The Complete Wallander series – Henning Mankell
I have loved Mankell’s books for a long time. This year I felt the time was right to re-read the full Wallander series, so I set myself the challenge of completing the series from second-hand book purchases alone.
It is done. And the books are as good as I remembered. If not better.
In one of his afterwords, Mankell comments that the character of Kurt Wallander came about as he sought the right narrative approach to explore the emerging racism he noticed in Sweden after having spent 6 months in Africa.
For me, it is this social conscience permeating the books which, in addition to super writing, marks them above so many others. There is something akin to how Le Carré’s books bristle with indignation about the amorality of spies.
Many novels have interesting settings, or allude in passing to social issues. But it is rare to find a complete series of books all written to such a high quality, with plots centred on social and political issues. Through Wallander we have explored apartheid ending, Sweden’s relationship to NATO, the collapse of the Soviet Union, trafficking for prostitution and so much more.
Of course the main character of Wallander is also critical – brusque, impatient, flawed and incredibly ‘normal’ in so many ways. His struggles with weight, need for bank loans to replace a failing car, and patchy love life all make him sympathetic and real. He is no hero: Brave, insightful, resilient and sometimes kind but never a hero, rarely elevated by others and never promoted to dizzying heights in the way other thriller characters might be. One could argue that Mankell writes Wallander as a celebration of the value of an ‘ordinary life‘.
I also admire Mankell for ending the series so clearly and definitively. Like all his stories, Wallander’s has a wonderful beginning, middle and end. It is done. And we’re all the better for it. Bravo.
Jason Kitcat 