Audiobook10 hours
Daniel
Written by Henning Mankell
Narrated by T. Ryder Smith
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
With more than 35 million copies of his novels in print in over 40 languages worldwide, Henning Mankell is an international phenomenon. In this powerful work, he tells the story of a young African orphan adopted by a Swedish man and whisked away to his new father's country. There the boy, dubbed Daniel, finds himself swallowed by a bizarre landscape of snow and mud. Always in his mind are thoughts of his murdered parents, calling him back to Africa. But Daniel's path is marked by tragedy, and his homecoming seems an impossible dream.
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Reviews for Daniel
Rating: 3.6222222644444444 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
90 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A dark and tragic tale of Molo, named Daniel by his Swedish adoptive father (Bengler). Bengler is a pathetic man who goes to the Kalahari Desert in search of an undiscovered insect with which to make his name back home. He comes across Molo, ah orphan whose parents have been murdered by colonialists, and decides to adopt him and take him to Sweden against Molo's wishes and the advice of everyone. It's all downhill from the moment they arrive in Sweden; Molo suffers racism, abandonment, betrayal and eventually dies; Bengler is a despicable character. A well written novel conjuring up the racism of the late 19th century in Sweden.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A dark and uncomfortable novel about racism, betrayal, abandonment, suppressed sexual desire, man’s inhumanity to man, longing for home, and the impossibility of really knowing someone whether in your own family or from half a world away and another culture.In the 1870s, Hans Bengler leaves the dark and frigid land of his birth and sails from Sweden to South Africa. A man of meager abilities, he’s determined to make his mark on the world by discovering a new insect that he intends to name after himself. But he encounters a native child, the boy he adopts and names Daniel, and along with him, a lucky find with 6 legs. Bengler takes them back to Sweden where he will display them both and earn fortune and fame.Bewildered, disoriented, and beyond his element, Daniel struggles to cope with his new environment, learns Swedish ("My name is Daniel. I believe in God."), and dreams of reaching the sea so he can walk across the water to the Kalahari desert, all the while entertaining visions of his murdered parents who beckon him home. But Bengler can not support himself, much less a son, and he abandons Daniel to Alma and Edvin’s farm where Daniel meets the crazy girl, Sanna. From some students who come to examine him like he was a specimen, Daniel learns what direction not to go to find the sea and sets out.However, escape and return to the Kalahari are not so simple and the Fates will not allow any outcome other than a tragic one. Disturbing and unforgettable. Mankell writes the Kurt Wallender mysteries.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Uninspired, unconvinced.I am disappointed to say that this book bored me. If I had not been listening to an unabridged audiobook, well read by Sean Barrett, I think I would have abandoned it. I was totally unconvinced by the character of Daniel, whose reactions just didn't ring true for me. And before that, the long, drawn out descriptions of Hans Bengler's travels through the Kalahari desert could have benefitted from severe abreviation.Hans Bengler was a nineteenth century scientist who aspired to find an unnamed insect in the African desert and hence make his name as an entomnologist. While staying at an isolated outpost, manned by the Swede, Anderssen, Bengler comes accross Molo, a 9 year old African boy from the San tribe. His parents and other villagers have been brutally murdered by colonialists and the unfortunate young boy has been captured and kept in a cage. Bengler seems to feel both sympathy and a scientific curiosity for this boy and decides to adopt him and return with him to Sweden.Renaming him 'Daniel', Bengler finds that he has to teach the child everything - from speaking Swedish to manners and appropriate toilet habits. It is an uphill struggle, but he perseveres.But my sympathy with Bengler was sorely stretched when, needing to make some money, he decides to exhibit Daniel like a circus bear. The Swedes react variously, an African child was certainly a rarity in those times. Inevitably, things go disastrously wrong and Bengler leaves the child with a rural family while he makes his escape.Although I could relate to Daniel's desperate need to return to his home in the sands, a lot of what ensues amongst this rural community stretched my belief and I lost patience with the whole scenario.A great concept for a novel but I just couldn't relate to Mankell's handling of it.I am becoming more and more disappointed with Mr Mankell's writing. The last book I read by him was The Man From Beijing, which I struggled to finish, but I had high hopes for Daniel as it was set in Africa and I usually enjoy Mankell's Africa books. Sadly, I doubt I shall be reading any more by this author.Also read:The Man from Beijing: 2 starsKurt Wallender series:Before the Frost: 4 starsThe Dogs of Riga: 3 starsFirewall: 4 starsAfrica books:The Eye of the Leopard: 4 starsChronicler of the Winds: 3 stars
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a marvellous book for anyone interested in the historical relationship between Europe and Africa. Of course, it is not a history book, but it is a story that goes to the roots of racism and colonialism. It is a profoundly saddening story. Mankell's ability to get inside the mind of a boy taken to Sweden from the Kalahari is extraordinary. The boy is in fact enslaved, despite the possibly benign intentions of his adoptive father, whose journey to Africa in search of an insect to name after himself is the result of the man's struggle with his own daemons. However, the boy never gives up hope of returning to join his murdered parents. The poverty, ignorance and racial prejudice of late 19th century Sweden is well presented, though there is also kindliness and sympathy shown by some people towards the boy.