Customer Reviews

The Eye of the Leopard: A Novel

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Once again Henning Mankell offers readers a moving, thought provoking, novel that addresses the human condition as it plays itself out on two continents and in the psyches of the players. The landscape moves from a frozen, rural Swedish town to the smothering heat of Africa. Mankell changes narrators and moves back and forth in time as his hero tries to find a place in the world where he can be his own person.
He is haunted by much childhood trauma and his nightmares are so real and potent, the reader is drawn into them with chilling provocation. Yet somehow, he is both frightened and curious to see what will happen if he doesn't run away. Fate intervenes keeping the main character in a state of semi-stasis which is filled with silence, chaos, introspection, confusion and an constant underlying senes of catastrophe to come. The white landowners that remain in Africa after the freedom given to the black folks creates a dangerous chasm, know that their safety can no longer be taken for granted. They expect that a war with the natives is simmering. How or when it explodes is a daily mystery.
Reading this riveting story leaves readers with a similar feeling one gets reading Joseph Conrad's, HEART OF DARKNESS.
At times in the telling Mankell's characters ask questions like, "why me" or "who am I really"? "What is my purpose?" But unlike Conrad this novel burrows deeper into the minds and hearts of a population of people who hate each other and can barely keep those feelings in control.
Henning Mankell is best know for his police procedurals but here he enters a new terrain with a different direction in his fiction. Written with his accomplished hand THE EYE OF THE LEOPARD is a great read that grabs readers right at the beginning.
BARBARA LIPKIEN GERSHENBAUM

Before we go any further, this is not a Kurt Wallander mystery. It was written many years ago, and is just appearing here in the US. The novel takes place in the author's native Sweden and in Africa, between which countries he divides his time. It is the story of someone who drifts through life, ending up inheriting by chance an egg farm with 200 native employees and trying to cope with the continent's mystique, superstitions and racial conflicts.

The chapters alternate between past and present, Sweden and Africa, in an attempt to give the reader an understanding of Hans Olofson's development through boyhood and his more mature years, as he attempts to understand what is happening around him and even attempt to do something about the inequities of the indigenous population.

The novel is not for everyone. It is deep in its way of studying Hans as a person, and its depth is far more penetrating in its analysis of the African mind. It is a far cry from the more intriguing Wallander mysteries, but well worth the effort if you so choose to read it. While recommended, bear in mind that it may not be for everyone.

I finished reading Henning Mankell's The Eye of the Leopard a while ago, but realized I had not posted my review. It is a much more assessable book than his previous Kennedy's Brain or the very dark depressing, Depths. It is, like Kennedy's Brain, a pointed political novel. And like the previous book the "villains" in Africa, are an amorphous, hard to pin-down, but serious cultural/political threat to native stressed Africans. In Kennedy's Brain it was the drug companies and their every unethical abuse of the Africans in testing new "cures" for AIDS and other diseases. In The Eye of the Leopard, the "villains" are the very corrupted nature of the local and national governments, and the desire of two different cultures trying to hang on to what they have, both real and imagined. In both books the connection is the all mighty debasing/corrupting nature of money. In both books the disappearing mores of what it means to be African is scary reality. In both books the main character is discovering things about themselves as we discover how bad the reality is in under-developed Africa, whether it be Zambia or Mozambique or ...
Unfortunely, for me, the novel does suffer from a lot of recycled imagery and characters from some of Mankell's previously published works. The childhood memories of his main character are very much like those the characters in his books Shadows in the Twilight and A Bridge to the Stars. The character without a nose, which is a pivotal guiding figure, is almost the same. The imagery of climbing/mastering the iron bridge over the local river is also drawn from these books. The model boat, the woodcutting father, the mother who left with only a photograph to remember her from, are just some other segments of these two books published in 1990. It is interesting that this thenewest book to his English readers was also published first in 1990. The character, Lars Hakansson, in The Eye of the Leopard is the same Lars Hakansson in Kennedy's Brain. Kennedy's Brain was first published in 2005, but released here in 2007, so in which direction was Lars moved? Although they have different jobs in each book they each start out as being helpful, but end up being the same morally corrupt individual. Can one self-plagiarize? If so Mankell has done it with this book. In his newest book Mankell does manage to knit these characters and images together to create an appealing book. Like Dan Brown who seems to have tested ideas and characters in his books, before getting it right in The DiVinci Code, Mankell is trying to weave old threads into a new book. Unlike Brown, Mankell has not yet done the magic to make the old disappear. Authors do recycle ideas, just think of how many times bears, motorcycles, and wrestling show up in John Irving's books. But here the characters and images are direct transplants. A first time-reader of Henning Mankell won't notice, but if they start reading his old books, because they like what they have read, like me, they will find the "lifted" characters and images.
In his Kurt Wallender books, the reason I started reading Mankell, the stories of Kurt's father painting the same image and his description of these painting are illustrative of the struggle he and his father had. In these books, the paragraphs about the paintings, with or without the grouse, could be the same from book to book, (I don't have them around to check) but the inner dialog with Kurt, about them is the important thing. The transplanted pieces from his earlier books into this newest one are jarring to a longtime reader, (I think I have read everything that has been translated into English) however I still would strongly recommend this book. Of the non-Kurt Wallander books it is my favorite!

