The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden: A Novel

In a novel so wild and imaginative that it screams out to be made into a film, Swedish author Jonas Jonasson expands this "farce" beyond the customary domestic focus and uses the whole world as his stage. Drawing his characters from South Africa, Israel, China, and Sweden, with a couple of Americans also earning passing swipes, he focuses on cultural and racial issues; world affairs, including the modern political history of several countries; and the accidents of history which have the power to change the world. The craziness starts with the novel's over-the-top opening line, quoted here as this review's title. For the next four hundred pages, the bold absurdity continues, spreading outward until it eventually absorbs the kings, presidents, and prime ministers of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.Main character Nombeko Mayeki, a thirteen-year-old orphan, has been a latrine worker in Soweto, South Africa's largest shantytown, for half her life, educating herself on the job by counting the barrels she totes, then gradually making the counting exercises harder until she can multiply huge sums in her head. She is as verbal as she is mathematical - and so astute as to motivations of those around her that she progresses quickly, both on the job and in her education, proving to be far more clever than the people who teach her. Her eventual escape for Pretoria ends quickly when she is injured. A judge sentences her to work for the man who injured her - at Pelindaba, a nuclear research facility north of Johannesburg which is working to build an atomic bomb.Alternating with the story of Nombeko is the story of Ingmar Qvist, a Swede whose life's mission is to shake the hand of Swedish King Gustav V. In following the king, however, he becomes so intrusive that the king hits him with his cane, turning him instantly into a social democrat devoted to ending the monarchy.Within this framework, the author creates a vibrant farce involving the loyalties and relationships among people, countries, and political points of view. As South Africa changes, and the government begins to fear what might happen if Nelson Mandela's supporters were to acquire the six atomic bombs which the country has already developed, the novel becomes more complex. The Chinese and Israelis are also anxious to obtain these bombs. When Nombeko eventually moves to Sweden, lugging along an unknown seventh bomb with her, the free-for-all becomes a reality. The two plot lines converge as Nombeko (and her bomb) move into a condemned factory building in Gnesta, the very building where Ingmar Qvist's two politically motivated sons also live.More complex and character driven than many other farces, the novel is also longer than most, stretching the limits of the genre. Jonasson straddles the line admirably, matching his plot to real events acted out by real people in South Africa, Sweden, China, and Israel. Picaresque, with a plot which wanders around following the life of Nombeko from the age of thirteen to forty-seven, the novel wastes no time in making its points about personal and political responsibility, or as the author says, "If God does exist, he must have a good sense of humor."

This tongue in cheek novel is an amusing little romp, with some very biting sarcasm. The premise is totally implausible. A girl from Soweto, although unschooled, becomes a self-taught nuclear physicist, learns numerous foreign languages, and is the brains behind South Africa's nuclear bomb industry. She runs into an equally improbable set of twins in Sweden, who are both named Holger. Oh yeah -- there are also some Chinese sisters who smuggle themselves in a bomb crate to escape from South Africa. Zany, yes. But the writing is hilarious. Here are a few samples:"Nombeko's dad hadn't been in the vicinity of his daughter since twenty minutes after the fertilization."[Two female murderers] "were seized and transformed into a thirty-year cost item in the South African correctional system.""A bunch of school-aged adolescents in Soweto got tired of the government's latest idea: that their already inferior education should henceforth be conducted in Afrikaans. So the students went out into the streets to air their disapproval. They were of the opinion that it was easier to learn something when one understood what one's instructor was saying. And that a text was more accessible to the reader if one could interpret the text in question. Therefore -- said the students -- their education should continue to be conducted in English. The surrounding police listened with interest to the youths' reasoning, and then they argued the government's point in that special manner of the South African authorities. By opening fire. Straight into the crowd of demonstrators."The whole book is written like this, which is a really amusing way of addressing serious subjects like apartheid, racism, sexism, the arms race, etc.Alas, I just wasn't in the mood to be amused by silliness, however witty, and (despite my admiration for the author's style) gave up half way through.

Entretenido y para pasar un buen rato.

it is very good. i think jonasson is a marvelous writer.

Livro bem interessante, com um humor sutil, bem escrito e que prende o leitor com um roteiro inusitado. Os personagens não chegam a ser densos, mas são até bem trabalhados, com características marcantes. Muito interessante. Vale a leitura.

A good and easy read.

the story flows so intense and the humor is wonderful, but the most incredible is how the author criticises the society