It all begins with the two men who came for Matt, they interrupt the lesson and disturbs all of the schools students. We discussed about the realistic in the books beginning. Maybe in the U.S this could happen, probably in some of the getto-neighbourhoods. But in Sweden wouldn't the cops or detectives come at school time for something they don’t even were sure about.
To do a locker razzia they need like permissions in Sweden, but in the book they just came for Matt and brought him with. I think even you need a parents permission to do such a radical intervention in Sweden when the case is about an underage person.
The reader knows even after a few sentences that Matt is a popular boy with a great sense of humor and a talented writer/poet. I don’t know that much about Ursula until the second chapter, at that point the story switches view and I am in Ursula’s thoughts instead. Ursula seems to be the kind of person who is in the deep very unsure. She seems to be an angry, ugly and bitter girl. But.. Is that all there is?
What we don’t know yet is how Ursula and Matt are going to be involved in each others life’s. We only know that they're going to meet, not were, not when, but in a sudden future their story’s going to be one.
Some good thoughts on the first chapters of the story, Tilda, and I agree with you that it feels rather extreme for the police to disturb a class in that manner. As for scenery, I don't think you need to turn to a school in a ghetto/disadvantaged area of a city, to find things like this happening in the US.
SvaraRadera