Maj Sjowall Quotes

• Death is never very pretty.

  Maj Sjowall

  Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo (2010). “Cop Killer: A Martin Beck Police Mystery (9)”, p.6, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

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• Yes, think what a lot of nonsense one can figure out with plenty of time. Brooding is the mother of ineffectiveness.

  Maj Sjowall

  Mother, Thinking, Ineffectiveness

  Maj Sjowall, Per Wahloo (2010). “Roseanna: A Martin Beck Police Mystery (1)”, p.68, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  4 Copy quote

• We always had money problems. Sometimes I would lie awake at night wondering how to pay the rent.

  Maj Sjowall

  Lying, Night, Pay

  "The queen of crime". Interview with Louise France, www.theguardian.com. November 21, 2009.

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• There were many films made for both cinema and television, and in general I don't connect them very much with our books. I have one favorite: 'The Man on the Roof' by director Bo Widerberg, which was based on 'The Abominable Man.

  Maj Sjowall

  Book, Men, Directors

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• People read more mysteries than they do political pamphlets.

  Maj Sjowall

  People, Political, Mystery

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• I like Jo Nesbo and Hakan Nesser. There are so many good books in the world. I don't want to spend time reading bad crime novels.

  Maj Sjowall

  Book, Reading, Crime Novels

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• You get tough when you grow up unloved. People described me as a boyish girl - rather shy, but I didn't show it. I had an attitude. I was rather wild. I lied a lot because I knew the alternative was to be punished. As I got older I realised I didn't have to lie any more and it was a nice feeling. I could be myself.

  Maj Sjowall

  Girl, Attitude, Growing Up

  "The queen of crime". Interview with Louise France, www.theguardian.com. November 21, 2009.

  22 Copy quote

• When I was 11, I realised that I did not have to live the life my mother had: school, marriage, children, apartment, summer house.

  Maj Sjowall

  Summer, Mother, Children

  "The queen of crime" by Louise France, www.theguardian.com. November 21, 2009.

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• We wanted to describe society from our left point of view. Per had written political books, but they'd only sold 300 copies. We realised that people read crime and through the stories we could show the reader that under the official image of welfare-state Sweden there was another layer of poverty, criminality and brutality.

  Maj Sjowall

  Book, Views, People

  "The queen of crime". Interview with Louise France, www.theguardian.com. November 21, 2009.

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• Sweden is a small country, and a Swedish writer can barely make a living as an author. We were able to quit our jobs as journalists only after we had been translated into, among others, German.

  Maj Sjowall

  Country, Jobs, Sweden

  7 Copy quote

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