December 2020
As American as Immigration: Małgorzata Szejnert Brings to Life the Many Stories of Ellis Island
Reviewed by Mauricio Ruiz
Drawing on unpublished letters and journals, the Polish journalist always keeps an eye on revealing details in her new book "Ellis Island: A People's History," the result of extensive research into the manifold trajectories of those who set foot on a new continent and helped forge the modern US.
November 2020
A Bereaved Soldier Looks for Revenge in David Diop’s Disturbing ‘At Night All Blood is Black’
Reviewed by Martha Anne Toll
Via a forceful monologue, Diop's novel creates a tale of revenge with biblical overtones as it looks at the relatively little-known story of Senegalese riflemen fighting in the French army in the First World War.
October 2020
A New Short Story Anthology Sheds Light on the Aftermath of War in Vietnam
Reviewed by Sarah Moore
Translated and edited by Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock, "Other Moons" brings together twenty stories from different authors dealing with the lingering effects of what the Vietnamese call "the American War." It is a rare opportunity to discover a variety of esteemed writers coming from all three main geographic regions of the country.
What Turned Mexico Into a ‘Visceraless’ State? Cristina Rivera Garza Has a Few Ideas
Reviewed by Jeremy Klemin
In "Grieving," a collection of essays spanning over a decade, the talented author attempts to explain how her nation succumbed to a project that uses its citizens as "cannon fodder in exchange for maximum profit."
September 2020
In ‘The Death of Comrade President,’ A Sophisticated Portrait of a Country in Crisis
Reviewed by Kevin Canfield
Mabanckou imbues his narrative with the qualities of a minor epic, placing his young protagonist at the heart of a frightening yet wry tale about politics and murder, family and loyalty, necessary lies and storytelling itself.
Now Trending: How to Be a Fascist
Reviewed by Jamie Richards
In Murgia's book, fascism is presented as a form of semantic sleight of hand whereby anything goes under the right terminology.
Dan Beachy-Quick Casts an Elegiac Look at Ancient Greece in “Stone-Garland”
Reviewed by George Fragopoulos
How does one bring back to life the eroded fragments of authors we know next to nothing about? Gathering six lesser known figures of the Greek lyrical tradition, this anthology puts together translations in which a sense of loss goes hand in hand with the attempt to let these ancient poets sing again.
August 2020
Fancy a Trip through (Other People’s) Misery? Yun Ko-Eun’s “The Disaster Tourist” Has You Covered
Reviewed by Lily Meyer
Tragedies become great business opportunities in this entertaining, if troubling, novel about a travel agency specializing in touristic excursions to disaster zones.
July 2020
Humans Are the Ultimate Food Staple in Agustina Bazterrica’s Dystopian “Tender Is the Flesh”
Reviewed by Kevin Canfield
After a fatal virus infects its livestock, a panicked nation is herded by political demagogues toward human slaughter and cannibalism in this disturbing Argentinian novel.
Machado de Assis Gains Different Voices in New Translations of “Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas”
Reviewed by Charles A. Perrone
A deceased character writes his memoirs from beyond the grave in this sui generis classic by the Brazilian master, now published in two new editions that take divergent paths to convey its peculiar combination of "the pen of mirth" and "the ink of melancholy."
Adania Shibli’s “Minor Detail” Caps Its Author’s Long Quest for a Language of Life Under Occupation
Reviewed by Mona Kareem
With every line of this laborious novel, the Palestinian writer explores how war and conflict occur on the level of narrative, history, and the individual psyche. The result is an accumulation of details that store the trauma of those whose screams hang in the air of the past.
June 2020
Ha Seong-nan’s “Bluebeard’s First Wife” Gives the Old Tale of Patriarchy a New Twist
Reviewed by Hannah Weber
A crucial voice in the burgeoning movement of feminist fiction from South Korea, Ha is a master of atmospheric suspense whose stories use shock and horror to dissect contemporary gender-based violence and its historical roots.
In Mieko Kawakami’s “Breasts and Eggs,” Oppression and Dissent Begin at Women’s Bodies
Reviewed by Saba Ahmed
This meandering narrative, distinguished with the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, keeps a steady focus on how social pressures and the passage of time come to bear on its characters’ corporeality.
May 2020
Haiku and Suicidal Thoughts Haunt a Trip Across Japan in Marion Poschmann’s “The Pine Islands”
Reviewed by Max Radwin
In this unsettling novel, shortlisted for the 2019 International Man Booker Prize and just published in the US, an academic expert on the history of beards in cinema reads Bashō and tries to help a stranger find the perfect spot to kill himself.
Close-Up: An Experiment in Reviewing Translation
Reviewed by Words Without Borders
How should we review works in translation?
Family Life is Just Another Name for Tragedy in María Fernanda Ampuero’s “Cockfight”
Reviewed by Lily Meyer
This collection of stories by the Ecuadorean writer and journalist depicts episodes of abuse in a way that may not be exactly enjoyable to read, but feels urgent, gripping, and smart.
April 2020
In Matéi Visniec’s “Mr. K Released,” an Inmate Chooses Prison Over Freedom
Reviewed by Benjamin Woodard
Originally published in 2010, this funny, if faintly scattershot, novel relies on a Kafkaesque allegory to reconsider Romania’s late-1980s transition to democracy after decades of Communist rule.
Fernanda Melchor’s “Hurricane Season”: A Literary Triumph on the Failures of Mexican Modernization
Reviewed by Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado
A murder mystery, told through the thoughts and voices of the inhabitants of a small town in Veracruz, lays bare the shattered hopes of a community hit by rampant violence and economic austerity, as Melchor draws on disparate traditions (from crime fiction to García Márquez novels) to create a masterpiece that is very much her own.
March 2020
Monika Zgustova Collects Women’s Stories from the Gulag in “Dressed for a Dance in the Snow”
Reviewed by Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild
A volume of interviews with survivors of the detention camps first created by Lenin in 1918 documents harrowing abuses against dissidents and minorities that extend to present-day Russia.
February 2020
Rodaan Al Galidi Gives a Mordant Account of a Long Wait for Asylum in “Two Blankets, Three Sheets”
Reviewed by Matt Hanson
At once funny and bleak, this novel by the Iraq-born Dutch novelist draws on his personal experiences to expose the cruel and often absurd procedural challenges that immigrants must endure.