recall if this is said). The father is a sailor, now wokring as a lumberjack and Joel's mother has left and Joel and Samuel are trying to make some kind of normal home life for themselves. I loved Joel's voice and his imagination and his questions to his father about what their life in the village means. I'm really looking forward to the next books.

Not my kinda book. Not up to the excellent standards of Mankell's Kurt Wallender.....done with this series. ( )

The first of the four books about Joel, 12 yrs in this books, who is growing up in a remote area in the north of Sweden with his Dad. An excellent read for all: teens, boys and girls and adults. ( )

I love Henning Mankell's writing, and his ability to craft characters and situations that draw you into a story. This one's a bit different from many of the books of his that I've read, in that it is about a twelve year old boy in northern Sweden, and doesn't involve murder or detective-work. Instead, it is a examination of life and connections, father-son, friends, the past, and is a gently told story of Joel's life, as he comes to terms with some various aspects of his world. I noticed somewhere that this is listed as book #! in a series bearing Joel's name, so I expect there may be more coming. While I probably won't seek them out, I may read if they come my way. I will, however, continue to follow Mankell's writing as he leaves Wallander behind. ( )

Some very stirring scenes in this one. A young boy, unhappy because his mother has left him and his father, falls under the spell of a friend. Together the two flirt with evil . . . our hero drawn in by the spell the other boys casts on him. The climactic scene--our hero climbs a railway trestle because of a dare--is wonderful. Too much of the book is predictable. Unhappy boy meets eccentric adults (noseless woman, crazy man) who show him that life encompasses more than the ordinary and teach him lessons he'd never learn in school. Definitely uneven. ( )