A Mini-Review of Människohamn/Harbour
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:42 pm
Wow! A perfect story for an ex-fisherman!
I will never look at the ocean in the same way again.
Often, when out on the fishing boats in my youth, especially when it was quiet and the water was like a sheet in the wind, flat and smooth with huge rolling swells, I can remember myself wondering at the power underneath all that water and how the patch of water I was on connected to all the other water on the planet somehow. Just like someone in this novel thinks once. I would creep myself out thinking of all the gooey, slimy, teeth-filled things swimming around there. (Being up to my crotch in a wriggling, biting mass of the things while working on a dragger-boat may have influenced that particular fear!) During that time I lived in small fishing villages on the west coast of Canada, with islands and the seas and superstitious old-timers from the side of a bottle of OldSpice.
Now after reading Människohamn/Harbour and having the memory of that refreshed, I like to think I have something in common with our favourite author.
I also feel after reading this that Mr. Lindqvist has lived the sea life rather than just researched it.
The sins of the past are visited on the future.
I found the story in Människohamn was an interesting one with many layers of mystery spread over a long time, and with even a bit of ambiguity as well. What happened to the salt trader Magnuss who landed on the paradise of an island a llooonngg time ago? What was it beneath the sea and why would it need steps? (This I liked as it made me think of something Cthulhulian, some great God slumbering beneath the waters.)
I've got questions...again. Mainly,...Where was everybody kept? Where was that place under the water?
The characters were well thought out as usual. The "council" of descendants keeping their secrets. Elin, the woman who does requests reverse plastic surgery to make her uglier??! Most everyone on the island has a connection to the past and something interesting about them. The people and their connections to the past are complex, and all of them are, of course, flawed.
The mother, Cecilia who has separated herself from everyone and doesn't seem to care much at all, so much so that I thought she didn't matter much or bring much to the story.
I liked Anders' character, and his flaws, how he had altered his perception of his daughter as the sea (mostly) only took "bad" people, but was she really "bad" or did she just need a tranquilizer/Ritalin? (JK!) Also I laughed at how he thought to keep himself partly drunk by watering down all his wine and drinking it constantly, (This works actually, but I recommend it only on holidays.) and how that worked out to be a plot-point later on.
I say all the characters were flawed, well, except for Simon the magician, who was the only flawless one and could have been sainted. (John showing his love for his former craft?) Maybe his making a pact with the water-spirit wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it wasn't a repeated flaw, it didn't seem to be something done out of greed, and eventually it was worth it.
I also laughed at how John wrote the "old people" sex scene...priceless.
The pacing of the story went well, (Slower than my usual fare to start, but then that is his style and not a bad thing) at least as well as my fave JAL story and better than HTU in my opinion, getting the reader up to speed on the people and setting fairly well in the first third of the book, then getting even deeper while creating more and more mystery before ramping up to the cataclysm of an ending.
I am well pleased that Mr. Lindqvist knocked it out of the park his first time at bat, he helped create my first true obsession!
I'm enjoying the idea that I found him early in his career and that I can be there to watch as he gets better. While I know LTROI is going to always be my favourite JAL story, I really had a good time with Människohamn/Harbour and finished it in two sittings.
Sean...
I will never look at the ocean in the same way again.
Often, when out on the fishing boats in my youth, especially when it was quiet and the water was like a sheet in the wind, flat and smooth with huge rolling swells, I can remember myself wondering at the power underneath all that water and how the patch of water I was on connected to all the other water on the planet somehow. Just like someone in this novel thinks once. I would creep myself out thinking of all the gooey, slimy, teeth-filled things swimming around there. (Being up to my crotch in a wriggling, biting mass of the things while working on a dragger-boat may have influenced that particular fear!) During that time I lived in small fishing villages on the west coast of Canada, with islands and the seas and superstitious old-timers from the side of a bottle of OldSpice.
Now after reading Människohamn/Harbour and having the memory of that refreshed, I like to think I have something in common with our favourite author.
I also feel after reading this that Mr. Lindqvist has lived the sea life rather than just researched it.
The sins of the past are visited on the future.
I found the story in Människohamn was an interesting one with many layers of mystery spread over a long time, and with even a bit of ambiguity as well. What happened to the salt trader Magnuss who landed on the paradise of an island a llooonngg time ago? What was it beneath the sea and why would it need steps? (This I liked as it made me think of something Cthulhulian, some great God slumbering beneath the waters.)
I've got questions...again. Mainly,...Where was everybody kept? Where was that place under the water?
The characters were well thought out as usual. The "council" of descendants keeping their secrets. Elin, the woman who does requests reverse plastic surgery to make her uglier??! Most everyone on the island has a connection to the past and something interesting about them. The people and their connections to the past are complex, and all of them are, of course, flawed.
The mother, Cecilia who has separated herself from everyone and doesn't seem to care much at all, so much so that I thought she didn't matter much or bring much to the story.
I liked Anders' character, and his flaws, how he had altered his perception of his daughter as the sea (mostly) only took "bad" people, but was she really "bad" or did she just need a tranquilizer/Ritalin? (JK!) Also I laughed at how he thought to keep himself partly drunk by watering down all his wine and drinking it constantly, (This works actually, but I recommend it only on holidays.) and how that worked out to be a plot-point later on.
I say all the characters were flawed, well, except for Simon the magician, who was the only flawless one and could have been sainted. (John showing his love for his former craft?) Maybe his making a pact with the water-spirit wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it wasn't a repeated flaw, it didn't seem to be something done out of greed, and eventually it was worth it.
I also laughed at how John wrote the "old people" sex scene...priceless.
The pacing of the story went well, (Slower than my usual fare to start, but then that is his style and not a bad thing) at least as well as my fave JAL story and better than HTU in my opinion, getting the reader up to speed on the people and setting fairly well in the first third of the book, then getting even deeper while creating more and more mystery before ramping up to the cataclysm of an ending.
I am well pleased that Mr. Lindqvist knocked it out of the park his first time at bat, he helped create my first true obsession!
I'm enjoying the idea that I found him early in his career and that I can be there to watch as he gets better. While I know LTROI is going to always be my favourite JAL story, I really had a good time with Människohamn/Harbour and finished it in two sittings.
Sean...