Hanna's Daughters, or The Book That Was Almost There

I've finished reading Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson. I have to say, I agree with CelloBella. I'm rather unimpressed. I kept waiting for the story to take hold, to deepen and engage me, but it fell disappointingly flat. The sparse storytelling spanning three lives of the characters did not put much meat on the bones of the saga. I expected more detail and emotional revelations; the book seemed to skim the surface of decades of life far from ordinary. Perhaps, as CelloBella has mentioned, this novel lost its warmth in translation, or perhaps it is just a dish served cold. --Elle

Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson

It looks like I'm the first to finish - or at least the first to review Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson.

It's the saga of three women - Hanna - who lives at the turn of last century in a remote town near Norway, Joanna - her daughter (who in the present is dying in a nursing home) and Anna the grand-daughter - who is piecing their stories together.

I didn't think I was going to like this book at all. The opening sequence of Anna stressing out about her mum in a nursing home left me cold. But the story of Hanna kept me turning the pages and then I wanted to finish it.

The cover reads as if Anna is finding out the history of her forebears but the text doesn't read like that and it spoils it a bit as you are constantly fighting against the logic of it all. After all it's not like she can ask her mother anything - she's not speaking - and Hanna is long gone... Once you let go of that logic it draws you in.

The writing is sparse. It's hard to tell if that's a function of the translation. I didn't mind it but it didn't feel warm or engaging. I just didn't feel the sympathy I felt I should have especially for Joanna or Anna. I connected with the story of Hanna until she moved to the city and then... she lost me.

Overall I felt it was an interesting book, but it left me a little cold. A bit like Scandinavia I suspect! Well, in winter anyway...

Your thoughts?