Book Reviews - Words Without Borders

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Book Reviews

Cover of The Easy Life by Marguerite Duras, translated by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan

Such Lush Despair: Marguerite Duras’s “The Easy Life”

By Laura Marris

In The Easy Life, Duras walked parts of herself through the door of the world she had created, writes critic Laura Marris.

Cover of The Strangers by Jon Bilbao, translated by Katie Whittemore

Unidentified Memories: Jon Bilbao’s “The Strangers”

By Heather Scott Partington

[Bilbao's] work is rooted in capability rather than certainty. What he doesn’t explain is as thrilling as what he does, writes critic Heather Scott Partington.

Cover of The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales by Ferit Edgü, translated by Aron Aji

Foreignizing the Foreign: Aron Aji Translates Ferit Edgü

By Ralph Hubbell

Cover of The Reddest Rose by Liv Strömquist, translated by Melissa Bowers

“I Don’t Feel It”: On Liv Strömquist’s “The Reddest Rose: Romantic Love from the Ancient Greeks to Reality TV”

By Nichole LeFebvre

Cover of The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria: A Memoir, translated by Murali Ranganathan

Gujarati Books in Translation: An Omnibus Review

By Shalvi Jaxay Shah

Cover of The Forbidden Door by Lasse Söderberg, translated by Lars Gustaf Andersson and Carolyn...

“The Forbidden Door”: A Living Ars Poetica

By Mandana Chaffa

Cover of Édouard Louis's memoir A Woman's Battles and Transformations

Édouard Louis’s “A Woman’s Battles and Transformations”: Why Our Mothers Move Us

By Hannah Weber

Cover of Perhat Tursun's novel The Backstreets

The Fog of Surveillance in “The Backstreets”

By Anita Felicelli

cover of scholastique mukasonga novel kibogo

Scholastique Mukasonga’s “Kibogo”: Destruction and Human Resilience

cover of faleeha hassan's memoir war and me

Faleeha’s Hassan’s “War and Me”: A Memoir of Strength in the Face of Adversity

By Olive Fellows

Cover of Vladimir Sorokin's Telluria

Vladimir Sorokin’s “Telluria”: A Linguistic Battle Royale for the New Middle Ages

By Allison Bulger

Cover of Dhumketu's short story collection The Shehnai Virtuoso

Dhumketu’s “Shehnai Virtuoso”: Exquisite Nuance from a Giant of Letters

Cover of Carlos Manuel Alvarez collection The Tribe

Carlos Manuel Álvarez’s “The Tribe”: An Existential Placelessness

By J. Howard Rosier

Cover of Maya Abu Al-Hayyat poetry collection You Can Be the Last Leaf

Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s “You Can Be the Last Leaf”: Constructing Home amid the Tumult

By Mandana Chaffa

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Sub-Group 1

From “Lampedusa Snow”

I stand like an African at the door of an entrance / that doesn’t exist.

Translated from Italian by Nerina Cocchi

From “Qibla”

By Shen Wan-ting

“I’m sorry. I’ll change your pants right away.”

Translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang

Multilingual

from A Peace of Women

By Lenin El-Ramly

This is a time of sex strikes, and women are in such a short supply.

Translated from Arabic by Hazem M. Azmy

Condolences

By Mishka Lavigne

Gabrielle Sauriol lies in the Pacific Ocean now.

Translated from French by Neil Blackadder

A Gambling World

By Koh Choon Eiow & Mok Sio Chong

I tell you, people at these casinos only think of winning.

Translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang

MultimediaMultilingual

from Little Stain

By Koffi Kwahulé

I am the son of lightning, I've come to burn down this house.

Translated from French

from Soul of a Clone

By Philip Boehm

Many of you probably debated whether I should exist at all...

from Night Sings Its Songs

You just lie there lie there just lie there and read

Translated by Sarah Cameron Sunde

from Canary

My God, that's some stone. I've never held a diamond this big in my hands.

Translated from German by Lucie Pohl

Sub-Group 2

A Mansion with Many Rooms

By Kutti Revathi

“As if you have to ask that low-caste boy’s permission in order to see your own mother!”

Translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Holmström

Ayya’s Bicycle

“Ayya won’t come to school on his bicycle anymore from now on, it seems, da.”

Translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Holmström

Multilingual

Changing Landscapes and Identities: An Introduction to Tamil Writing

By Lakshmi Holmström

So changing landscapes are also about changing identities.

Before Sunrise

By Lilit Karapetyan

A thinking woman slowly drowns in eternal sorrow in the streets of Kars.

Translated from Armenian by Nairi Hakhverdi

A Mousy, Measly Tale

Though married, I practice celibacy very strictly.

Translated from Tamil by Padma Narayanan

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