Eye of the Leopard is the best of the many Mankell novels I've read. I have the feeling this is a book Mankell wrote from the heart - not for money, not because his reading audience constantly clamors for another Wallender mystery, but because (like most novelists) he is working hard to understand himself, and his love for two countries as seemingly opposite as Sweden and Africa. His exploration of racism is brilliant. His ability to show the main character's process of individuation is masterfully done. Highly recommended.

He is the best story teller, keeps you captivated and intriqued... Its almost like your in Africa yourself ,living in his house as he tells the story... wonderful book

Another great Africa series story by Mankell. Taut with thought provoking insight to colonization and independence in Africa.

Hans Olofson is sure someone is trying to kill him. He's suffering from malaria and paranoia that will likely drive him crazy. It's a very hot, humid night in the Zambia countryside. He is clutching his revolver while he rolls in agony on his bed convinced he will die one violent way or another.

So starts a promising novel that is well paced and interesting but does not ultimately deliver a fully satisfying or believable story. Henning Mankell has created a character that I assume is somewhat autobiographical and thus I believe the story to have some truth including the violence and intensity that he describes. A boy of twelve or thirteen is living with his deeply depressed and alcohol abusing father in northern Sweden in the late 1950's. From there the story moves up to the 1980's and back to the mid-1960's. The central question of the story is how did Hans end up in Zambia and what is he doing there? The book delves deeply into the race conflicts that are seen as central to Africa's struggle for independence and prosperity. There are mutual needs but great misunderstandings, resentments and violence that separate whites and blacks. It's clearly an issue that consumes Mankell.

We learn all about Hans' life where his mother abandoned him almost at birth. He struggles to find a future in Sweden where he's haunted by the abrupt end of his friendship to Janine; a deformed, angelic woman who had befriended him when he was a rebellious teenager; a father he cannot understand and the haunting rejection of a mother that he cannot remember. With a desire to leave a clutch of sad memories behind him and as a promise to Janine to visit the missionaries at Mutshatsha, Hans boards a plane and into a life that is completely alien.

The problem with the story is we don't see much change in voice of Hans as he grows up. The experiences do not lead to a believable change in character. In fact his opinions and debates in his first days in Zambia at age 25 seem too clearheaded and articulate compared to the build up of a boy of middling achievement and aspirations. As he stays longer and longer in Zambia this voice does not change or perhaps it even digresses. Ultimately as his time there becomes tenuous I became exasperated wondering what it would take him to get out there!

