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In a tiny shack in the largest township in South Africa, Nombeko Mayeki is born. Put to work at five years old and orphaned at ten, she quickly learns that the world expects nothing more from her than to die young. But Nombeko has grander plans. She learns to read and write, and at just fifteen, using her cunning and fearlessness, she makes it out of Soweto with millions of smuggled diamonds in her possession. Then things take a turn for the worse. . . .
Nombeko’s life ends up hopelessly intertwined with the lives of Swedish twins intent on bringing down the Swedish monarchy. In this wild romp, Jonasson tackles issues ranging from the pervasiveness of racism to the dangers of absolute power. In the satirical voice that has earned him legions of fans the world over, he gives us another rollicking tale of how even the smallest of decisions can have global consequences.
- Sales Rank: #25035 in Books
- Published on: 2015-04-07
- Released on: 2015-04-07
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .90" w x 5.31" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 400 pages
Review
“A funny and completely implausible farce about a woman, a bomb and a man’s frustrated ambition to overthrow the king of Sweden… The rest of the world will chuckle all the way through it.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))
“In The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, Jonas Jonasson unfurls a wide, whimsical net that readers will relish being caught up in.” (BookPage)
“A funny and improbable tale with characters from South Africa to Sweden demonstrates how even the most seemingly insignificant people can change the fate of the world.” (Denver Post)
From the Back Cover
A wildly picaresque new novel from Jonas Jonasson, the author of the internationally bestselling The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
In a tiny shack in the largest township in South Africa, Nombeko Mayeki is born. Put to work at five years old and orphaned at ten, she quickly learns that the world expects nothing more from her than to die young, be it from drugs, alcohol, or just plain despair. But Nombeko has grander plans. She learns to read and write, and at just fifteen, using her cunning and fearlessness, she makes it out of Soweto with millions of smuggled diamonds in her possession. Then things take a turn for the worse....
Nombeko ends up the prisoner of an incompetent engineer in a research facility working on South Africa's secret nuclear arsenal. Yet the unstoppable Nombeko pulls off a daring escape to Sweden, where she meets twins named Holger One and Holger Two, who are carrying out a mission to bring down the Swedish monarchy...by any means necessary.
Nombeko's life ends up hopelessly intertwined with the lives of the twins, and when the twins arrange to kidnap the Swedish king and prime minister, it is up to our unlikely heroine to save the day—and possibly the world. In this wild romp, Jonasson tackles issues ranging from the pervasiveness of racism to the dangers of absolute power while telling a charming and hilarious story along the way. In the satirical voice that has earned him legions of fans the world over, Jonasson gives us another rollicking tale of how even the smallest of decisions can have sweeping—even global—consequences.
About the Author
Jonas Jonasson was a journalist for the Expressen newspaper for many years. He became a media consultant and later set up a company producing sports and events for Swedish television before selling it and moving abroad to work on his first novel. He is the author of the internationally bestselling novels The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden. He lives on the Swedish island Gotland in the Baltic Sea.
Most helpful customer reviews
45 of 46 people found the following review helpful.
A Tall Tale
By Roger Brunyate
In place of an epigraph, the novel has a little teaser:
"The statistical probability that an illiterate in 1970s Soweto will grow up and one day find herself confined in a potato truck with the Swedish King and prime minister is 1 in 45,766,212,810. [This, according to the calculations of the aforementioned illiterate herself.]"
The said illiterate and protagonist of the book is a black girl named Nombeko, 14 when we first meet her. For the past nine years, she has been an employee of the City of Johannesburg Sanitation Department as a latrine emptier, but things are about to change for her. For one thing, she has a genius for calculations, and once given a chance to get rid of that illiteracy, she will reveal a genius for most other things as well. Indeed, she is a thousand times smarter the head of the South African nuclear weapons program, an alcoholic appointed through nepotism for whom she finds herself working as an indentured employee. Until the weapons program is ended, and she finds herself in virtual possession of a working atomic bomb that never got entered in the official registry….
Alternate chapters take us to Sweden, where a fanatical republican brings up his twin sons, both called Holger (don't ask!), to carry on his mission to destroy the monarchy. He dies, and Holger One follows in his father's footsteps while Holger Two, saner and smarter, has other ideas. Roughly a third of the way into the book, the two stories will connect, and after the passage of several decades and many, many, many twists and turns, they will culminate in the back of that potato truck with the King of Sweden.
This is not really my thing at all; I prefer a bit more reality in my novels. But I enjoyed it for several reasons. First, Nombeko is such an attractive heroine, and there is always pleasure in seeing the underdog use her wits to get the better of those who have all the advantages. Second, Jonasson (as translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles) has a most engaging style, seldom laugh-aloud funny, but always amusing. Thirdly, his plotting is so darned good. Unlike many tall tales, it is not simply a matter of tacking on one episode after another like a weekly serial. There is clearly an intricate geometer at work here, introducing vectors on page 80 or 100 that will not click into place until page 300 or 320.
And finally, the novel is not so disconnected from reality after all. Although the doings of the main characters are improbable, they are shown against an international background that is essentially factual. The oppression in 1970s South Africa is real, as is the end of Apartheid. Events in Sweden are probably less well known to outsiders, but as far as I can see, these are real too, and the book gets in some sly questions about its political self-image. And on the world stage, its viewpoint extends to Israel, Russia, America, and the increasing role of China in Africa. The action of this political satire may be whimsical, but its world-view is as clear eyed as they come.
35 of 40 people found the following review helpful.
Jonasson combines the anarchistic tendencies of Thomas Pynchon with the broad, complicated but loving world of John Irving.
