Shadows in the Twilight

by Henning Mankell

Book Overview

Joel will soon be twelve, and he thinks nothing's going on in the small community where he lives. But he's wrong there. One day, a Miracle happens to him. He's very nearly run over by a bus, but is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385734964
• ISBN13: 9780385734967
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Henning Mankell paints a vivid picture with eccentric but lovable characters in his novels

Soon-to-be-12-year-old Joel Gustafson thinks life in his small Swedish community is pretty simple in September 1957. And it is. Joel has his father, his friends and his school. But then The Miracle happens, and Joel needs to find a way to do a good deed to show his thanks. Joel first appeared in A BRIDGE TO THE STARS, where he learned that his father Samuel was finally moving on to a new life and girlfriend Sara after Joel's mother Jenny left them years ago. He also met Gertrud, a woman with no nose (as a result of an operation). After he played pranks on her and she confronted him, he realized what an interesting person she really was and they became friends. In this follow-up novel, Joel is run over by a bus but is perfectly fine. His bag could have pulled him under the wheels, but somehow he ended up positioned in such a way that nothing happened to him. Everyone around him is now staring at him and giving him hugs --- including Samuel, Sara, Gertrud and even his teacher, who he didn't think was capable of hugs. His father plays their favorite game of sea adventures with him and even gives him a picture from when Samuel was younger and a sailor. It was a Miracle. Now Joel thinks his soul is in trouble, because he and his father are not religious, and he needs to offer thanks in some way. He resolves to do a great big good deed, but it's hard to determine what to do and who to help. His only two friends are Simon Windstrom, a lonely old man who is a bit crazy, and Gertrud. Ultimately he decides to help Gertrud meet that special someone. He sees a handsome man at the bar where Sara works and begins sending him and Gertrud letters inviting each other to meet. When that doesn't work, Joel tries again; he does not want Gertrud to be lonely. A dance is coming up in their town, and Joel works to get Gertrud and the attractive stranger to meet there. In the meantime, Joel is thinking hard about life, and about his mother. But his father doesn't want to answer any questions about Jenny. Does she think about Joel? Does she miss him? Does she wish she had never left? Some snooping uncovers a few answers but brings even more questions. After this, and when his plan to help Gertrud runs into problems, Joel realizes that some situations are better left alone. What would you do if you almost died? Joel's approach to dealing with what happened to him is realistic. It's easy to relate to his questions about his place in the universe and where he came from, and a book that has no clear-cut answers is more interesting than one in which everything is laid out in a predictable way. Henning Mankell paints a vivid picture with eccentric but lovable characters in his novels. Joel has a good heart, even as he makes some mistakes. --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

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. Reviewed by: Christina Tsichlis

A fine story evolves of discovery and change.

Readers of Henning Mankell's A BRIDGE TO THE STARS will relish SHADOWS IN THE TWILIGHT, continuing the story of Joel Gustafson, his father and their friends in a new story of good deeds, divine intervention and putting the world right. A fine story evolves of discovery and change.