The story is relatively short living gaps that may have helped build credibility. It also feels a bit rushed. A character; Peter Motombwane is not well developed before he becomes central to the plot. One wonders if Mankell had this book bouncing around in his head for a while and then put it to a paper when he was between other assignments. I did like the book but I believe most readers have a shelf of back up selections for a quiet day and I would not otherwise put this on my "A" list.

I give it an extra 1/2 star for originality as this is not a topic that I've read much about so it had some added interest.

Henning Mankell's THE EYE OF THE LEOPARD is a disturbing and fascinating novel that begins in 1956. The story depicts the coming of age of a Swedish boy whose early traumas lead him to grow into a humane man who must escape his life in Sweden. He has grown up in a small town and lives with his alcoholic father, who dreams of returning to the sea: "Hans [Olofson] knows how much it hurts his father to have to live so far from the sea...[in a] cold hole in the interior of melancholy southern Norland...that lies hidden away in the heart of Harjedal." The dense forest that surrounds their home is slowly driving his father insane. His mother left the two of them and was never heard from again. All that Hans has of her are a few faded photographs.

The small isolated town is full of the kinds of people found in most insulated communities: there's gossip, backstabbing, competitiveness, little privacy and the need to find a scapegoat. But as is the case in most of these places, when trouble strikes, someone is there to give a hand. Unfortunately for Hans, his best friend has a terrible accident and ends up in a "place" far away where he survives in an iron lung.

Left on his own he befriends Janine, the town's "freak" who, due to a surgical mistake, has no nose. As their friendship grows, she tells him her dream of going "to the mission station in Mutshatsha...a forlorn and desiccated" outpost that is a symbol "of the great loneliness that is possible to experience on the Dark Continent." However, Hans has not yet found out these truths; he knows only that he has committed himself to take the journey Janine yearned for. But he must wait. The time has come for him to decide if he's going to go into "town" to continue his education. This, coupled with the claustrophobia he experiences, becomes the impetus for him to leave his home.

As time passes, Hans isn't sure about what he wants to do with his life. Then he hears of Janine's death and decides to live her dream as a homage to his friend. Without really thinking through what going to Zambia, South Africa entails, he blithely makes the long trek alone. The times have changed (?) with independence. Upon his arrival, he meets a couple at the station who are heading in the direction he thinks he wants to go --- and before they reach their destination, he is offered the job of overseer of the 200 souls who work the land of one of their friends. Hans tells himself that this is only temporary; he will be leaving this country where the abominable poverty of the blacks is juxtaposed against the rich white ruling class, which he sees as dangerous. He hears a hum and has a sense of something fomenting in the population, something catastrophic, even apocalyptic. But as the months pass, he always finds a reason not to leave just then.

Sometime after settling in, Hans decides it's time to honor Janine's dream. He is ready to go to Mutshatsha but has no idea what is in store for him there. The trip takes a long time, though people are helpful along the way. Yet Hans remains frightened, confused and unsure of himself. He keeps wondering why no one asks about his reason for going to Mutshatsha. Despite their good intentions, missionaries are still working there after the independence and have no understanding of what they are up against.

On the way, Fischer, who is driving, tells Hans: "ninety per cent of [the] children will die of bilharzias." Hans asks why, and Fischer continues: "Who wants to see a child die for no reason...you have to understand that this is why we're so bitter. If we had been allowed to continue the way we were going, we probably would have got the better of the intestinal parasites as well. But now it's too late. When you abandoned us, you also abandoned the possibility for this continent to create a bearable future." And thus begins Hans's African education, viz a vie the blacks to whom this country is home and the whites who "came here" generations ago and enslaved them, trying to take away their traditions, rituals, sense of community, sorcery and superstitions. The blacks hate both the capitalists and the missionaries, and that is leading to "something" that has built up over years and years of oppression.

Upon his arrival, Hans sees a cluster of low, gray buildings grouped around an open square with a well. As an old man approaches, "[Hans] senses at once that he is not at all welcome. I'm breaking into a closed world. A matter for the blacks and the missionaries." Silence and little or no movement overwhelm him; "he feels a creeping fear inside."

