I had heard so much about Jo Nesbo - and I enjoy this genre - that I had high hope when I began reading The Bat, which I chose because it was the first in this series. Given my high expectations I was disappointed overall with The Bat. A number of things fell short.
First the vast majority of the action took place in Australia, which was weird. (I kept getting the feeling while reading it that the author visited that country so he could write a book with it as the setting. This all seemed I had heard so much about Jo Nesbo - and I enjoy this genre - that I had high hope when I began reading The Bat, which I chose because it was the first in this series. Given my high expectations I was disappointed overall with The Bat. A number of things fell short. First the vast majority of the action took place in Australia, which was weird. (I kept getting the feeling while reading it that the author visited that country so he could write a book with it as the setting.
This all seemed artificial to me somehow - maybe because I hadn't read any of his other works and I was more or less expecting a Scandinavian locale.) Secondly, the book jumped around from place to place and character to character in a disjointed fashion which made me feel the author was making this up as he went along. Thirdly, the translation into English had a lot to be desire. Perhaps it was because the translator was from the UK and, as an American, many the colloquialisms didn't register. Lastly, it was a disappointing ending.
I may read another one of Mr. Nesbo's books but only after reading some mostly positive reviews first. I can always tell how bad a book is by how long it takes me to read it! This book was awful.
I seriously wonder if it had been the first book translated into English would the series be so popular. My bet is it would not! At first I thought it was a young adult mystery because the sentence structure was so basic and simple.
Nope, it was poorly written, equally poorly translated and lacked an editor to ensure that the translation made sense in English. All lacking in the book.There was a bit of I can always tell how bad a book is by how long it takes me to read it! This book was awful. I seriously wonder if it had been the first book translated into English would the series be so popular. My bet is it would not!
At first I thought it was a young adult mystery because the sentence structure was so basic and simple. Nope, it was poorly written, equally poorly translated and lacked an editor to ensure that the translation made sense in English. All lacking in the book.There was a bit of redemption in the fact that the history, although simplistically told, enlightened many on Australia - their history, culture and ideology.I would never had read this book if it was not a book club choice. It would have been pitched by page 25. Perhaps there are newer and better editions available from the one that I bought, but the translation wasn't the best. I often found that words were missing in some places, punctuation was a little off and that the translation left a number of words in Norwegian.
Some words were meant to be in Norwegian in this particular book, but the ones I'm talking about seemed to be a clear mistake. With that said though, it doesn't take away from the impact of the book, but does take away from a little of Perhaps there are newer and better editions available from the one that I bought, but the translation wasn't the best. I often found that words were missing in some places, punctuation was a little off and that the translation left a number of words in Norwegian. Some words were meant to be in Norwegian in this particular book, but the ones I'm talking about seemed to be a clear mistake. With that said though, it doesn't take away from the impact of the book, but does take away from a little of the quality of both the book and the overall satisfaction of the read.
Perhaps to the grammar and writing wiz, I would suggest turning your back to this book.I really don't have much more else to say about the book. It wasn't the most captivating read but a fun one nonetheless. I still enjoyed it overall and was pleased with the read. Coming to this page to tag this book as read I skimmed through the other reviews and have seen the error of my ways. I read this book first.I hated it. I had to make myself read every single page. The Australian setting seemed very awkward and a few pages in, after a few mentions of 'How are ya, mate', I found myself wanting to throw the book at a wall.
Not a good first impression and it didn't really get much better from there.I guess, based on the other reviews here, that I now have to Coming to this page to tag this book as read I skimmed through the other reviews and have seen the error of my ways. I read this book first.I hated it. I had to make myself read every single page. The Australian setting seemed very awkward and a few pages in, after a few mentions of 'How are ya, mate', I found myself wanting to throw the book at a wall.
Not a good first impression and it didn't really get much better from there.I guess, based on the other reviews here, that I now have to decide whether to go against my better judgement and read another Jo Nesbo book. That would seem ridiculous. I have spent the last few weeks promising myself never to repeat this error.Bad, just bad. I haven't read any Jo Nesbo novels before but I heard a lot about him so as I saw The Bat I decided to buy it. First pages it was the nightmare to digest.
Jo Nesbo Books
If I hadn't heard good opinions about his books before, I would have never kept reading this one. At the end it wasn't that bad but the story was so unrealistic, the language used i.e. Expressions, idioms was so uncommon that I had to read sometime twice the same sentence to understand. Nevertheless I survived till the end and I can admit it I haven't read any Jo Nesbo novels before but I heard a lot about him so as I saw The Bat I decided to buy it. First pages it was the nightmare to digest.
If I hadn't heard good opinions about his books before, I would have never kept reading this one. At the end it wasn't that bad but the story was so unrealistic, the language used i.e.
Expressions, idioms was so uncommon that I had to read sometime twice the same sentence to understand. Nevertheless I survived till the end and I can admit it was entertaining, though.
About Jo NesboJo Nesbo is one of the world’s bestselling crime writers, with The Leopard, Phantom, Police, The Son and his latest Harry Hole novel, The Thirst, all topping the Sunday Times bestseller charts. He’s an international number one bestseller and his books are published in 50 languages, selling over 33 million copies around the world.Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for Norway’s premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for Spurs was dashed when he tore ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen. After three years military service he attended business school and formed the band Di derre (‘Them There’).
They topped the charts in Norway, but Nesbo continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and gigging at night. When commissioned by a publisher to write a memoir about life on the road with his band, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime novel, The Bat.