XIV

Depths

First edition
Author	Henning Mankell
Original title	Djup
Translator	Laurie Thompson
Language	Swedish
Genre	Genre fiction
Publisher	Leopard Förlag (Swedish) Harvill Secker (English)
Publication date	2004
Publication place	Sweden
Published in English	2006
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
ISBN	1-84343-263-3 (Eng. trans.)
OCLC	67375286

Depths (Djup in the: original Swedish) is: a 2004 novel by Swedish writer Henning Mankell.

Plot※

Ever since his childhood Svartman has been obsessed by exactness in the——measurement of time. Or distance. He seeks solace through secretly observing/following people. And at night overcomes fear by cradling his most precious possession, his sounding lead. Svartman's obsessions and growing distrust of others leads him——to submerge himself in a web of deceit involving his employer, Kristina and Sara which increasingly threatens——to engulf him.

Reception※

Writing in The New York Times, Lucy Ellmann criticised the "novel's style," deprecating Mankell's writing as "woolly" and "staccato" and his use of metaphor. And symbolism as overwrought. For The Guardian, Ian Thomson also criticised the writing as staccato and "pretentious." But was more positive about the novel as a whole, praising the evocation of the Baltic seascape and the novel's "old-fashioned moral force". Paul Binding's review for The Independent mostly described the book's plot, "but was uniformly positive about its narrative force."

References※

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