Category: Books in Translation

Categories
Books in Translation

The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke

The Mussel Feast Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

Five words from the blurb: German, family, issues, revolutions, understand

Beside the Sea is one of my favourite books, but I’ve had less success with other Peirene releases. A few weeks ago Meike, the founder of Peirene Press, assured me that The Mussel Feast would be to my taste, so I decided to accept a review copy. She was right – this is a fantastic book and the ending is particularly good.

The Mussel Feast is a 112 page monologue narrated by a daughter as she waits for her father to return home for dinner. The father is expected to receive a promotion so the family cooks a large pot of mussels to celebrate.  A wonderful sense of foreboding mounts as the father is increasingly late; mirroring Beside the Sea in the way an ordinary situation slowly becomes unbearably tense.

She opened the wine and we felt terribly insubordinate. We sat around the dead mussels as if part of some conspiracy and drank father’s second best wine without him, gradually realizing that the mood had been spoiled for all of us.

The book is set in Germany and was written shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The repressed state that they live in is revealed over the course of the book, perfectly capturing what life is like for a family living under the power of a tyrannical father.

The writing was gripping, despite the meandering narrative, and the lack of chapter/page breaks encourages the reader to complete the book in a single sitting, giving the book maximum impact. 

This is a wonderful little book and I’m sure that a second reading would reveal even more depth. Recommended to anyone interested in thought-provoking international literature. 

.

The thoughts of other bloggers:

For a book so troubled in tone, I found it to be funny and inventive, and with surprising flashes of relatability to familiar aspects of family life… Tolstoy is My Cat

The style is curiously hypnotic… Book Word

…a work which is surprisingly powerful and layered for its size. Tony’s Reading List

Categories
2000 - 2007 Books in Translation

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World

Five words from the blurb: unicorn, librarians, descent, tradegy, detachment

Hard-Boiled Wonderland is my fifth Murakami (I’ve read Wild Sheep Chase, Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore) but although I loved the bizarre scenes, I think I understood this book less than any of the others I’ve read.

The book contained a dual narrative: one part set in an alternative version of modern Japan, the other in a mysterious walled city. These short, alternating chapters added pace and ensured the reader was never bored.

The plot revolved around unicorns; trying to avoid strange vicious creatures called INKlings; and bizarre experiments on the mind. I loved the first two aspects, but the third confused me. I also failed to understand the book’s concept. I think I’d benefit from reading a study guide, as far too much went over my head.

The writing style was simpler and less vibrant than the other Murakamis I’ve read and I initially struggled to connect with it. It took about 70 pages before I was gripped to the plot and there was one point, about 40 pages in, where I even considered abandoning it. Luckily I persevered and was rewarded with more of Murakami’s unique brand of weirdness.

“Your shadow is on the verge of death. A person has the right to see his own shadow under these circumstances. There are rules about this. The Town observes the passing of a shadow as a solemn event, and the Gatekeeper does not interfere.”

The joy of this book is the way it transports you out of your comfort zone. It is unpredictable, entertaining and completely bonkers, but I wish I there had been more adventure and less complex mind theory.

Recommended to those who are already Murakami fans, as I don’t think this is a good place to start.

.

Have you read this book?

Did you understand it?

Is it your favourite Murakami? 

To find more Japanese literature reviews head over to Tony’s January in Japan blog.

Categories
2012 Books in Translation Other Prizes

The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura

The ThiefWinner of the 2010 Kenzaburo Oe Prize

Translated from the Japanese by Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates

Five words from the blurb: pickpocket, strangers, past, tangle, escape

The Thief is a short, engaging book about a pickpocket who targets rich people on the streets of Tokyo. It vividly captures the roller-coaster of emotion that the pickpocket goes through as he searches for a victim and then skillfully relieves them of their wallet.

I breathed in gently and held it, pinched the corner of the wallet and pulled it out. A quiver ran from my fingertips to my shoulder and a warm sensation gradually spread throughout my body. I felt like I was standing in a void, as though with the countless intersecting lines of vision of all those people, not one was directed at me. Maintaining the fragile contact between my fingers and the wallet, I sandwiched it in the folded newspaper.

