The illiterate woman who could count

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The illiterate woman who could do arithmetic (Swedish Analfabeten som kunde räkna ) is a picaresque novel by the Swedish writer Jonas Jonasson , published in 2013 by Piratförlaget , Stockholm. It is Jonasson's second novel after the worldwide hit of The Hundred Year Old Who Got Out the Window and Disappeared . The German translation, published in 2013 by carl's books , was a commercial success in Germany and was number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list for eleven weeks.

action

The story first introduces two separate storylines. Nombeko Mayeki grew up as a half-orphan in Soweto during the apartheid period . She works as a latrine barrel carrier. It becomes clear early on that she is very talented in mathematics. When the chief of the Soweto latrines was fired, she succeeded him at the age of 14. She is considered illiterate by all whites, although she has since learned to read from one of her co-workers. When she is run over in an accident, the apartheid state sentenced her to wage labor for the person who caused the accident, an engineer of the secret South African nuclear program. She was held for several years in the hermetically sealed Pelindaba facility . She helps the incompetent engineer to advance the Israeli state-backed nuclear program and assures an envoy from the PRC during a diplomatic negotiation that South Africa has no plans to cooperate with Taiwan . When the nuclear weapons program accidentally produces one too many bombs, the engineer wants to sell it to the two local Mossad agents . Nombeko can use this trade to get free, flies to Stockholm and seeks political asylum there .

The ardent royalist Ingmar Qvist is introduced in the second storyline . His dream comes true when he meets King Gustav V in Cannes. However, the latter sharply rejects him. Ingmar made an ideological 180 ° turn and from then on did everything in his power to abolish the monarchy - a goal that his son should one day also pursue. However, his wife gives birth to identical twins . Ingmar calls both children Holger and comes up with the idea of ​​only registering one child. So they can take turns going to school and he can indoctrinate the other child at home. Shortly after leaving school, both parents die. While Holger 1 is not very cognitively gifted and adheres to his father's ideals, Holger 2 is intelligent and reasonable. However, Holger 1 is the one with an official identity. The two quarters in an industrial ruin and run a pillow trade. During a trip with the truck, Holger meets 2 Nombeko. Shortly afterwards, the seventh atomic bomb, which should have gone to the Israelis, falls into their hands. Nombeko moves to the Holgers and learns Swedish.

Meanwhile, Holger 1 has found a partner in Celestine, an angry young woman who rejects almost everything in Swedish society based on a strange interpretation of leftist ideas. He starts working for a helicopter rental company and takes flight lessons. Years pass, the bomb remains in Nombeko's possession. By chance, the Israeli agents who made the deal in the bomb find them. At the risk of his own life, Holger 1 succeeds in taking out one of the agents, but now he knows about the bomb. Nombeko and Holger 2 want to prevent the mentally poor, aggressive couple from using the bomb in a dangerous attempt to abolish the monarchy . Shortly afterwards, they have to flee the industrial ruins and move in with Celestine's grandmother, who lives in the country. Thanks to Nombeko's intelligence, they soon earn a fortune from their grandmother's potato fields. Several attempts to get in contact with the Swedish prime minister in order to inform him about the bomb fail due to the misguided actionism of Holger 1.

Nombeko sees another opportunity in the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao , the functionary whom she had helped in South Africa at the time. They manage to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Reinfeldt and the Swedish king in the back of a truck . Holger 1 is actually only supposed to drive the truck, but when he recognizes the king in the hold, he kidnaps everyone to Celestine's grandmother's yard and wants to force the king to abdicate with the bomb. The grandmother insists on dinner beforehand. In preparation for this, His Majesty slaughters a chicken and otherwise behaves very close to the people, for example repairing a tractor. Holger's beliefs are shaken. When Karl XVI. Gustav finally distanced himself from his grandfather, he gave up his long-cherished goal. Nombeko and Holger 2 agree with Prime Minister Reinfeldt to hand over the bomb. Due to further complications, however, this ends in Hu Jintao's government aircraft. Nombeko and Holger 2 are eventually legalized and have a daughter. Holger 1 and Celestine have returned to the monarchist ideals of Holger's father and name their twins Karl and Gustav.

shape

As in his first novel, Jonasson uses the technique of embedding his story in the real historical framework, above all the South African nuclear program and Israel's cooperation with the apartheid regime.

Reception upon arrival

The reviews of Jonason's second book were positive, but with some drawbacks. The primary criticism was that he simply repeated the recipe for success of his first book. Kaspar Heinrich writes for Der Spiegel: “ The illiterate woman who could count repeats the idea behind the“ centenarian ”, the literary version of the film“ Forrest Gump ”: naivety meets big politics.” He positively emphasizes the absurdity of the characters involved , but complains about their one-dimensionality.

Kristina Maidt-Zinke's assessment of the Süddeutsche Zeitung reads similarly: "The novel that is hidden behind it shows all kinds of similarities to its predecessor in terms of construction, and it is (...) weaker." She does not doubt the success of the book and admires Jonasson's “Pippi Longstocking Humor”, especially in relation to the Swedish royal family, but misses a streamlining of the plot and sharper satire.

Laura Louise Brunner came to a more positive impression in the time. She also emphasizes the absurdity of the characters as the most striking feature and speaks of a clever and extremely enjoyable novel.

Denis Scheck commented on the book twice in the ARD program. According to him, you read a very funny and amusing book, but also one that is more “a literary pinball machine” than a book.

Text output

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kaspar Heinrich: bestselling author Jonas Jonasson: The man who wrote the same book twice . In: Spiegel Online . November 15, 2013 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 3, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Kristina Maidt-Zinke: With the King in the Potato Truck . In: sueddeutsche.de . 2013, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on October 3, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Novel: Six atomic bombs, please . In: ZEIT ONLINE . ( zeit.de [accessed on October 3, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Das Erste: Video "The Top Ten: Fiction" - Hot off the press. September 8, 2014, accessed October 3, 2018 (German).