Everything Like Before – Kjell Askildsen
Askildsen’s particular gift is the subtle way he imbues these mundane moments with so much frustration and rage, which creates an atmosphere of electric disquiet.
Having combed real-life storytelling for narrative ticks, she seems to have grown out of them, seeking another, meta and autofictional register in her own writing.
The Books of Jacob – Olga Tokarczuk
The Books of Jacob suggests that, no matter how far apart our various spheres of experience may seem, they are, in fact, talking to each other.
People From My Neighborhood – Hiromi Kawakami
Kawakami draws indiscriminately on the resources of various sub-genres of speculative literature, connecting her stories here and there for unity’s sake, but never straining for consistency as a straight-up fantasy writer might in conjuring a magic “system.”
This experiential reading of the book is, in parts, created by what the blurb notes as Thúy’s “trademark style” which is “close to prose poetry.” And, like poetry, the book is economical and careful with words. Every sentence is a sensory jolt to the reader — heavy with meaning that must be unpacked and savored.
Men in My Situation – Per Petterson
The writer returns to the trauma every decade or so to see if this time his stunt man can catapult himself into the twenty-first century.
The Communicating Vessels – Friederike Mayröcker
Ultimately, more than positively being about something, the book hints at eliminating such a possibility altogether.
Another departure in Heaven is the refusal to acknowledge death as the final act of human life.
Nandana’s translation of Acrobat, then, is a material necessity that achieves her mother’s standards in a compelling and artful way.
When We Cease to Understand the World – Benjamín Labatut
Labatut’s novel is a stunning book about epistemic breaks – about sudden ideas that shatter across an age.