Man taucht ab in die tiefsten Tiefen einer dunklen Seele: Dieses Buch ist fesselnd, es hat mich sehr beeindruckt und fasziniert. Es ist sehr spannend, düster und depressiv, darin steht es den Wallander-Krimis in nichts nach. Das Besondere an diesem Buch ist, dass es weitgehend aus der Sicht eines zunehmend verabscheuungswürdigen Menschen erzählt wird, dessen abgrundtief schlechter Charakter kaum zu übertreffen ist. Dieser Mensch, ein Seevermesser, vermittelt von außen betrachtet den Eindruck, im Laufe der Handlung immer mehr seinen Realitätssinn zu verlieren, und gleichzeitig betreibt er sehenden Auges sein schlimmes, böses, falsches Spiel. Als Leser müsste man sich aufregen und wütend auf ihn sein, doch sein Verhalten macht so fassungslos, dass man wie paralysiert neben sich steht und permanent die Luft anhalten möchte. Er spielt ein grausames Spiel mit zwei Frauen, die er m. E. beide nicht liebt. Wenn er von seiner Ehefrau spricht, nennt er sie stets bei ihrem vollen Namen, Christina Tacker, was eine merkwürdige Distanz des Paares zueinander zeigt. Er bringt sie häufig mit den Porzellanfiguren, welche sie sammelt, in Verbindung. Fast scheint es, als ob er sie selbst wie einen ebensolchen toten Gegenstand betrachtet. Man kann sich des Eindrucks nicht erwehren, dass er sie aus rein gesellschaftlichen Gründen geheiratet hat, um sein eigenes Ansehen zu steigern und sein berufliches Fortkommen positiv zu beeinflussen. Die andere Frau, Sara Frederika, lebt allein auf einer Schäre weit draußen in der Ostsee und wünscht sich sehnlichst weg von dort. Dabei könnte er ihr helfen. Das gibt ihm eine gewisse Macht über sie. Vielleicht ist es das, was ihn so an ihr fasziniert, dass er eifersüchtig über sie wacht. Auch den meisten anderen Menschen begegnet er mit innerer Kälte und Distanziertheit. Dabei gibt er sich nach außen anders, wohl wissend, dass er sein wahres Ich nicht zeigen kann.

Dies ist kein schönes Buch, aber eins, das sich zu Lesen lohnt, weil es herausragt aus dem Angebot. Gerade wenn man schon viel gelesen hat, erlebt man immer wieder einmal ein déjà vu des gleichen Themas in anderer Verpackung. Bei Tiefe ist das nicht so. Mir wurde häufig beinahe schlecht beim Lesen von so viel Skrupellosigkeit und einem Verhalten, von dem man sagen würde, dass es nur einem kranken Hirn entspringen kann. Gleichzeitig war ich so gefangen von diesem Buch, dass ich die Lektüre kaum unterbrechen mochte und wie besessen las. Es ist kafkaesk, aber aus der Person heraus, nicht von außen, und kein Buch für jeden Leser; man muss wissen, was man mag und was man sich zumuten kann.

Set in Sweden during the first years of World War 1, this is the tale of Lars Tobiasson-Svartman, a naval officer who specialises in charting navigable channels in the Baltic Sea. He is fascinated by the measurement of distances and depths, but the novel is not only about soundings in the sea, but also Lars’ distance from other people and the depths to which he can sink when under pressure. His marriage to Kristina seems sound enough at first, if rather lacking in passion. But when on a mission to sound a new passage through the Ostergotland Archipelago, he discovers a lone woman (Sara Fredrika) living in a hut on an otherwise uninhabited skerry (rocky islet). He takes every opportunity to row ashore and spy on the woman, until one day he engineers his being caught on the island during a storm and Sara gives him shelter. In the following months he invents reasons to return to Sara, and he tells her his wife and daughter are dead. His invented stories to both Kristina and Sara, and to his naval superiors, become more and more complex, and he is revealed to have a vicious temper, which leads to an attack on his father-in-law, and the murder of a German deserter who finds his way to Sara’s island.
Finally, in this bleak and atmospheric novel, both Kristina and Sara discover the extent of his deceptions and both abandon him on the island. It is a fascinating and disturbing novel, convincingly depicting Sweden’s harsh winters and Lars’ frailties of character. ( )

i like the fact the the main character was not really likeable but still interesting. ( )

It is difficult to classify this book, it could be a thriller, but is 'slow' and it seems to lack some of the characteristics of the genre; there is a crime, but it is not a detective story and the plot is not driven for the need to uncover the killer; it is set during WWI, but it is not a 'war' novel; the best way to describe it, which fit with some of the characterizations in the reviews on the back cover is as book of 'suspense'.
The main character is an officer in the Swedish navy, expert in measuring the depth of the sea in order to draw navigation charts. He is sent on a mission in the course of which he will meet Sara, a woman living on his own in an island. This meeting will challenge his marriage to Kristina.
Mankell has written a very atmospheric book in which is almost possible to feel the cold, the sea and the hardship of living in a solitary island. The characters are not particularly likeable, but they are engaging. They develop during the story and we get to know different aspects of them, but we never get a full picture of their motivations. This could be because the narration focuses on Lars (the main character) and his inability to relate to others fully. He never understands who they are and focuses on very shallow details of their character (his wife liking porcelain figurines, for instance). Although he is obsessed with the concept of depth his relationships are very superficial, he never engages properly with any of the two women in his life, or with his colleagues. He is unable to read others well, due to his self absorption, but most of the people that he encounter are able to see through him, and they find that they cannot trust him and feel that he will not keep his word. Everybody did, except his wife. This was a surprise. ( )

Depths is first non crime novel I have read by Swede Henning Mankell. I would have to say that it disappointed. It tells the story of Lars Tobiasson-Svartman a naval engineer checcking depth readings for the Swedish navy early in WWI. I should say stories since the point of the novel is the lack of depth of the central character and the lies he spins which end up with his wife's losing her grip on reality.

The style is staccato, the central character unlikeable, and the plot promises more than it delivers. The novel opens with an escapee from a mental hospital wandering in the woods and remembering her husband. The question is how did she get to this point but Mankell never really answers this satisfactorily. Sure we learn how she is betrayed by Tobiasson-Svartman but there is a gap between the betrayal and the time she stopped speaking of ten years of which we learn nothing. Mankell is not interested in Kristina Tacker despite referring to her constantly. Tobiasson-Svartman comes to realize that he does not know his wife but it may have been a more interesting book if the reader had learnt more about her. ( )