Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

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I suspect the author delivers some underlying messages about the meaning of it all. But don’t ask me what they are. I’m just not that deep.

a b "The Meaning of it All". complete review. Archived from the original on December 14, 2010 . Retrieved February 15, 2011. Neither the receptionist nor the priest had any experience of how the housing market worked. Per person has spent his entire adult life sleeping behind a hotel lobby or in a camper-van. Johanna Kjellander’s knowledge of the same matter encompassed little more than her dad’s parsonage, a student-housing corridor in Uppsala, and her dad’s parsonage again (as a new graduate she’d had to commute between her childhood bedroom and her job, twelve miles away; this was the most freedom her dad would allow).” (p. 315) And for using them to delightfully skewer all kinds of societal and organisational pretensions in such a way that people you wouldn’t normally sympathise with suddenly become entirely relatable. But as the book continues on, and the story of one Johan Andersson unfolds, you begin to realise that no one’s life story is as simple and straightforward as it appears and that even a dimwitted, easily-conned dispatcher of people for the mob and other unsavoury criminal elements might regret his choice of vocation and long for an altogether different life. The Meaning of It All is non-technical book in which Feynman investigates the relationship between science and society.For those who have read / listened to either of the author's previous books, there is nothing really surprising here, and if you enjoyed those books, I'd highly recommend this one to you as well. The same unpredictable twisting plot and the same vein of light humour flows throughout this story. Well, that's for you to learn, but what you will have gathered is that this is a quite unusual plot. There really does seem no way to pin this down as being akin to anything else. Drink, lapsed religious types, vengeful gangsters and people permanently out of their comfort zone are all ripely given by Graham Greene's entertainments, but this doesn't read like them. It has the warm clarity, gentle character of comedy and over-arching humanist tone of Mitch Albom, but again the style isn't correct. This might well only be categorisable as a Jonas Jonasson book – this being the first of his three I've read I really couldn't properly say.

For me, it is the weakest of Jonasson's novels so far, owing mostly to a third act that grinds the action to a halt, before rushing somewhat unexpectedly to its ending. But overall, as with Jonasson's previous two, Hitman... is a briskly-paced, occasionally bizarre, often hilarious story, with unusually intelligent, though morally questionable protagonists, somewhat less intelligent, bungling antagonists, death, mayhem, oblivious authorities, lashings of karma, and an oddly recurring theme of a briefcase (or two) full of cash. k.a. φίλοι του μια παστόρισσα που δεν πιστεύει στο Θεό αλλά έγινε κληρικός γιατί την πίεζε ο πατέρας της να τιμήσει την οικογενειακή παράδοση και ένας ρεσεψιονίστας που για όλα κατηγορούσε τον παππού του που από εκατομμυριούχος πτώχευσε, αφήνοντας την οικογένειά του (δηλαδή τον πατέρα του, πολλά χρόνια προτού γεννηθεί αυτός) στην τύχη τους. Και ο Άντερς, μη φανταστείτε ότι είναι κακός άνθρωπος, απλά κάποια στιγμή παραφέρθηκε, συνδύασε αλκοόλ με χάπια, ξέρετε τώρα, ατυχήματα συμβαίνουν - και όταν αυτά καταλήγουν με ακέφαλους ή τρύπιους από σφαίρες ανθρώπους, σου βγαίνει το ρημάδι το όνομα χωρίς να φταις.... Jonasson’s real talent with a book of this nature, that actually does ask some fairly weight questions in amongst the quips, asides, and patently ludicrous but somehow believable situations, is that he neatly balances the serious with the silly in such a way that Hitman Anders never ever feels one joke disposable.If only children could be free of all that crap previous generations had gathered up for them, he said, perhaps it would bring some clarity to their lives." It’s not just hitman, priests and receptionists, none of whom have had particularly pleasing lives, who muse on these kinds of questions. Comic genius. . . . This book is the funniest, most irreligious fantasy since The Book of Mormon. . . . Jonasson just gets better and better. Highly recommended. Daily Express Together these two people, who share a distaste for the world in all its disappointing forms – their list of things they hate doesn’t shrink a little as the novel goes on and they realise that perhaps life does have something quite likable to offer them – and who believe there is no chance of anything good lasting long enough to change their circumstances for good, bond together, and with Hitman Anders embark on a zany search the length and breadth of southern Sweden in the search for the elusive meaning of it all. Hitman Anders may not have lived up to the author’s previous books (and it was strange to preview it in March when Jonasson was otherwise a summer read for me... these sentence structures belong in sunshine) – still I’m glad I read it. It may not win the author many new fans, but has enough of the formula to satisfy those who really liked both his earlier novels. It’s left me (and I daresay publishers) wondering whether Jonasson is ever going to produce another The Hundred-Year Old Man ever again, or change direction, or if this is pretty much it - but the narrative still kept me interested in what would happen to the characters, and aside from a few moments of cringing, it was relaxing and escapist, which is, after all, the purpose of books like this one.

