In his latest novel Italian Shoes, Henning Mankell displays the uncanny talent for seamlessly melding apparent opposites with deft, addictive storytelling. Although the setting is bleak, frigid and unwelcoming, it soon reveals itself to be the perfect backdrop for powerful human interaction. Bizarre characters have you scratching your head before they let down their guard to unveil instantly believable - even relatable - fears and aspirations.
The main character, former surgeon Fredrik Welin, isolates himself on a bleak island within the Swedish Stockholm archipelago after he amputates the wrong arm on a swimmer and effectively ruins her life. His self-imposed exile is suddenly interrupted when the woman he abandoned years ago pays him a surprise visit, forcing him to confront the painful memories of his past.
What is most striking about the novel was how Mankell made full use of Fredrik's stark surroundings to complement his themes. The natural connotation of stories taking place in such bitter, unyielding landscapes is the typical man versus nature plot, where the protagonist is at odds with his inhospitable environs. In Mankell's novel, the terrain is not pitted against Fredrik but rather works as an elegant, effective metaphor for his emotional desolation. He constantly encounters animals frozen to death around his island, an image that reflects his inability to let the living close to him. Every morning, he dips himself in the icy water as though to punish and cleanse himself of his former misdeeds simultaneously. Yet it also is a backdrop for profound, touching human interaction when Fredrik is reunited with his long lost family and encounters a closely-knit community of talented outcasts who seek a family of their own in this seemingly unforgiving setting. Sweden, as described by Mankel, is rugged and unrelenting, but it is also a place where rebirth and redemption can take place.
Nevertheless, it is Mankell's remarkable characters that are the highlight of the novel. A one-armed woman nurtures troubled immigrant girls, one of whom is a katana-wielding Iranian escapee. Fredrik's only friend is a hypochondriac postman whom he can't bear to allow into the house. It may all sound a bit like a riot on paper, but Mankel adeptly avoids making them comedic figures and imbues his characters with a depth that somehow flows effortlessly with their eccentricities.
Italian Shoes thrives on the marriage of unlikely elements. Mankell weaves together an ingenious, understated piece that succeeds precisely because of the contradictions that compose it.
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