Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

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Anyway it's the story of a hitman (duh), a quick-witted lapsed lady priest, and a misanthropist male receptionist. I found myself thinking about Andrey Kurkov’s novels about how fucked up life in Ukraine is, and Ryu Murakami’s books In the Miso Soup and Audition, and wishing that Hitman Anders was on a par. Of course it is the characters that carry the story as we move from one highly unlikely situation to another. When I first decided to read this book, I have to say I was quite intrigued about reading it, but by eventually completing it, I'm a little underwhelmed and very disapointed.

To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. However, towards the end of the story, I found it a little difficult to follow all the characters as there were too many gangsters. I know, it's supposed to make it sound oh so clever and all, but it just annoys me to no end because it sounds pretentious to me. This dearth of story development, coupled with characters who – while initially pleasingly odd – aren’t particularly loveable or even interesting, meant the story failed to grip me. Contemporary light reading is so often based in one of a handful of genres, and Nombeko’s zany, farcical adventures were an enjoyable exception just as Allan Karlsson’s had been in The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

If you get the chance, even if you get a copy from the library, I do recommend The 100 Year Old Man. It may not win the author many new fans, but has enough of the formula to satisfy those who really liked both his earlier novels. This time a recently freed hitman who refuses to kill any more teams up with a homeless receptionist and an athiest priest to make their fortune only maiming people. As a reader open to the explanation of their backgrounds, and wanting to laugh at the book I still kept wishing they would stop, even if I didn’t want them to get shot or arrested or any of the other things one sees pissed off Goodreads reviewers say about characters who annoyed them. They had quite a lot of money before they started the church - so second time round, they were punching down.

If that sounds odd then that's because the book is odd, wonderfully so with quirky characters and a plot that despite its absurdities carries the reader from page to page, a smile never far from his/her face. Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All by Jonas Jonasson is a hilarious well written book about three extremely different characters coming together in an extraordinary scheme. I thought it was an inventive piece of fiction that had some nice moments of comedy and an affectionate warmth running through it. I should have been warned sufficiently by the low Goodreads rating, but I thought this would be one of those unpopular opinion books. Together they cook up an idea for a very unusual business that's going to make them all a fortune - but then all of a sudden, and to everyone's surprise, Anders finds Jesus .This episode is at least mitigated by some entertaining supporting characters who are themselves no saints. Anders' sudden interest in religion might be good for his soul but it's not good for business, and the vicar and the receptionist have to find a new plan, quick. The honour within the book is at times laugh out loud funny and is certainly having a go at the Catholic religion. I think the aim is supposed to be black humour, but black humour only really works if you feel something for its subjects.

Recently it was all “we have to have ‘girl’ or ‘woman’ in the title”, and then there are these weird long titles if your book is quirky and comedic in any way. Back at the hotel, he’s about to give this priest, Johanna Kjellander, the room next to the hitman, when a gangster-type drops in half the agreed fee for a job half done by the hitman. The book also contains Swedish politics which I found at times Boring and unnecessary and detracts from the storyline. Having loved Jonas Jonasson's previous tomes "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared" and "The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden" I was super excited to get my hands on his latest effort "Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All". This is very much in the vein of the other Jonasson books that I have read (100 year old man, girl who saved the king of Sweden) and was a bit samey.Johanna Kjellander, a priest who doesn’t believe in God and only became a priest because her father and grandfather were priests. I was surprised to see it set out so boldly at the end, but this always felt like a novel which had had problems and editorial salvage attempts. I’d not previously read any of Jonasson’s books, but as this was on offer on Kindle I thought I’d dive in.