Very little actually happens in this short book. The plot is quite simple and revolves around the return of someone from the pickpocket’s past.

The writing quality was excellent and I was gripped to the story throughout, but on reaching the end I was slightly disappointed. Everything was too brief for me and, although I liked the ambiguous ending, a lot of the power was lost due to the subtlety of the writing.  The use of symbolism and other literary devices meant that this book will reveal more on a second reading, but I found the number of unanswered questions a little frustrating.

This isn’t a crime novel in the traditional sense, but instead uses members of the criminal underworld to explore issues of loneliness and belonging. It is a lot more conventional than many Japanese crime novels and actually shares many similarities with last year’s Booker shortlistee, The Lighthouse. 

The Thief is a well structured piece of observational literature, but it isn’t for anyone who likes everything to be tied up nicely at the end. Recommended to those who enjoy shorter stories that require a bit of thought to fully appreciate them.

.

The thoughts of other bloggers:

It’s sparsely written, just like its narrator, and it’s rather beautiful. Chasing Bawa

While the crime elements are all neatly in place in this book, it works on a deeper level as well, touching on the notions of psychological and social isolation,  as well as the machinations of power and fate. The Crime Segments

This is a powerful, powerful novel. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time… Dolce Bellezza

To find more Japanese literature reviews head over to Tony’s January in Japan blog.


Categories
1930s Books in Translation Classics

War with the Newts by Karel Capek

War with the Newts (Penguin Translated Texts) Translated from the Czech by M and R Weatherall

Five words from the blurb: humorous, newts, trade, exploitation, fight

War with the Newts was one of the titles that caught my eye when I was browsing 1001 Books: You Must Read Before You Die. I hadn’t heard of it before, but I love dystopian fiction and because the intelligent, talking newts sounded so different from anything I’d read before I ordered a copy from my library immediately. I’m so pleased that I discovered this Central European classic – it was original, entertaining and carried many important messages about our society.

The book begins with the discovery of a colony of newts in Sumatra and it is obvious that these animals are special. At first they are trained to bring up oysters; the humans taking the pearls, whilst the animals are rewarded with the shellfish. It seems like a good relationship, with both parties benefiting from the other, but mankind quickly realises that the newts can be exploited to a far greater extent. They are soon trained to build underwater structures and it isn’t long before they are being bred, sold and shipped around the world.

It formed a mass of black, squirming, confused and croaking flesh on which dull thuds kept falling. Then a gap opened between two oars; one Newt slipped away and was stunned with a blow on its neck; after it another and another, till about twenty were lying there. ‘Stop it,’ shouted our leader, and the gap between the oars closed up again. Bully Beach and the half-bread Dingo snatched up in each hand the leg of one of the senseless Newts and dragged them over the sand to the boats like lifeless logs. Sometimes the stupefied body stuck fast between the rocks; then the sailor would give a sharp and savage jerk, and the leg would come off. ‘that’s noting,’ murmured old Mike, who stood beside me. ‘Why, man, he’ll grow another one.’

This book was easy and entertaining to read, but contained important messages about human greed. The blurb states that it is an allegory of early twentieth-century Czech politics, but I think the message is far broader than that. I can see similarities with many other governments and I think the moral problems introduced are universal.

War with the Newts was originally published in 1936 and I found it interesting to see how a Czech viewed the different countries of the world at this time. Stereotypes were used continually and it was amusing to see Capek’s opinion of how each country would treat the arrival of newts.

Part of me wished that the book had been more realistic. I think the story might have had more impact if the newts had remained well-trained animals instead of a special species that learned to talk overnight, but this is a minor quibble and I can see that much of the newt-based humour would have been lost if they hadn’t had the ability to communicate.

My only real issue with the book was the footnotes – they increased as the book progressed and seemed to get longer all the time. At some points the story in the footnote was longer than the actual scene in the book. It was distracting and ruined the narrative flow.

