Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa Five words from the blurb: Congo, fortune, jungle, enslaved, kidnapping I hadn’t heard of Atxaga before this unsolicited review copy popped through my letter box, but the impressive list of awards he has won (including the Spanish National Literature Prize and a shortlisting for the European Literature [...]
Posts under ‘Books in Translation’
Two Abandoned Nobels
Translated from the German by Joachim Neugroschel The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004 Five words from the blurb: Vienna, emotional, self-destruction, intensity, porn The Piano Teacher is an unrelenting, intense tale of one woman’s self-destruction. Erika is a piano teacher who lives with her controlling mother. [...]
The Sinner – Petra Hammesfahr
Translated from the German by John Brownjohn Five words from the blurb: killed, man, past, childhood, horrors The Sinner was a bestseller in Germany, staying at the top of the book charts for fifteen months. I can see why it was so popular – it is well written, intelligent, and packed with unexpected twists. It is a [...]
The Death of the Adversary – Hans Keilson
Translated from the German by Ivo Jarosy Five words from the blurb: masterpiece, dictator, Germany, Jewish, tyranny Hans Keilson wrote this book whilst hiding from the Nazis during WWII. The narrator is a Jewish boy who witnesses a dictator rising to power. We see the way his life is changed by the increasing influence of this evil [...]
The Fat Years – Chan Koonchung
Translated from the Chinese by Michael S. Duke Five words from the blurb: China, truth, memory, cheerfulness, world The Fat Years is billed as “the notorious thriller they banned in China”, but closer inspection reveals that the fictional elements of this story are minimal and I think it can be more accurately described as a controversial exposé [...]
Breathing Underwater – Marie Darrieussecq
Translated from the French by Linda Coverdale Five words from the blurb: coast, daughter, clues, looking, mistake Last year I was amazed by the power of the novel, Beside the Sea, and so asked for recommendations of books with a similar level of impact. Breathing Underwater was suggested as a book that not only shared the themes [...]
