Still Life is a fantastically thoughtful work by South African writer Zoë Wicomb, published by New Press in the US and Peninsula Press in the UK. At iStill Life is a fantastically thoughtful work by South African writer Zoë Wicomb, published by New Press in the US and Peninsula Press in the UK. At its core, this is an exploration of how to write historical fiction, an examination of point of view, perspective, and voice. The subject is Thomas Pringle, a 19th century white settler to South Africa who is often cited as the father of South African poetry. For obvious reasons, that label is problematic. Further complicating the problematic nature of that label is Pringle’s staunch abolitionist activities and reputation as a person sympathetic to non-settlers who exhibited sensitivity to the beauty of African landscape in his work. A white liberal, we might say today. So how to tell Pringle's story? Wicomb takes a meta approach, beginning in a sort of bardo, an afterlife with characters drawn from Pringle's world. The novel becomes a piecing together of Pringle's biography, a kaleidoscope approach with multiple voices that both deconstructs and reconstructs narrative approaches historical fiction. The framing narrative, then, exists at arm's length from Pringle's story, highlighting the reality that history is necessarily a story independent from events themselves. Wicomb's narrative choices might leave some cold, but I found them to be an effective way to use fiction as a means to explore these themes....more
I’m coming around to the view that Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the most vital writers working today. Her work exploring the transience of identifyI’m coming around to the view that Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the most vital writers working today. Her work exploring the transience of identify, the limitations of language, and the erasure of the female experience is both timely and necessary. These and other themes are powerfully explored in her full-length fiction and nonfiction works, my personal favorite being The Iliac Crest. For CRG aficionados, Dorothy, a publishing project, has curated this collection, New and Selected Stories, a collaborative work between Rivera Garza, translator Sarah Booker, and others. This collection is hard to assess, in part because it is, by design, uneven: we see snatches of her themes repeated through stories, many of which shadow her longer works. For me, the collection was less of a pleasure read and more of a resource, a compendium that allowed me to understand her longer works in a broader context. I came away from this with more appreciation for her longer fiction and an awareness for how it is in conversation with cross-genre works like El invincible verano de Liliana. For anyone new to CRG, I wouldn’t recommend starting here. I would probably explore her nonfiction and longer fiction, then dip into this collection for a richer and more immersive experience....more
God's Children is Arinze Ifeakandu's lauded debut collection, drawing its title from the Caine Prize shortlisted story that first brought him internatGod's Children is Arinze Ifeakandu's lauded debut collection, drawing its title from the Caine Prize shortlisted story that first brought him international attention. Context is crucial to fully appreciate these stories. Queer voices and experiences are systematically silenced in Nigeria, as they are in so many places, with sexual expression punishible up to 14 years in prison. But queer silencing also permeates beyond official edicts, as Ifeakandu deftly illustrates throughout each of these pieces. In the story Good Intentions, a chilling tale appearing just after the midpoint of the collection, we see the precariousness of a gay man in early middle age, both personally and professionally, as colleagues channel overt homophobia to manufacture his ouster from a university position. That precariousness serves as a backdrop for each of the stories, lurking even in the adolescent encounters between the young men who populate many of the entries. The US publisher, A Public Space, was instrumental in bringing this collection to life, providing Ifeakandu a fellowship to develop these stories, deservedly winning the inaugural US/Canada iteration of the RoC prize for its efforts. The result is an excellent collection that joins other powerful voices to signal the latest generation of Nigerian fiction....more
This is an evocative piece from Nona Fernández, weaving dreams and memory as a mechanism to recall trauma experienced in childhood under the Pinochet This is an evocative piece from Nona Fernández, weaving dreams and memory as a mechanism to recall trauma experienced in childhood under the Pinochet regime. This is the second book I've read by Fernández, after the excellent Twilight Zone. Both works explore how experiences during the dictatorship resurface later in life. Space Invaders is the shorter of the two and the more ephemeral. It clocks in at a slim 80 pages but feels shorter than that, more short story than novella. Reference to the 1980 constitution on the first page ties what follows to the present day. This was nicely translated by Natasha Wimmer, published by Graywolf in the US and more recently by Daunt Books in the UK....more
