Chronicler of the Winds (1995)

Eine magische Aura umweht den afrikanischen Straßenjungen Nelio: Noch nie hat jemand gewagt, ihn zu verprügeln. Vielleicht weil aus dem 10-Jährigen, dem sich die irdischen Abgründe viel zu früh erschlossen haben, eine greise Weisheit spricht. Jetzt aber liegt Nelio mit schweren Schusswunden auf dem Dach eines ärmlichen Theaters. Dort erzählt er -- zwischen kräftezehrenden Fieberschüben -- dem Bäckerjungen José Antonio Maria Vaz sein Leben. Das beginnt mit der Erinnerung an die Banditen, die sein Dorf niederbrannten, seine Schwester töteten und vor denen er geflüchtet ist, als sie ihn zwingen wollten, einen Verwandten zu erschießen. Und es endet bei den Straßenkindern in der Stadt, denen Nelio zu einem an Fairness und Reife geradezu übermenschlichen Anführer wurde: Gestohlen jedenfalls wird nicht unter seinem Regime; bestenfalls -- in der Villa eines verreisten Entwicklungshelfers -- der Kühlschrank leer gegessen.

I had to get into this book when I first started to reading it. A story embedded in a story, it had been a while since I read a book constructed this way.

Mankell, being one of my favourite writers, did not lrt me down with this book ascwell. It was a sad but very interesting read. ( )

After being uncertain in my choice this book became a wee gem. A powerful reflection on the cruel hands that are dealt in life. The reader is left with much to think upon, especially those of us living in Western societies. ( )

In an unnamed African country in a small village,lives a five year old boy. Nelio is a perfectly ordinary little boy whose life is changed forever when a group of bandits attack the village. Taken captive,he finally kills one of the leaders of the gang and escapes. Various adventures ensue until he enters a city and becomes leader of a group of street urchins.
Gun-shots are heard one night and the badly wounded Nelio is found by a local baker,who takes him to the roof of a nearby building to try to help him.
The main body of the book is about Nelio's story of his all to short life and he tells the baker that when his story is told,then he will die.
Well told,this is a story that will stay with you for some time. ( )

This book starts out a little slow, but picks up speed. It's written by a swedish author about the happenings in an unnamed town in an unnamed country in Africa about characters with vaguely spanish sounding names and told in a style similar to a someone like Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. The book is about the lives of a street kid named Nelio. He is shot and tells his story to a baker - a story that starts in a small village, but takes him across the African countryside (in the company of an albino dwarf with an empty suitcase) to live in the big city, where he eventually becomes the leader of one of the gangs of street kids. It's an interesting story and well told. A quick read. ( )