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Homesick
The coming of age story of an award-winning translator, Homesick is about learning to love language in its many forms, healing through words and the promises and perils of empathy and sisterhood.
Sisters Amy and Zoe grow up in Oklahoma where they are homeschooled for an unexpected reason: Zoe suffers from debilitating and mysterious seizures, spending her childhood in hospitals as she undergoes surgeries. Meanwhile, Amy flourishes intellectually, showing an innate ability to glean a world beyond the troubles in her home life, exploring that world through languages first. Amy's first love appears in the form of her Russian tutor Sasha, but when she enters university at the age of 15 her life changes drastically and with tragic results.
Sisters Amy and Zoe grow up in Oklahoma where they are homeschooled for an unexpected reason: Zoe suffers from debilitating and mysterious seizures, spending her childhood in hospitals as she undergoes surgeries. Meanwhile, Amy flourishes intellectually, showing an innate ability to glean a world beyond the troubles in her home life, exploring that world through languages first. Amy's first love appears in the form of her Russian tutor Sasha, but when she enters university at the age of 15 her life changes drastically and with tragic results.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 2019
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March 20, 2023
*Longlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction*
“And there is no single word in any other language that means the same thing as the Welsh hiraeth, which I’m told is a refusal to surrender what has already been lost(akin, but not identical to homesickness).”
Homesick: A Memoir follows award–winning translator Jennifer Croft (her character is named Amy) as she reflects on her childhood adolescence and early adulthood and how her relationship with her younger sister Zoe (real name Anne Marie) has shaped her life. We follow Amy and Zoe through their childhood in Oklahoma. They share a close bond as is evident from Amy’s memories of their fun and games, their secret language of communication and their affection for one another. Amy, older than Zoe by barely three years, is fiercely protective of her younger sister. Zoe is prone to seizures caused by a benign brain tumor. Zoe’s ill health and suffering affect Amy deeply but she takes it upon herself to keep her sister in good spirits amid the pain. Amy is also fond of photography from a very young age as is evident from the pictures interspersed throughout the narrative. When Zoe’s tumor renders her unable to attend school they are homeschooled. Sasha, their tutor who both sisters admire, also fuels Amy’s passion for languages and her hopes for her future.
Amy begins to attend the University of Oklahoma at the age of fifteen, her first brush with independence. However, she struggles in the the aftermath of a tragic loss, experiences conflicting emotions in the context of separation from her family and the realization that hers and Zoe’s lives are headed in different directions also hits her hard. Amy struggles to break free and spread her wings and eventually manages to do so fulfilling her dreams of travel and much more, but it is not an easy journey and as the narrative progresses this story takes on the form of a meditation on the concept of homesickness and how Amy perceives and interprets the same in the context of her relationship with her sister.
Part coming-of-age, part ode to family and sisterhood, Homesick: A Memoir by Jennifer Croft is a poignant read. The narrative is presented through vignettes, short notes (that read as parts of a letter addressed to her younger sister) and photographs. I don’t pick up memoirs too often but when I heard that this book was originally released as fiction (in Spanish), it piqued my interest. Though written, for the most part, in the third person narrative format, the author’s writing is personal, made even more so by the use of photographs taken by her ( a few taken by her mother, as she mentions in the Acknowledgments). This is a short memoir, possibly read in a single sitting but I would urge you to take your time (I read it slowly, over a couple of days) to fully appreciate the depth of emotion expressed in the author’s simple words.
“All of us are anything, everything, brimming with secrets.”
“Above all we are the shelter we seek out in others and the safe havens we become for those we choose to love.”
“And there is no single word in any other language that means the same thing as the Welsh hiraeth, which I’m told is a refusal to surrender what has already been lost(akin, but not identical to homesickness).”
Homesick: A Memoir follows award–winning translator Jennifer Croft (her character is named Amy) as she reflects on her childhood adolescence and early adulthood and how her relationship with her younger sister Zoe (real name Anne Marie) has shaped her life. We follow Amy and Zoe through their childhood in Oklahoma. They share a close bond as is evident from Amy’s memories of their fun and games, their secret language of communication and their affection for one another. Amy, older than Zoe by barely three years, is fiercely protective of her younger sister. Zoe is prone to seizures caused by a benign brain tumor. Zoe’s ill health and suffering affect Amy deeply but she takes it upon herself to keep her sister in good spirits amid the pain. Amy is also fond of photography from a very young age as is evident from the pictures interspersed throughout the narrative. When Zoe’s tumor renders her unable to attend school they are homeschooled. Sasha, their tutor who both sisters admire, also fuels Amy’s passion for languages and her hopes for her future.
