Shadows in the Twilight (1991)

Reviewed by Christina Tsichlis for TeensReadToo.com

SHADOWS IN THE TWILIGHT by Henning Mankell is written using the distinctive voice of the main character, Joel. This is a companion book to A BRIDGE TO THE STARS.

This is a story that asks philosophical questions and does it in a way everyone can understand. Best known for his crime novels for adults, Mankell will win the young adult reader over, as well. As the author is Swedish, it has a decidedly European flare in style as well as setting that the reader will find refreshing and honest.

Some of the questions addressed are faith, miracles, gender, and when to make the choice of staying silent or telling the truth. Told in the first person, the reader gets to see inside Joel's head and understand the questions and the changes in his life from the boy's perspective. It is a shrewdly told tale of a boy who thinks that he might have experienced divine intervention, and what happens when he tries to prove that he deserved said intervention through an elaborate scheme to do good.

Through the eyes of Joel we see a world created with magic, imagination, reality, and possible divinity. The reader becomes sucked into Joel's world to the point where nothing he says seems improbable, only interesting and special. It is a book that asks the big questions and does it creatively, beautifully, and interestingly. ( )

[Shadows in the Twilight] by Henning Mankell is the next in series in a young adult coming of age set of short novels. Joel Gustafson lives with his father, has a lively imagination, and wants desperately to be 15. When he is saved “by a miracle,” he decides he needs to return the favor for someone. Needless to say, his ideas and plans to “help” his adult friends are more difficult than he has thought they would be—and there is where the story has, once again, the heart of a young boy trying to grow up. I like Mankell’s writing in the three genres I’ve tried (mystery with Kurt Wallender; memory with his Africa books; and children’s with the Gustafson books), and, while this story is not a typical tweener type, it is recommended. ( )