Jonas Jonasson - Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

Author: Jonas Jonasson

Title: Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All (Estonian title: Mõrtsuk-Anders ja tema sõbrad)

Language: Estonian

Format: hardcover

Rating: 1½ stars

Reading challenge: A book by a Scandinavian author that isn't a mystery or suspense story

No of pages: 248

Date read: 11.11.2017

Goodreads

BLURB:

Hitman Anders, recently out of prison, is doing small jobs for the big gangsters. Then his life takes an unexpected turn when he meets a female Protestant vicar (who also happens to be an atheist), and a homeless receptionist at a former brothel which is now a one-star hotel. The three join forces and concoct an unusual business plan based on Hitman Anders’ skills and his fearsome reputation. The vicar and receptionist will organize jobs for a group of gangsters, and will attract customers using the tabloids’ love of lurid headlines.

The perfect plan—if it weren’t for Hitman Anders’ curiosity about the meaning of it all. In conversations with the vicar, he turns to Jesus and, against all odds, Jesus answers him! The vicar can’t believe what’s happening. When Hitman Anders turns to religion, the lucrative business is in danger, and the vicar and the receptionist have to find a new plan, quick.

Fast-paced and sparky, the novel follows these bizarre but loveable characters on their quest to create a New Church, with all of Sweden’s gangsters hunting them. Along the way, it explores the consequences of fanaticism, the sensationalist press, the entrepreneurial spirit and straightforward human stupidity—and underlying all of it, the tenuous hope that it’s never too late to start again.

What an odd book. Super weird plot whereas I  mostly failed at seeing the funny side of things and just kept wondering what the hell was going on and why on Earth this book is praised so much.

The idea behind it seems likeable enough, but the execution did nothing for me. It made me want to skip quite a few chapters, maybe even DNF at times - in the end I only skipped a couple of pages where I simply felt like skipping a bit. I wish I had DNF-ed instead.

Anders himself seems like a simplistic man who's easy to use - just like Per and Johanna did. By the way, those two made no sense whatsoever. They seemed loony enough to come up with these crazy ideas, but I didn't really see what made them tick.

Yes, the story is absurd and no-one is supposed to think of it as a serious work, but if the story is meant to be absurd, I'd like to laugh. Just a little. Some parts made me chuckle slightly - and those parts made me stick with it till the end - but mostly the absurdity of it all did not work for me.