Book Reviews - Words Without Borders

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Book Reviews

Cover of On a Woman's Madness by Astrid Roemer, translated by Lucy Scott

Present but Not Accounted For: Astrid Roemer’s “On a Woman’s Madness”

By Nicholas Rinehart

In On a Woman’s Madness, freedom is not a place but an activity, a kind of restlessness that never settles into safety but still insists upon the necessity of its seeking, writes critic Nicholas Rinehart.

Cover of I Went to See My Father by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Anton Hur

Understanding Humanity through Books: Kyung-Sook Shin’s “I Went to See My Father”

The art here is in the reflection of the subtle nuances of everyday life, writes critic David Vogel.

The cover of My Work by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell

Life under Infant Rule: Olga Ravn’s “My Work”

By J. Howard Rosier

The cover of Sleepless: A Memoir of Insomnia by Marie Darrieussecq, translated by Penny Hueston

“Sleepless: A Memoir of Insomnia” by Marie Darrieussecq: Sleep as Another Awakening

By Rebecca Hussey

The cover of The End of August by Yu Miri, translated by Morgan Giles

The Act of Breathing: Yu Miri’s “The End of August”

By Tara Cheesman

The cover of Ivan and Phoebe by Oksana Lutsyshyna, translated by Nina Murray

This Tumultuous, Seminal Period: Oksana Lutsyshyna’s “Ivan and Phoebe”

By Cory Oldweiler

Cover of Mothers' Instinct by Barbara Abel, translated by Susan Pickford

The Stories We Tell Ourselves about Motherhood: On “Mothers’ Instinct” by Barbara Abel

By Jenessa Abrams

Cover of Return to Latvia by Marina Jarre, translated by Anne Goldstein

“To Tell Is to Betray”: Marina Jarre’s “Return to Latvia”

By Hannah Weber

Cover of David Harsent's A Broken Man in Flower: Versions of Yannis Ritsos

“A Broken Man in Flower, Versions of Yannis Ritsos”: A Poetics of Isolation and Spirited Resistance for the Twenty-First Century

By Suzana Vuljevic

Cover of Battle Songs by Daša Drndić, translated by Celia Hawkesworth

Darkness and Refuge in Canada: Daša Drndić’s “Battle Songs”

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 Strangers by Jon Bilbao, translated by Katie Whittemore

Unidentified Memories: Jon Bilbao’s “The Strangers”

By Heather Scott Partington

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

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

By Laura Marris

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