Amy begins to attend the University of Oklahoma at the age of fifteen, her first brush with independence. However, she struggles in the the aftermath of a tragic loss, experiences conflicting emotions in the context of separation from her family and the realization that hers and Zoe’s lives are headed in different directions also hits her hard. Amy struggles to break free and spread her wings and eventually manages to do so fulfilling her dreams of travel and much more, but it is not an easy journey and as the narrative progresses this story takes on the form of a meditation on the concept of homesickness and how Amy perceives and interprets the same in the context of her relationship with her sister.
Part coming-of-age, part ode to family and sisterhood, Homesick: A Memoir by Jennifer Croft is a poignant read. The narrative is presented through vignettes, short notes (that read as parts of a letter addressed to her younger sister) and photographs. I don’t pick up memoirs too often but when I heard that this book was originally released as fiction (in Spanish), it piqued my interest. Though written, for the most part, in the third person narrative format, the author’s writing is personal, made even more so by the use of photographs taken by her ( a few taken by her mother, as she mentions in the Acknowledgments). This is a short memoir, possibly read in a single sitting but I would urge you to take your time (I read it slowly, over a couple of days) to fully appreciate the depth of emotion expressed in the author’s simple words.
“All of us are anything, everything, brimming with secrets.”
“Above all we are the shelter we seek out in others and the safe havens we become for those we choose to love.”
April 25, 2023
Conceptually, Homesick is a fascinating multi-textual project. Jennifer Croft is best known as a translator of Polish and Argentine Spanish, winning the 2018 International Booker among her accolades. So it makes sense that her foray into fiction would bridge languages, not to mention modes. Croft published the first version of this in 2017 as a novel written in Spanish, bearing the title Serpientes y escaleras (Snakes and Ladders). A second version was published in English, now titled Homesick, and sold in the US as a memoir, replete with photographs pulled from Croft's life. A third version was published in the UK by Charco Press in 2022, the extratextual elements removed and billed now as an English-language novel. Add to the mix a website with photos captioned in various languages - Haitian Creole, Polish, Spanish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Turkish, Swedish - and you have a nifty multi-part work that blurs labels and boundaries. Personally, I thought the meta elements were more interesting than the text on the page, but conceptually I found the whole thing fascinating. It reminds me of the Goldsmiths Prize-winning Diego Garcia, also a multi-textual work existing across platforms. Diego Garcia was perhaps a bit more innovative than the novel-memoir-novel that is Homesick, and in truth the innovative elements here might be driven more by circumstance than by design, but any boundary-blurring work like this holds a certain appeal to me no matter its genesis.
February 6, 2021
Two months ago, I read Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun and very much liked it. There were lots of blurbs on the back of people who had something to say about it (reviewers, periodicals and such) and one of the blurbs was by Jennifer Croft. I believe at the time I had never heard of her. This was her blurb.
"A gripping literary thriller about disaster, adventure, and a crisis of conscience that will resonate with any traveler." (Jennifer Croft, author of Homesick)
And I forget the method to my madness, but I wanted to read Homesick, I think I googled her and Homesick and found out it was a memoir and the premise sounded interesting so I ordered it and I read it last night and finished it this morning. That’s practically in one sitting right? I had to sleep last night, it was getting late… 😑
Please read this book. 😊 Please either ask your library to get the book or order a copy for yourself. 😊
But this book deserves to be read for all sorts of reasons.
1. It’s unusual. Croft started this book out as fiction and wrote it in Spanish, and then she rewrote it as a memoir in English. The novel, Serpientes y escaleras, will be released in Argentina this year by Entropia. Homesick was published in the US by Unnamed Press in 2019. On her Homesick website Croft says, ‘Neither the Spanish nor the English is a translation’. That seems to be unusual!
2. Her background is really interesting, and you read about it in the memoir. She has a PhD in Comparative Literary Studies from Northwestern University and an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa. She is co-recipient of the Man Booker International Prize for her translation from Polish of Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘Flights’.
3. The frontispiece of the book is the most beautiful I have ever seen…similar to that in design of Persephone Press publications. It was designed by Jaya Nicely. I say ‘frontispiece’ but am not sure I am accurate…it is the flip side of the front and back covers of the book, facing on the inside. What do you call those things??!!! 🤨
4. The book is laid out in short chapters, two to three pages in length, and there are color photographs preceding each chapter that were taken by either the author or the author’s mother. Just beautiful — the cost of producing this book had to be more than just a typical book with back-and-white print.
