I should say that I’ve read the English translations of “Felidae” and "Felidae on the Road” by Akif Pirinçci, and “Three Bags Full” by Leonie Swann, and I saw the “Felidae” animated movie.
I thought it was amusing that all three books were translated into English by Anthea Bell, who also translated the French “Astérix” cartoon books (at least those written by René Goscinny; I haven’t read those since his death) into English.
The “Felidae” novel is better than the movie, in my opinion. The movie is very faithful, but it’s too compressed. In the novel, Francis walks into a murder scene, studies it carefully, ponders for a few minutes, and then tells his theory of what must have happened. In the movie, he’s telling his theory while he’s entering the scene. This speeds up the story, but makes Francis seem like a know-it-all.
Both the book and the movie are properly morbid and cynical.
“Felidae on the Road” (the second novel in the series; the German title is “Francis”) begins so similarly to “Felidae” that I almost quit reading it halfway through because it seemed to be an unimaginative copy. This turned out to be deliberate; the killer is aware of Francis’ previous case, and is trying to mislead him into thinking the crimes are alike.
I haven’t read the third novel translated into English, which seems to be an obscure paperback the library doesn’t have.
I enjoyed “Three Bags Full” once I got past the victim’s having been stabbed to death with a spade. I’ve wondered if “spade” is a mistranslation for some other farm implement such as a pitchfork, since you couldn’t stick a spade through a body. But Bell seems to be too good a translator to have gotten the word wrong.
I should say that I’ve read the English translations of “Felidae” and "Felidae on the Road” by Akif Pirinçci, and “Three Bags Full” by Leonie Swann, and I saw the “Felidae” animated movie.
I thought it was amusing that all three books were translated into English by Anthea Bell, who also translated the French “Astérix” cartoon books (at least those written by René Goscinny; I haven’t read those since his death) into English.
The “Felidae” novel is better than the movie, in my opinion. The movie is very faithful, but it’s too compressed. In the novel, Francis walks into a murder scene, studies it carefully, ponders for a few minutes, and then tells his theory of what must have happened. In the movie, he’s telling his theory while he’s entering the scene. This speeds up the story, but makes Francis seem like a know-it-all.
Both the book and the movie are properly morbid and cynical.
“Felidae on the Road” (the second novel in the series; the German title is “Francis”) begins so similarly to “Felidae” that I almost quit reading it halfway through because it seemed to be an unimaginative copy. This turned out to be deliberate; the killer is aware of Francis’ previous case, and is trying to mislead him into thinking the crimes are alike.
I haven’t read the third novel translated into English, which seems to be an obscure paperback the library doesn’t have.
I enjoyed “Three Bags Full” once I got past the victim’s having been stabbed to death with a spade. I’ve wondered if “spade” is a mistranslation for some other farm implement such as a pitchfork, since you couldn’t stick a spade through a body. But Bell seems to be too good a translator to have gotten the word wrong.
The sequel, “Garou”, looks fascinating.
https://www.amazon.de/Garou-Ein-Schaf-Thriller-Leonie-Swann/dp/3442473594/ref=sr...
Fred Patten