The is a poignant account from a woman whose husband is in the final stages of cancer. Although it is fiction, the characters are modeled on author HaThe is a poignant account from a woman whose husband is in the final stages of cancer. Although it is fiction, the characters are modeled on author Hanne Ørstavik and her late husband, Luigi Spagnol. The book is short, around 87 pages, yet devastating. The texture is unmistakably bourgeois, the well traveled couple leading an active social life as the novel opens, with exotic locales serving as locations for health crises. It is in Venice that an ethical dilemma arises: a young doctor tells the man he has a year left to live, but confides to the man’s wife that the time will undoubtedly be much shorter. This opens a new stage in the relationship, as the woman - now the caretaker - has crucial health information her husband lacks as he declines. What follows is deeply personal. We see love enacted even as cognitive and emotional connections cease. This is a book best read in one sitting, in a quiet place, with time set aside to ponder. The effect is quite powerful. Beautifully translated by Martin Aitken....more
The Paradise of Food (Nemat Khana or نعمت خانہ in the original Urdu) is an elusive and at times beguiling work. There’s no doubt about its significancThe Paradise of Food (Nemat Khana or نعمت خانہ in the original Urdu) is an elusive and at times beguiling work. There’s no doubt about its significance for the contemporary Urdu canon, existing in conversation with western writers and upending linguistic conventions with its complex prose. Baran Farooqi deserves praise for her translation. The themes this work tackles are essential: documenting the decline of the joint family in northern India, particularly in a Muslim mohalla, as we see the joint family replaced by a modern world characterized by loneliness, isolation, and rising fundamentalism. The kitchen serves as a powerful metaphor for this, once teeming with life but now hollowed out and empty. But for all its potential for a great novel, the execution can feel like a muddled mess. Javed never offers a diagnosis for the problems he perceives and the characters simply float through this work as supremely unlikeable misanthropes. When the most rigorous discussion about a book is whether it is self-aware about its misogyny, there’s a problem. I can understand depictions of violence against women and other atrocities in a novel if there is a point to it, but for the life of me I can’t see one here....more
Anthills is a perfectly fine satirical look at political corruption in an Unnamed African Country, set several years after independence. Perhaps it's Anthills is a perfectly fine satirical look at political corruption in an Unnamed African Country, set several years after independence. Perhaps it's a result of Achebe's influence on other writers, but this just felt flat to me, like I've read a version of this story many times before. It has the feel of a book that's assigned in school so that everyone knows what the template is and can appreciate when new writers come along and transcend the template by tackling its themes in fresh and more interesting ways....more
Harlem Shuffle is a collection of Colson Whitehead's latest works, a triptych of novels set in Harlem in the late-1950s to mid-1960s. The writing is lHarlem Shuffle is a collection of Colson Whitehead's latest works, a triptych of novels set in Harlem in the late-1950s to mid-1960s. The writing is lush: vivid descriptions of setting and characters drive this work. The trilogy covers themes one might expect, largely centered around the Black experience in the decades following World War II. Most American popular culture tends to focus on the suburbanization of white America during this time period, ignoring the urban experience before the end of the 1960s. In this context, it's significant that Whitehead centers these novels on Ray Carney, an up-and-coming Black businessman trying to hew to the straight and narrow. Carney is, in a sense, a counterpart to a Ward Cleaver figure, a bit of a square, a "family man" who's been requisitioned to the more colorful Harlem. Despite his conventionality, or perhaps because of it, Carney is an interesting character. He is a striver in the American postwar tradition, hyper-aware of class, status, and conventional comforts. He's a first-generation college graduate, a furniture salesman and small business owner who never tires of mentioning his business degree. We see Carney adopt a more flexible moral outlook over the course of the novels, as he learns that what it takes to achieve middle class prosperity in his world cannot rest on moral absolutes. Some readers may find Whitehead's reliance on Carney a bit limiting, at least as a lens through which to view the Black postwar experience. I didn't find it to be so here, although the prospect of several more Carney novels in the pipeline leaves me wondering how much more the character can offer....more
There are some fascinating themes to unpack in this one, Robin Myers's English translation of Los cristales de la sal by Cristina Bendek. The setting There are some fascinating themes to unpack in this one, Robin Myers's English translation of Los cristales de la sal by Cristina Bendek. The setting is Bendek's native San Andrés, an island that "rises gently from the Caribbean, part of Colombia but closer to Nicaragua, the largest island in an archipelago claimed by the Spanish, colonized by the Puritans, worked by slaves, and home to Arab traders." San Andrés is in many ways the perfect setting for a novel that gently deconstructs common narratives about colonialism. Indeed, the history of San Andrés calls into question the framing of even an anti-colonialist narrative, a construction that can oversimplify a process in which there are many different actors, across multiple time horizons, all of whom have mixed heritage, and all acting with different motivations. Bendek's work unpacking these themes was outstanding, but unfortunately that was only one part of the book. It was a disappointing choice for Bendek to write this in autofiction - a tedious and overused genre - where there was at least as much emphasis on the narrator's exploration of how her own heritage and life journey led her to become the woman she is now....more
