PositiveFull StopErpenbeck proves the impossibility, irresponsibility even, of an easy binary and reminds us that the only thing we can be certain of is an ending that will bring along change.
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, trans. by Brian Fitzgibbon
RavePloughsharesExplores life’s ordinary extremes, dealing with light and darkness, birth and death, and animality and humanity ... Animal Life is a subtle and stunning work for anyone who has felt the impact of an ancestor, who has lost themselves to a past that feels like their own.
Rebecca Kauffman
PositiveThe Chicago Review of Books... through this examination of a family as a collection of individuals, Chorus reveals how ultimately unknowable we are to each other, that often those who have known us the longest and at our most vulnerable are also those who overlook what they don’t want to see, just as we often overlook those parts of ourselves ... reveals the layers of self and its varied constructions, ultimately creating an honest, multi-layered portrait of a family ... I think Kauffman’s ending speaks to the hopefulness that can reside within families, the unique ability we have as siblings and sons and daughters to at least attempt a return to simpler times of loving and forgiveness.
Claudia Durastanti
PositivePloughsharesStrangers I Know is nonlinear, not chronological and without plot. This resistance to categorization allows Durastanti to write about her parents, languages, and migrations, moving from one theme to another sometimes in the span of a paragraph. Holding this movement together is the narrator Claudia’s unrelenting inquiry into how a self is formed ... the language in Strangers I Know, wonderfully translated by Elizabeth Harris, is precise ... Strangers I Know is a flame held up to the inexpressible self.
Aysegül Savas
RavePloughsharesTheir conversations are rendered in Savaş’s restrained and spare prose, which perfectly explores the relationship between the blank narrator and self-portrait painting Agnes. And the writing’s steady sparsity echoes thematically throughout the novel. The most compelling is the narrator’s study of medieval nudity ... goes deep into human experience, beautiful and fraught, delivering a renewed perception of what it means to be a person among other people.
Lily King
RavePloughsharesKing showcases her range as a short story writer, never allowing the reader to become too sure about her stories ... Throughout the collection, King continually builds tension and obliterates expectation, keeping the reader in a constant state of surprise ... King’s collection continually breaks through stereotypes, defying expectation and not allowing the reader to pinpoint anything typical about her short stories ... King’s care for her characters means that they are never simplified but allowed to revel in their complexity. The variety and disruptions are just other ways King honors how human life is never what we think it is, always changing and morphing. By allowing characters their full range of pain, vulnerability, and happiness, Five Winters drops readers into imperfect lives, evoking awe and anger and admiration and futility, reminding us how it feels to be human.
Zülfü Livaneli, tr. Brendan Freely
PositivePloughsharesThough no characters in Disquiet alleviate the horrors of genocide, they cross borders, enter lives, and make real the distant traumas for us readers whose only knowledge of the Syrian Civil War is headlines. No matter what we do or don’t do with this knowledge, there is no denying that Livaneli wants us to dwell on it and make it part of our lives.
Jenny Erpenbeck, Trans. by Susan Bernofsky
RaveThe Millions\"Erpenbeck’s mastery of language and image ripples through her pages. The body of a man drowned in the lake behind Richard’s house recurs throughout and expands in meaning each time he enters Richard’s mind. Her prose is so controlled and flowing—and superbly translated by Susan Bernofsky. Her chapters are compact lessons in form and function, some long, most short, all well-contained. I could go on, but you should find out for yourself.\
