The dog that was on the way to a star

The dog that was on the way to a star (1992) ( swed. Hunden som sprang mot en stjärna , 1990) is a children 's novel by the Swedish writer Henning Mankell and published by Oetinger Verlag (orig .: Rabén & Sjögren). The title is available in paperback from dtv junior.

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Eleven-year-old Joel lives with his 'Papa Samuel' in simple circumstances in a small Swedish town. He has no memory of his mother Jenny. She left the family soon after his birth because she had “such a restlessness”, but maybe also because she was “too young”.

Joel is his "own mom", takes care of the household, cooks dinner for his father, who used to go to sea and now earns a living as a forest worker. The father is Joel's most important caregiver, but the relationship with him is difficult and is becoming increasingly strained due to the relationship that the father has with Sara, the waitress at the beer pub.

Joel takes refuge in a fantasy world. He leaves the apartment at night to track down a dog that he thinks he has spotted alone on the street. To this end, he founds a secret society, of which he is the only member. So he wanders around at night, also commits a break-in, in which he 'borrows' his dream bike, but does not get on the trail of his dog because he leaves no traces. For him he becomes "the dog that is on the way to a star".

Ture, a slightly older and very dominant boy, becomes Joel's ally for a short time, but instigates him to do deeds that he himself rejects. Finally, Ture demands a life-threatening test of courage from him, from which his father saves him at the last minute. Through this key experience, the distant father-son relationship takes a decisive turn and the story ends in a hopeful mood.

To understand the novel

"The dog who was on the way to a star" is the first volume of a tetralogy that begins with the volumes "The shadows grow in the twilight", "The boy who slept in the snow", and "The journey to the end of the world" finds its continuation.

The autobiographical references are unmistakable: the story takes place in 1956, Mankell was born in 1948, so his protagonist is only slightly older than he was himself that year. Mankell, like Joel, grew up without his mother. His father, like Ture's father in the story, was a judge.

"The dog that was on the way to a star" is a winter story. Cold and sadness dominate. Relationships between people are only experienced as warm and cordial in exceptional cases. Disgusting ugliness (the father's scar, Gertrud's naseless face, Sara's big breasts) and mentally ill behavior (the father's alcoholism, the bricklayer's aimless truck trips at night) determine the boy's world of experience. There is no place for happiness and humor in it. But Joel finds understanding, sincerity and human warmth especially among the outsiders of society.

What saves Joel over this winter time of his childhood is his gift of imagination, which finds form in his ' logbook entries ' and are the seafaring stories of his father, which he tells him when he is in a good mood.

The story ends on the threshold from childhood to adolescence: “Soon he can no longer be childish, he knows that. Then the dog will disappear. ”With winter the story ends:“ He still has so much plans for this summer. ”