The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell
Published 1994 · 117,052 words · about 8 hours at an average pace · Fiction, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Thriller
How hard is The Man Who Smiled to read?
The Man Who Smiled scores 45 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 38 out of 100
- The vocabulary is generally accessible and contemporary, typical of a modern crime novel. While it includes some legal and police jargon (e.g., 'solicitor,' 'forensic team,' 'post-mortem') and standard literary words like 'complaisance' or 'pedantic,' these terms are usually clear from context and do not require specialized knowledge. The text avoids archaic language, invented words, or extensive obscure terminology, making it significantly less demanding than works like 'Ulysses' (95) or 'Moby-Dick' (72).
- Sentence structure: 35 out of 100
- Sentences are predominantly direct and declarative, with a clear subject-verb-object structure that prioritizes plot progression. While some sentences incorporate subordinate clauses, they are generally easy to parse and lack the deep nesting or extended length found in authors like Henry James ('The Golden Bowl,' 88) or William Faulkner ('Absalom, Absalom!,' 85). The prose maintains a functional clarity, aligning more closely with the straightforward syntax of '1984' (35).
- Abstraction: 32 out of 100
- The narrative is firmly grounded in concrete events, character actions, and dialogue, focusing on the unfolding police investigation and Wallander's immediate experiences. Although Wallander engages in moments of introspection about his past, emotional state, or societal changes, these reflections are brief and directly tied to the plot, rather than extensive philosophical or theoretical digressions. The book's primary drive is a tangible mystery, placing it far below works like 'The Waste Land' (92) or 'Waiting for Godot' (85).
- Information density: 38 out of 100
- Information is presented clearly and sequentially, allowing readers to follow multiple plotlines and character developments without feeling overwhelmed. The text introduces clues, suspects, and Wallander's personal struggles at a manageable pace, avoiding the dense allusions, complex schemas, or encyclopedic references that characterize high-density works like 'Ulysses' (90) or 'War and Peace' (80). The attention demands are primarily focused on linear plot comprehension, similar to a plot-driven novel with manageable reveals ('The Housemaid,' 35).
- Narrative indirection: 40 out of 100
- The narrative primarily follows Wallander's direct observations and internal monologues, clearly stating his thoughts and suspicions as he processes information. While the plot involves uncovering hidden truths, the reader is largely guided through Wallander's investigative inferences rather than being forced to construct meaning from ambiguous narrative presentation. This is more direct than 'The Great Gatsby' (65), where Nick's bias significantly shapes perception, but slightly less direct than '1984' (35) due to Wallander's introspective nature.
- Symbolic density: 60 out of 100
- The text employs several recurring motifs, such as the pervasive fog symbolizing Wallander's internal confusion and the obscured truth, and the 'man who smiled' representing hidden menace. Wallander's internal struggles are often described with symbolic language, like his soul being a 'devastated bomb site.' While these elements add depth, they primarily serve to enhance the literal narrative rather than forming an allegorical structure, placing it above 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (45) but below 'The Great Gatsby' (75).
- Ironic distance: 30 out of 100
- The narrative maintains a largely earnest and empathetic tone, primarily aligning with Wallander's perspective and internal struggles. While there are occasional moments of situational irony, such as the police chief's focus on uniforms amidst serious crime, and Wallander's self-deprecating humor, these do not create a significant gap between the text's surface meaning and a deeper, critical authorial intent. This score is higher than 'Diary of a Young Girl' (15) but significantly lower than 'The Great Gatsby' (70).
- Resolution withholding: 80 out of 100
- The excerpt concludes with Wallander's car exploding, leaving the central mysteries of the double murder, the landmine, and the attempted assassination entirely unresolved. Wallander himself acknowledges 'many locked doors still to open,' indicating that the narrative is actively withholding closure on multiple fronts. This high level of suspense and unanswered questions places it significantly above 'The Great Gatsby' (60), which has a closed plot but open meaning, and closer to works like 'Crying of Lot 49' (75) in its resistance to immediate resolution.
- Structural complexity: 35 out of 100
- The narrative maintains a largely linear chronology, following Wallander's investigation in a straightforward, day-by-day progression. While Wallander frequently reflects on past events, these flashbacks are clearly integrated and do not disrupt the overall timeline or introduce significant disorientation. The point of view remains consistently focused on Wallander, without shifts or formal experimentation, making it more structurally simple than 'The Great Gatsby' (55) but slightly above 'War and Peace' (40) due to the frequent, albeit clear, internal retrospection.
How The Man Who Smiled is regarded
The Man Who Smiled holds a literary regard score of 53 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.