Posted at 04:06 PM in review: translated from the arabic | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
I don't have the ability to comment on French style, but with Céline, I get the impression that he writes in a way that, contrary to what I had imagined, presents a serious subject in a light and straightforward manner - and I like this. I had copied this passage on one of my cards a few days before, and was translating it far into the night, when I realized Father was standing beside me, having snuck up without my noticing - which is another reason this passage, in particular, remains in my heart. Father doesn't dare touch my letters, but he readily picks up the books I read, or the reference cards I make, and looks at them. He does this all the time, and it has irritated me since I was in kindergarten. And that night, while I was copying down some more passages from the book, he picked up a few of the cards and said, "Hmm ... 'the old have nothing more to hope for, these kids, all ...' How true." His voice was so unusually earnest and sad that I couldn't make a face at him for having read my cards without asking me.
The next day, however, Father brought me volumes one and two of Céline's Novels, from the shelf of the Pléide editions he especially treasures...
"Ma-chan," she said, "the little relief I find in what you told me, if I can call it that, is that you apologized for Eeyore before the girl called you dropouts and not afterwards. I wouldn't have gone so far as to slap her in the face, but if I'd been there, I would at least have made her take it back. I wish you had. It's very important for a human being to take such action."
Posted at 08:06 PM in review: translated from the japanese | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
JP from Bad Texas posted this review of Rupert: A Confession by Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer.
Have you read this one too? Email me the link to your review, and I will add it to this post.
Rupert: A Confession by Dutch author Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer is an unfortunate exploration in the first person of the psychoses of a porn-obsessed voyeur with troubling rape fantasies and delusions of grandeur. The book is organized into a monologue delivered over the course of three hearings as Rupert attempts to defend himself in court against the accusation he committed a crime (we only learn the crime in the last pages of the book.) The premise is an interesting one, one that kept me reading to the end of the book. Despite this, Rupert's pompous tone and narcissism were difficult to read; it was exactly the kind of person I am least interested in hearing from: a misogynistic, self-obsessed man prone to repition and longwindedness. At times, it felt like listening to sick, secret thoughts of a rightwing talk radio host. Most of the book is devoted to Rupert's lonely wanderings around the city as he stalks women or derides them silently to himself in bars and cafes. Not only is this material really depressing and gross, it also seemed like the kind of vicious misogyny I've seen and read so many times before in movies and books.
Posted at 03:38 PM in review: translated from the dutch | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Tim from Progressive on the Prairie posted this review of Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada.
Have you read this one too? Email me the link to your review, and I will add it to this post.
It’s what every reader longs for but experiences all too rarely. Just a few pages into a book and you realize there’s something special in your hands. German author Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone is just such a book. And what makes it perhaps that much more remarkable is that it is now being published in the U.S. for the first time more than 50 years after it was written.
Posted at 02:40 PM in review: translated from the german | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Danielle from A Work In Progress posted this review of Unseen by Mari Jungstedt.
Have you read this one too? Email me the link to your review, and I will add it to this post.
A few months ago when I was reading Mari Jungstedt's most recent Anders Knutas novel I was enjoying a little mystery binge. How quickly things change as I've slowed down considerably on reading mysteries of late. I did just manage to squeeze in Jungstedt's first novel, Unseen, however. I'm glad I decided to go back and start at the beginning of the series. I felt as I was reading The Inner Circle that I was missing out on important backstory as relationships were already developed that I knew nothing about, and this helped me fill in the picture. Inspector Knutas became a more rounded character to me as well as his colleagues in the police department.
Posted at 08:37 PM in review: translated from the swedish | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Night Train to Lisbon
By Pascal Mercier
Grove / Atlantic, Inc.
Posted at 04:02 PM in possibilities | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Gege from Islandhopper Lives It Up posted this review of Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
Have you read this one too? Email me the link to your review, and I will add it to this post.
So I have decided to be a Murakami fan. And this book made me do it. Not because it's the best one I've read of his thus far, even though it is. But because Murakami's voice is becoming a familiar one, and I'm liking it. Of course, a big part of that voice is that of translator Jay Rubin. And then there are the voices of his characters, each one distinct and to me quite endearing.
Posted at 09:21 PM in review: translated from the japanese | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Tim from A Progressive on the Prairie just posted this review of Detective Story by Imre Kertesz.
Have you read this one too? Email me the link to your review, and I will add it to this post.
Orwellian. Kafkaesque. Both terms are universally recognized shorthand for certain types of tales. Yet the terms are bandied about all too often. While the title of Detective Story by Imre Kertész calls to mind some noir novel, it is far more faithful to Orwell and Kafka than most other books for which those authors are invoked.
Posted at 06:20 PM in review: translated from the hungarian | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Joy from Joy’s Blog just posted this review of Solaris by Stanislaw Lem.
Have you read this one too? Email me the link to your review, and I will add it to this post.
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Published by Harvest/Harcourt, 1987, 205 pages
Translation copyright 1970, Faber and Faber Ltd.
What's It All About?
From the publisher's synopsis: "When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds himself confronting a painful memory embodied in the physical likeness of a past lover. Kelvin learns that he is not alone in this, and that other crews examining the planet are plagued with their own repressed and newly real memories. Could it be, as Solaris scientists speculate, that the ocean may be a massive neural center creating these memories, for a reason no one can identify?" Kelvin and the other researchers on the Solaris space station are being "visited" by loved ones who should not be there. Are the visitors as real as they themselves seem to believe? And if so, why are they there? How have they materialized in this place at this time? And is their sudden appearance benign or is it part of a more sinister development, somehow tied to the planet the scientists are studying?
Posted at 03:44 PM in review:translated from the french | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Favorite independent bookstore here in DC, Politics and Prose, recently posted this list of poetry in translation. All currently available of course. From them would be great as you won't find this list on Amazon.
Posted at 04:19 PM in possibilities | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)