PositiveThe New York Journal of Books... this is more than a novel, it is travelogue, autobiography, biography, political commentary, and an environmental call to action ... It almost becomes too much and the wall of words seem to be taking on a life of their own that no longer simply describe the world but define it and in many ways now create it. To Walk Alone in the Crowd: A Novel invites the reader to become immersed in it and by doing so to be altered ... This is a novel for our times, disjointed, bite-sized sections to ensure our Twitter-moulded minds never lose interest and move on to something else before we get bored. Headlines, soundbites, street sounds, gossip, arguments, and high art scramble through the chaos of words ... Yet somehow it all knits together like the different coloured loops in an intricate mandala that when you stand back from it takes on a hypnotic form to draw you into a world that is of and yet somehow beyond this world.
Pedro Mairal tr. Jennifer Croft
PositiveThe New York Journal of BooksThis is a short novel of subtle gear changes, where the seemingly obvious plot becomes a distraction to the true narrative that builds and builds and accelerates through a shifting geographical and psychological landscape ... The expected comes to pass, but the outplaying of what the reader saw coming is constantly unexpected.
Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Trans. by Eduardo Aparicio
PositiveNew York Journal of BooksPolitical violence in Guatemala—past and present—and how it filters into the life of one of its citizens drives this short, intense novel ... An undercurrent of slow dread seems to permeate the small, inconsequential details of daily routine throwing into stark relief the paranoias that are lurking close to the surface ... In Human Matter, Rey Rosa turns abnormality into a new normal, where spending time with his young daughter or having a drink in a bar with a friend is a welcome break from the political and personal violence that seem to constantly linger and that threatens to erupt on the next page. By the end of this novel you feel glad to have come out on the other side and carry the hope that Rodrigo Rey Rosa, those close to him, and his fellow countrymen will do so, too.
Kim Man-jung Trans. by Heinz Insu Fenkl
PositiveThe New York Journal of Books\"The Nine Cloud Dream is inhabited by Buddhist philosophy—the world of dust is illusion and all the earthly scheming, deceptions, plots, and sensual pleasures are transient and ultimately meaningless ... Driven by set pieces, poetic prose, and Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian philosophy, The Nine Cloud Dream can be read as a quaint period drama or as esoteric parable.\