When Anders gets Christianity, he says “Hosanna” a lot without knowing what it means – that’s the “comedy” by the way. If you laughed then, you’ll love this book because it’s full of, ahem, “jokes”, like that. Maybe when Anders becomes pastor of his church Jonasson is saying organized religion is run by crooks? Never heard a sentiment like that uttered before… Criticising Christianity is so passé these days – aren’t we over this yet? I’m not religious at all and firmly believe religion does more harm than good but I’m extremely bored with people pointing and laughing at Christianity. It’s easy and it’s been done people, move on or else have something original to say about it, which Jonasson doesn’t. Moloney, Daniel P. (November 1998). "Question Everything?". First Things. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014 . Retrieved November 11, 2014. a b Lezard, Nicholas (March 25, 2000). "A Feyn romance". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022 . Retrieved February 14, 2011. While no author should just keep doing the same thing over and over again, to me this tale felt too far removed from Jonasson's previous style to have me falling in love with the characters. Whilst a lot of the things that I loved in Jonasson's other novels were present - quirky personalities, happy coincidences and a lot of heart - the moral compass of this tale was way off.Maybe you’ll find the answers you seek, and maybe you won’t – even with the happy ending of sorts that graces the book, no one gets to live a fairytale which is the way of things if we’re going to be brutally honest – but like Hitman Anders and his thoroughly pragmatic and often unwilling partners in life-changing crime, you may find that life has a way of serving you up just you need at the exact moment you figure it’s given up on you for good. The bestselling novel from the author of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden Ultimately, the characters’ journey seemed very Scandinavian, connected to the central Swedish value of lagom (enough; moderation as an approach to all aspects of life). It turned out to be a story with a moral, not just a caper. They even learn to be more environmentally friendly, as well as more frugal and less grasping without practical justification. My wish for them to stop it without being punished too much was almost satisfied, though I still felt there was something missing. They didn’t seem to regret their past actions, or try to give restitution to the old parishioners. It’s a silly throwaway read, and I don't like preachy, didactic books, but this was somehow off-key - and contributed to my sense of disappointment that the ending didn't completely assuage. And perhaps that was amplified by having met the same plot point in another book only a couple of weeks ago - an insufficiently entertaining con-artist character swindling innocent people and not regretting it, in Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth. Totul in cărțile lui Jonasson este diferit. De la numele personajelor, alese in asa fel incat sa aduca zâmbetul pe buze, până la acțiunile lor ieșite din comun la fel de amuzante si absurde.

Did I think it was funny? I guess so, but more like amusing than hilariously funny. Yes, it was zany. Maybe some of the hilariousness was lost in translation and different nationalities often have different senses of humour. To a Swedish person, the book is probably hilarious. To a British person, not so hilarious. Maybe it's because I'm used to Nordic noir and not so used to Swedish comedy. Jonasson matches the irreverence of his debut The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. . . .It’s a thrilling ride. Financial Times

Like the author’s previous outings, Hitman Anders was a low-effort read that rattled along at a fair pace. And once again there is that curiously flippant way of describing dark and painful events, no matter who they affect, which makes classic British understatement look like Italian melodrama. Having noticed similar in other Swedish authors’ light fiction, A Man Called Ove and, more so in The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, I’m getting the impression that it may be a national thing, not just a Jonas Jonasson thing: Scandinavian stoicism. I like it, and it makes me feel a little more stoic whilst reading, even whilst I imagine it may offend or bewilder some other readers.