Although this book isn’t perfect it is an important book that deserves a wider audience. Recommended.

.

Categories
2012 Books in Translation

Doppler by Erlend Loe

Doppler Translated from the Norwegian by Don Shaw and Don Bartlett

Five words from the blurb: father, live, forest, elk, existence

Doppler is a lovely little book. It gripped me from the very first page and I read the entire thing in a single day. It was unusual in that it was both powerful and entertaining; a rare combination that is difficult to pull off.

The book focuses on Doppler, a man who has become frustrated with the modern world. He has decided to camp in the forest where he tries to lead an existence free from money and the irritations of television and grumpy people.

The novella begins with Doppler killing an elk in order to have something to eat. Unfortunately the elk had a calf, so feeling guilty for killing its mother, Doppler ends up looking after it. But Doppler’s wife is frustrated and wants him to return home in order to look after their children and bring in some money. The interaction between the couple was enlightening. Loe’s skill as a writer meant I had sympathy for both sides of the argument and I think this means it will appeal to a wide range of people, no matter how strong their environmental views.

The writing was simple, but effective and I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. As a parent I understood all the cultural references and this added to my enjoyment:

I spend the entire day enthusiastically humming a melody I can’t place. I’m feeling on top of the world as I cheerfully chip away at the bark on the totem pole. Bits fly off into the forest as I work my way around the trunk, lost in my own world, humming and whistling all the while. Snatches of the lyrics begin to emerge by the evening, and I sing them quite uncritically for quite a time before I realise, in a cold sweat, that what I’m churning out is the signature tune to an Australian TV show, Bananas in Pyjamas. Not even out here in the forest am I spared the poison dart of children’s culture.

The book covered many important themes, including commercialism and our reliance on technology, but it addressed them in an entertaining way. I agreed with Doppler’s thoughts on the simple pleasure of being outdoors and think our society might be a little richer if we all followed some of Doppler’s advice.

The brevity and number of talking points make it the perfect book club choice.

Recommended to anyone looking for a short, entertaining read.

.

Categories
2009 Books in Translation Other Prizes

Jerusalem by Gonçalo Tavares

JerusalemTranslated from the Portugese by Anna Kushner

Five words from the blurb: lonely, together, pain, human, impulses

I hadn’t heard of Tavares until Stu listed him as one of the best writers alive today. I decided to investigate and discovered that Saramago, one of my favourite authors, was also a fan, saying:

Tavares has no right to be writing so well at the age of 35. One feels like punching him! 

That was enough evidence for me. I immediately ordered myself a copy of Jerusalem and am very pleased that I’ve now discovered this amazing author.

Saramago was right. Tavares is an extremely good writer. The quality of the prose oozes from every sentence and it is possible to find beautiful quotes on every page. The writing was simple and engaging, but the clarity made every statement somehow seem profound.

The book focused on four characters: Ernst, who is about to commit suicide; Mylia, who is terminally ill; Hinnerk, who is walking the streets with a gun, and Theodor who is studying the relationship between history and atrocity.

…my greatest fear isn’t that the end of horror might mean the end of history, like the flatline of a man who’s just died, but rather that the graph doesn’t run to either of these extremes, but instead shows nothing but stasis, a terrifying consistency of horror over time, a sustained continuo of atrocity that leaves us no hope whatsoever.

The book was quick to read, with short chapters encouraging a fast pace. There was no central plot thread, but instead the details were woven together as the characters met and revealed their connections to each other.

I loved reading the entire book, but I’m afraid it wasn’t perfect. The ending felt a bit contrived and there were times when I felt the book was trying to be too clever.

I also found that the plot had no lasting impact on me – after just a few weeks I had forgotten almost everything about it.

Luckily these were minor problems. Tavares is clearly a very talented writer and Jerusalem contained lots of original ideas. I’m keen to read the rest of his books.

Recommended.

.

Have you read any Tavares?

Are all his books this good?