This is Donald Winkler's translation of Kevin Lambert's Querelle de Roberval, a heady mix of theory and sex. Lambert transports Genet's Querelle figurThis is Donald Winkler's translation of Kevin Lambert's Querelle de Roberval, a heady mix of theory and sex. Lambert transports Genet's Querelle figure from Brest to Roberval, a Québécois lumber town in the throws of a labor dispute. The book is an exercise in Marxist literary praxis, a dialectical work that dramatizes the emerging class consciousness of Querelle and other characters while, simultaneously, leading the reader on a similar journey. If at times this feels like an odd jumble of drug-fueled sex scenes and tedious union meetings, the mixture is by design. Querelle is a book of ideas where the narrative follows the theory rather than the other way around. In terms of situating the theoretical framework, this has a classical feel - a marriage of Marxism and queer theory with other intersectionalities (say, race) playing a less important role. Given the state of queer fiction today, it's exciting to see such an ideas-forward piece in a space often dominated by less ambitious narrative approaches. The fact that such works are likely to sit along side this at the bookstore is an intriguing prospect, drawing in the curious reader ripe for an awakening of class consciousness. Come for the orgy; stay for the revolution....more
My Volcano has all the ingredients of a fantastic novel. Great characters. Inspired symbolism. Political astuteness. Queer sensibility. The story centMy Volcano has all the ingredients of a fantastic novel. Great characters. Inspired symbolism. Political astuteness. Queer sensibility. The story centers around a volcano that suddenly emerges from the Central Park reservoir during the summer of 2016, initially causing alarm and intrigue, but soon fading into the scenery as everyone soon becomes accustomed to its presence. Stintzi pulls off the dark comedy with aplomb and creates a great cast of characters, scattered across the globe. Stintzi also makes explicit connections to some of the disasters of 2016, directly referencing the Pulse Nightclub shooting, as well as other instances of gun violence, and indirectly (but quite obviously) referencing another monstrosity arising from New York that year. The narrative faltered a bit for me with the overstuffed roster of characters - there are at least nine main characters, each with their own story line - and a long middle where the momentum slowed. But it picks up again toward the end and was a cracking good read....more
This is a promising debut novel from Lisa Hsiao Chen. Chen takes as her inspiration the performance artist Tehching Hsieh, known for a series of duratThis is a promising debut novel from Lisa Hsiao Chen. Chen takes as her inspiration the performance artist Tehching Hsieh, known for a series of durational pieces beginning in the late 1970s. The novel weaves together several strands. The principal story, plot-wise, follows Chen's narrator as she cares for her father who has been diagnosed with dementia. The other strand explores Hsieh's work and exists as a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction. While reading this, I kept hoping Chen would take things in a more experimental direction, perhaps taking more cues from Hsieh's methods. Ultimately, this turned into a more traditional novel than it could have been....more
Little Boy is a haunting work. The story begins in the 1940s in the Belgian Congo where a boy is discovered at the now-infamous Shinkolobwe mine. ThisLittle Boy is a haunting work. The story begins in the 1940s in the Belgian Congo where a boy is discovered at the now-infamous Shinkolobwe mine. This boy, the little boy of the title, is at once a metaphor for the uranium used in the Manhattan Project while also taking on characteristics of children who were victimized by the deployment of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The prose is outstanding, the story engaging, and the imagery searing. The metaphors do get stretched a bit thin as the book goes along and I'm not sure that filling in details of the lives of side characters was necessary. Although this might have worked better as a sleeker work, I was nevertheless engaged from start to finish and find myself recalling some of the haunting imagery several months after I finished....more
Any assessment of a Janice Lee work must start with her glorious prose. Sentences unspool at leisure, sometimes running a page or more, filled with woAny assessment of a Janice Lee work must start with her glorious prose. Sentences unspool at leisure, sometimes running a page or more, filled with wonderful complexity, but also with an earthiness that grounds the work in the here and now. There is such an attention to corporal detail that the experience of reading this is almost meditative. Most fiction writers today are descended from mid-20th century stylists (think: Hemingway) whose short, crisp sentences have trained readers to read in a certain way. There's nothing wrong with short sentences. But as Lee has pointed out in interviews, we do not naturally think in short, complete sentences. Lee is on record as an admirer of László Krasznahorkai, a writer who is also known for his lava-like, flowing prose. Imagine a Death takes some of its cues from Krasznahorkai's early novels, including an apocalyptic tone, which in Lee's hands may either be the near-future or indeed the present. We follow three human characters and a host of others as they move through this loosely plotted work. Everyone who reads this book will surely have a favorite chapter or passage - mine is Chapter 37, which is so achingly beautiful and finely crafted that it could be poetry. At its core, Imagine a Death is about embodied imagination: the experience of inhabiting the bodies of the characters as they move through grief, loss, and the challenges of living in a dying world....more