More time passes and the simmering hatreds are reaching their boiling point. Hans feels the heat and is stupefied and terrified at the same time. Everyone speaks in languages that are convoluted in their subtexts and hidden messages, riddles or warnings. The ever-present sense of danger and premonitions of the inevitability of a catastrophe invade each character's psyche and lights the fires of ever-present fear to all of their lives. An underground army whose members wear leopard skins rumbles under the radar, yet everyone is aware of the slaughter they are responsible for. And as he recalls his 18 years in Africa, Hans realizes that he is a man without a country. Nevertheless, he will return to his homeland.

Part picaresque novel, part cautionary tale cemented in a nihilistic framework, THE EYE OF THE LEOPARD is an extraordinary book. In the skilled hands of Mankell, readers cannot escape the depictions of smells, poverty, sickness, hatred, fear and strangers in a strange land who are in danger of losing their lives. He writes with a sharp eye on the experiences of childhood and the memories we carry with us even as we relocate to the other side of the world. No one can run away from himself. It's more than "culture shock" --- its "soul shock." As the narrative travels seamlessly back and forth in time and place, the absolute contrasts leap out of the pages: cold country to hot country, a poor black population to rich whites who colonized South Africa, insurmountable cultural differences that collide when universal corruption and overriding greed force confrontations between those from the West and those of Africa.

Henning Mankell is best known for his police procedurals starring Kurt Wallander. His prose is powerful, and the narrative of THE EYE OF THE LEOPARD is profound. Readers cannot help but be drawn into the worlds of Hans Olofson as he matures from a picaro to a man.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

This was the 2nd or 3rd of his books that I read. He paints a picture of an individual who is not really any kind of hero but rather stumbling along in life, who decides to follow not really a dream but a direction by going to Africa from the cold damp inland portion of Sweden.

His father was a man of the sea who lost his wife and apparently the ability to be at sea. This seems to be a concern about the son, of who this book is written about. The main character follows-up tracing remnents of his lost friend and lover's dreams.

However, Africa is unforgiving and not a picture-book place but a place with its' own character that only lets outsiders look into briefly. I believe there is a statement in the book to the effect that Africa is about dying. Not haveing ever been in Africa, but studying it in college and a bit, I think the author hit the nail on the head.

The book is an interesting contrast between the withdrawn reserved hidden horror personna of the Swede with the superstious, witchcraft of the African, and in the book neither give way to the other.

I've purchased a number of books by Mankell and enjoyed the majority to a great degree. However, as I read this book, I wondered what it truly represented. Having read some background on Mankell , I questioned if it was based upon some of his recall of his first days in Africa which he used as a foundation for a novel, possibly to educate or inform the readers on some related history.

My preference is strongly for story lines that flow in order of events. Therefore, backtracking detracts substantially from my enjoyment and rating level since every other chapter is backtracking (for a large portion of the novel). It's the same with authors who too often describe the dreams of their characters. This book has too much of that for my tastes as well.

More impacting, overall, is that I found the book lacking in conviction. As I read, I asked "is this guy barricading himself in his house again?!" losing track if it was version three, four or five. To my point, however, is that no version seemed to impart a sense of genuine fear let alone of the magnitude that would be there with the circumstances described.

One back cover reviewer described this book as "beautiful"...as a "hopeful coming of age story ". I truly questioned if that reviewer and I read the same book. The main character continually barricades himself inside his home for fear of being murdered, his friends actually are slaughtered. Another back cover review reviewer describes it as "depths of fear, alienation and despair". It's hardly "beautiful" but those reviews can be most confusing to the potential buyer.

Considering the main undercurrents in the book, if that appeals, I would call this book an "OK" story which seems overly repetitious. Plain and simply, I found its intent confusing and many high tension moments as reading emotionally "flat". It was tedious but admittedly, it was just not to my tastes. I noted some of the more positive Amazon reviews indicated this book "is not for everyone" ... that says it all!