Kjell Westö

How can the distinction best be made between being a neighbour and actually becoming a neighbour? Maybe it's more the difference between being a neighbour and becoming a friend. This is a story of such a situation.

Lang by Kjell Westö was published in 2005 for English readers and his is first crime/suspend novel. Kjell is a Swedish speaking Finlander author of several novels and books of poetry since 1986. Lang is psychological mystery with its polar opposite being Roseanna which is a Police Procedural story by the husband-and-wife writers Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. In Lang a crime is committed but the focus is on the why and its consequences rather then on its detection. The story is driven by show more the question what redemption is possible if your life is driven by fame and success rather then by love.

Lang is the host of Finland’s premier chat show-think Michael Parkinson crossed with Jeremy Paxman and started his rise to the top of the cultural heights by being a successful highbrow novelist. But his second marriage has just failed, and his son from his first is on drugs. He hasn’t written in over ten years and his TV ratings are slipping as viewers switch to new Friday night formats such as Big Brother and How to be a Millionaire. Worse still, he is in is 40’s going grey and fading physically.

A chance encounter with Sarita in a bar starts an obsessive lust affair complicated further which it becomes clear that she is equally locked in an unhealthy relationship with the violent father of her son. Yet it’s like a drug that initially gives the high of a revitalised career but then destroys it as the addicts needs to have more of what he craves leads to murder…but also redemption.

The story is not told by Lang but his best friend who is contacted in the opening scene for a spade to burry the body. Lang browbeats him to get the spade but when arrested keeps his friends involvement secret. The story then unfolds with the friend trying to discuss and write up Lang’s version which we gradually see is more his then Lang’s. We lean more about their friendship and Lang’s abuse of it and how he neglects his mentally ill sister. It also becomes clear that whilst Lang is clearly a charming but nasty piece of work, his friend and Sarita are not merely victims as they are playing their own games. Even Saritia’s violent drug-seller ex husband has more redeeming qualities then first appearances would suggest.

So does it work? Well don’t expect a nice simple bad-guy versus good-guy as nothing is easy or simply resolved and you are left with perhaps more questions then answers. It rings psychologically true and the writing and structure works well with memorable characters that haunt you even when you are not sure if you enjoyed or loved the story. Strongly recommended. show less

Lang is a well-known author and talk-show host. His erudite interviews draw audience attention. Until they don't. Over the years, he becomes a bit jaded and a bit distracted. The distraction comes as much from his affair with a young woman as from anything else, and he ignores the danger from Sarita's violently possessive ex-husband Marko.

The story is told by Lang's long-time friend, whom Lang calls in the middle of the night, frantic, asking for a shovel. From this intriguing start the tale show more backtracks and goes forward and finally puts it all together.

Why it's told by a friend I am not sure, other than that he is able to offer some opinions that a straightforward third-person telling would not afford. And to describe how Lang falls on hard times as a result of his own actions and lack of focus over time.

Quick and easy to read, kept me interested. show less

Lang is a solid novel that tackles difficult themes, such as domestic violence, with intelligence and compassion. However, maybe unsolved mysteries always tend, in some way, to be ultimately unsatisfying. The mystery is set up with such vigour throughout the novel that the ending must almost necessarily disappoint.

Part of the problem may lie in the nature of the narrator, whom the reader learns is flawed as a novelist, and who drifts by on the edge of the story. At one point, it is suggested show more that the narrator tends to dwell too much on researched detail. Certainly, the (over-)careful descriptions of Helsinki can drag the narrative thread down. It may be fun for some people to 'spot' local sights, but I did not need to know the exact name and location of many of the places where the story unfolds.

There is a lot that hits the mark: a middle-aged man in love with a younger woman; a hopeless love triangle; characters who seem unable to change. The conclusions, however, are left open. show less