Johnny, My Friend

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Johnny, My Friend, originally Janne, min vän, was the first novel written by the Swedish author Peter Pohl (1985.)

The book is written for everybody who think that everything is what it looks like, for everybody who don't care about thinking and searching for an answer, for those who don't care about their fellow beings. It is written during the '80s when the new liberal era was strong with Reagan in the USA and Thatcher in England. Their political view was that every human being must fight for what they want, and if they don't fight for it, they are not worth it. "Johnny, my friend" was a cry for brotherliness and a strong vote for the welfare system that exist in Sweden today.

[edit] Plot

(Warning! Spoilers!)

The narrator of the book is 12-year-old Krille. He grew up during the '50s in Stockholm in a very safe and supporting family in, which made him a bit naive. This is about to change. A new boy arrives, Johnny. Johnny impresses the other boys by the tricks he can do with his bike and wins their respect.

Johnny is a bit of a mystery. He rarely says anything about his life, they don't know where he lives and sometimes he disappears for long periods, just to turn up again without any explanation. Krille tries to figure out who he is but before he finds out the truth everything goes horriby wrong.

"Johnny" turns out to be a she. The cykling acrobat "Miss Juvenile" who works on a circus. She desperately tried to escape her horrible excistence as an exploited child, forced to live a life without freedom and exposed to threats and violence.

The book was translated to 11 languages:

Danish: Min bedste ven 1987

Norwegian: Janne min venn 1988

German: Jan, mein Freund 1990

Dutch: Jan, mijn vriend Johnny, My Friend 1991

French: Jan, mon ami 1995

Italian: Il mio amico Jan 1996

Estonian: Janne, mu sõber 1997

Japanese: 『ヤンネ、ぼくの友だち』 1997

Icelandic: Janni vinur minn 1997

Low German: Jan, mien Fründ 2000

The film My friend Joe is based on the book.