Book review: The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden

Last year, I read Jonas Jonasson's debut novel, The One-Hundred-Year Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, and loved it. I adored the protagonist, the surreal events and the light-hearted tone. So when I saw a woman on the train reading Jonasson's second novel, The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden, I had to buy a copy straight away. 

I was a little apprehensive since I was such a fan of the first novel, but I had nothing to worry about! I fell in love with Nombeko within the first 10 pages. A black South African toilet cleaner, she is born into a life of racism, but teaches herself to read and count. Her gifted mind and eagerness to learn allows her to move on and up in life, slowly but surely. In some ways, Nombeko is very unlucky, but she has such intelligence that she manages to turn all life's negatives around. As the decades pass, she finds herself in more and more surreal situations, with a whole host of unusual characters. 

It's difficult not to compare this novel to the previous. As with The Hundred-Year-Old Man, the strange events seem somehow plausible. I didn't question the logic of anything, even though they are totally illogical. I connected with most of the characters, although some were a little irritating to me (There were also some characters who were supposed to be annoying, but I had no problems finding the humour in them), and found myself really rooting for them.

Ultimately, it's a positive tale of what you can achieve when you set your mind to it, even if nobody else knows you exist. It was an uplifting and cheerful rollercoaster of a novel that I recommend to anyone looking for a summer read. 

Buy The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden here

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