The Eye of the Leopard

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.

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

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,

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

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