By Bookreporter
The story of THE GIRL WHO SAVED THE KING OF SWEDEN begins in June 2007. The King and Prime Minister of Sweden have disappeared without a trace from a fancy banquet at the Royal Castle. Because Jonas Jonasson is known around the world for satire and complex stories filled with wit and a large cast of characters, their being missing causes all sorts of other waves in the universe that affect a whole bunch of other people. Like a little girl in Soweto a long time ago.
In 1961, the girl who saved the King of Sweden is born into poverty in Soweto. Her name is Nombeko, and she ends up with a childhood filled with hard labor; she is a sewage worker and suffers the requisite horrors that come from growing up in Johannesburg slums in those days. When she finally escapes, running away at the age of 15, she goes directly to the National Library in Pretoria. She ends up never getting there, instead being put to work for an engineer who is working on the nukes program for South Africa. She realizes that seven bombs have been made, one more than the six that were originally ordered.
Nombeko’s journey as a fugitive with secret knowledge sends her to Sweden, where she meets unlikely twins who offer her an opportunity to do something to help get the King of Sweden off his throne. The story continues with Mossad agents, Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela and other dignitaries who step up the action, ensuring that Nombeko and her friends will take you on a trip you won’t forget.
Jonasson is crazy. The things that he puts together should not work, but they do because his sense of both the absurd and the possible are so finely honed. Of the many conceits in the book that are far-fetched and test readers’ ability to suspend their disbelief, the idea of a set of identical twins in which one of them was never registered and so doesn’t officially exist in this world in which everyone has a target on them is the most insane. But somehow it works. Jonasson combines the anarchistic tendencies of Thomas Pynchon with the broad, complicated but loving world of John Irving. It’s a real accomplishment to take a readers on a trip like this and give them what I can only describe as a fantastic journey outside of the realm of our real worlds.
Nombeko is one of my favorite characters in recent literature. She is strong, kind and, like South Africa itself, resilient and hopeful in the face of pure nastiness. Jonasson rests this entire volume on her shoulders, and they are able to withstand the narrative weight without any problem. She is a heroine not necessarily for a modern age but for all ages. In my mind, she grows up to look like the ultimate Earth Mother.
THE GIRL WHO SAVED THE KING OF SWEDEN is unexpected, crazy and exuberant. Take it on vacation and you won’t be able to put it down. If you are on staycation this summer, you will feel like you’ve been to the Moon and back by the time you are done. It is trippy and gripping and all the things that good original art should be.
Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
The best of picaresque novels
By "switterbug" Betsey Van Horn
What a festival of adventure, rogue behavior, a non-existent twin who exists, and a fugitive atomic bomb that also doesn't exist--but weighs several megatons and is very difficult to hide. The plucky and delightful protagonist is Nombeko, who at the start of the novel is fourteen and cleaning latrines in Soweto, her hometown. It is the seventies, and apartheid is the social/political/economic cloud Nombeko lives under, and yet she makes the best of her situation, and eventually saves the world. The novel takes us from 1970's South Africa to 21st century Sweden.
In a picaresque novel, it is paramount to have a captivating group of characters, and nimble writing that compels the reader forward. Jonasson's talent is magnificent, and his largesse and wily wit, as well as his ability to create a thrilling plot, kept me in suspense until the very end. Nombeko is both humble and noble, a mathematical genius who lives by her wits and her virtuous cunning. Then there are the twins in Sweden, Holger One and Holger Two. But only one of them exists on paper. The Holgers' father is a fanatical republican who is determined to depose the monarchy. When his wife gives birth to twins, he decides that he can keep one hidden at home, while one goes off to school. Unfortunately, the one in school is none too bright, but is a fanatic like his father, while the non-existent Holger Two is both intelligent and principled. Inevitably, the Holgers and Nombeko cross paths.
"All these people found themselves in nuclear-weapons-free Sweden. Right next door to a three-megaton bomb."
As it says in the intro, "The statistical probability that an illiterate in 1970's Soweto will grow up and one day find herself confined in a potato truck with the Swedish king and prime minister is 1 in 45,766,212,810. This, according to the calculations of the aforementioned illiterate herself."
One of my favorite sections of the novel is when Nombeko is forced into indentured servitude. She is run over by moronic engineer, Westhuizen, in Johannesburg after a long journey on foot from her shantytown (her goal is to make it to the National Library of Pretoria). The judge decided in favor of the alcoholic engineer, who made it through engineering school through nepotism and cheating. He is now in charge of a secret nuclear weapons program in South Africa. Because of his stupidity and constant inebriation, and because of Nombeko's mathematical brilliance, she becomes his "right hand man." Officially, she is the cleaning woman. This episode in Nombeko's life puts her in contact with Mossad Agent A, Mossad Agent B, and three Chinese woman skilled at making ancient, fraudulent pottery and in the poisoning of dogs--also in forced servitude to Engineer Westhuizen.
"Nombeko imagined that the engineer might soon be able to devote himself to his brandy full-time; he could sit and dream his way back to the years when it was possible to convince those around him that he had a clue."
As zany as this novel may sound in description, Jonasson's finesse in making this believably unbelievable story engrossing is because of the characters, particularly Nombeko and the Holgers. His moral compass is a ticking time bomb, and he connects with the reader rather than condescending, so that I was in on his humor, and charmed by his narrative. The translation from Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles is luminous and lyrical. I can't believe that the original text wasn't in English.
Holger Two's problem of non-existence, as well as the lack of birth certificate/paperless Nombeko, provide for a deep and provocative philosophical theme in this novel about identity and permanence, as well as some fascinating real-world questions.
I can't recommend this unforgettable, supple, radiant novel enough!
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