Finished Fr 3/4/11
I much prefer Mankell's crime series featuring Kurt Wallander, however, ITALIAN SHOES, is a fairly engaging study of middle-aged depression. Former surgeon, Fredrik Welin, has been living alone on a small island in Sweden when he gets a visit from an ex-girlfriend who he has not seen in over forty years. She is dying of cancer, and asks him to accompany her to a remote lake, and along the way he learns that he has a daughter by this woman. Later, they visit Louise, his daughter, and he forges a relationship with her. Welin has left the medical field in disgrace due to a botched operation. He amputated the the wrong arm of a patient, and later in the novel, this woman comes to his island, and he drives her away in a clumsy attempt at seduction. I guess Mankell is making a metaphorical point that Sweden is also experiencing a kind of 'isolation of spirit', and 'loss of direction' similar to what has happened to his lead character. However, although the novel kept my interest, I was unmoved at the end. In the right hands, this might make a thought provoking film.
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