The release of any new translation of a Cán Xuě (残雪) work is cause for celebration - and this one lived up to the hype. First of all, its length is idThe release of any new translation of a Cán Xuě (残雪) work is cause for celebration - and this one lived up to the hype. First of all, its length is ideal, clocking in at 148 pages, as it gives the surrealism room to breathe and grow without becoming tedious. Compared to some of Cán Xuě's other works, Mystery Train has a bit more plot and somewhat more straightforward symbolism. The story begins on a train journey, centered on a character named Scratch, who is a bit of an every-man, an unmotivated farm hand eager to elide a hard day's work. The story gets weirder at every turn. Eventually the passengers disembark into the wilderness, a landscape populated with wild beasts, and the narrative re-centers on another character, Birdie, a woman who stands in subtle contrast to Scratch. I enjoyed the in-jokes, starting with a preface written in the third-person by the author. The author makes another appearance in the text, this time in the form of the conductor - a character who locks the passengers in their compartments and tells them stories that never come to a point. The self-deprecating humor was welcome in an increasingly dark tale. There was profundity in the symbolism, particularly as the story moved toward the end, even if it never went deeper than a metaphor for the truism that life is hard. Yet despite the darkness, Mystery Train may be the most fun I've had reading this year. (I'm not sure what that says about me.) This was translated by the outstanding Natascha Bruce and published by Sublunary Editions, a relatively new press based in Seattle with an intriguing catalogue focused on literary fiction and poetry....more
This is a minimalist work, exquisitely so. The narrator, a young woman, is meeting her mother in Tokyo, the pair not having seen each other for some tThis is a minimalist work, exquisitely so. The narrator, a young woman, is meeting her mother in Tokyo, the pair not having seen each other for some time. Reading this book is like watching the still surface of a pond. The stillness is what we see, although what is moving below the surface may not be visible. This is an ephemeral book where what is on the page may or may not be what is truly happening. Aesthetically, in places this is reminiscent of minimalist Japanese art, with an attention for detail and plenty left unsaid. It is a fantastic debut from Jessica Au. The text won the inaugural Novel Prize, leading to its joint publication by Fitzcarraldo, Giramondo, and New Directions....more
Léonora Miano may be the most necessary writer working today, returning again and again to the consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and colonLéonora Miano may be the most necessary writer working today, returning again and again to the consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and colonialism, with a clear understanding for how those forces shape the modern world - a world defined by racism, patriarchy, and a neo-colonialism woven into the fabric of our lives under the banner of global capitalism. Seagull Books has been slowly bringing Miano's work into English, first with the 2018 publication of Season of the Shadow (La Saison de l'ombre) - one of the greatest works yet of this century - and now with the first volume of the two-volume Twilight of Torment (Crépuscule du tourment). This volume is a series of four monologues: the speakers are four women of African descent who are speaking to a man who is not present. The four women have various relationships with the man and come from different social stations. Miano's decision to have four women speaking to a man who is not there is pregnant with meaning. Each woman speaks about her life, her struggles, her dreams - but the women all seem to understand themselves in relation to the man and, by extension, the world that was created for the man. A number of themes are explored, from the scars of the colonial era, to domestic violence, to sex (and finding fulfillment in a same-sex relationship), to economic power disparities. Each monologue is different in tone and style from the others, yet together they form a coherence that highlights the secondary position of the women, as they themselves perhaps understand subconsciously. This in turn mirrors the way Africa is positioned with respect to the rest of the world. The women experience joy and hope, yet it is a joy and hope forever constrained by circumstances. Gila Walker's translation nicely captures the tones and textures of the four speakers. This is not a typical novel with plot and story beats, but rather a searing high-concept fictional work that cuts to the heart of what it means to be African, and a woman of African descent, today....more
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