5. The memoir itself makes for an interesting read in part because of Jennifer Croft’s life growing up as a child and adolescent (the memoir is confined to those periods) and in part because of how the book is laid out in short chapters with chapter headings in sentence case and bolded, photographs and accompanying italicized text pertaining to words, translations, or something about the memoir’s content (e.g., Amy’s sister, Zoe).
6. Memoir is told in the third person. Major protagonist is Amy (Jennifer Croft). The other major protagonist is Zoe, her younger sister, by 3 years, who partway through the memoir is diagnosed with a benign brain tumor which causes epileptic seizures. They live in a town in Oklahoma. Father is a university part-time teacher who has occasional difficulty in getting work. Mother works. They seem to be good parents… The memoir is in two parts, Sick and Home. While reading it I was constantly worried about Zoe and my heart reached out to her… I should have been worried about Amy too…she went through some tough times. There was also another person in the book, Sasha, who was a tutor/teacher to both Amy and Zoe and both girls had crushes on him — he plays an important role in Amy’s life.
7. The website, Homesick, is really interesting: http://homesickbook.space/about#/the-.... Once you are in there when you click on ‘More Languages’ it sends you to translations of different chapters of Homesick translated by different people from all over the world into all sorts of languages. It seems to be a project of Jennifer Croft’s…maybe other GRs folks know more about it than I. Anyway, the whole website is quite interesting.
Notes:
• Jennifer Croft is one of four founding editors of the Buenos Aires Review, an online periodical that presents “the best and latest work by emerging and established writers from the Americas, in both Spanish and English”: http://www.buenosairesreview.org/citi... This is sort of unreal…that this beautiful website is freely available.
• From Wikipedia: In 2020, she was awarded the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for Homesick, which was originally written in Spanish in 2014 and was published in Argentina under its original title, Serpientes y escaleras.
• I explained the relationship between the novel written in Spanish, Serpientes y escaleras (Snakes and Ladders) and the memoir written in English, Homesick. This link is from an article in the Tulsa World (from her home state) in which she is interviewed, and it is not as clear to me whether everything in the memoir is “true” and vice versa. https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/.... In fact, Lily Meyer in an NPR book review below says it is “a hybrid, mixing photography and impressionistic autobiographical writing to tell the story of Croft's artistic coming of age” and “a translator's Bildungsroman”.
• Croft won a 2015 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for Olga Tokarczuk’s magnus opus, The Books of Jacob. The English translation by Croft is scheduled to be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in March 2022.
• Croft is finishing up work on her next book, a novel titled “Amadou.” She recently concluded a three-month residence in Switzerland to focus on the book. “It’s about a group of eight translators who meet in the center of this European forest to work with a great novelist,” she said. “Then the novelist disappears.
• OK. This is the last note I will include in this book review. All I can say is Jennifer Croft is amazing. This is an essay from the LA Times Review of Books on postcards, and her grandmother (deceased), and the ability to touch older people at a time when they cannot literally be touched because of the pandemic (October 11, 2020): https://lareviewofbooks.org/short-tak...
Reviews:
• https://www.npr.org/2019/09/15/760613...
• Great review by Ellie Robins if you want to learn more about the content of the book: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/t...
"A gripping literary thriller about disaster, adventure, and a crisis of conscience that will resonate with any traveler." (Jennifer Croft, author of Homesick)
And I forget the method to my madness, but I wanted to read Homesick, I think I googled her and Homesick and found out it was a memoir and the premise sounded interesting so I ordered it and I read it last night and finished it this morning. That’s practically in one sitting right? I had to sleep last night, it was getting late… 😑
Please read this book. 😊 Please either ask your library to get the book or order a copy for yourself. 😊
But this book deserves to be read for all sorts of reasons.
1. It’s unusual. Croft started this book out as fiction and wrote it in Spanish, and then she rewrote it as a memoir in English. The novel, Serpientes y escaleras, will be released in Argentina this year by Entropia. Homesick was published in the US by Unnamed Press in 2019. On her Homesick website Croft says, ‘Neither the Spanish nor the English is a translation’. That seems to be unusual!
2. Her background is really interesting, and you read about it in the memoir. She has a PhD in Comparative Literary Studies from Northwestern University and an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa. She is co-recipient of the Man Booker International Prize for her translation from Polish of Olga Tokarczuk’s ‘Flights’.
3. The frontispiece of the book is the most beautiful I have ever seen…similar to that in design of Persephone Press publications. It was designed by Jaya Nicely. I say ‘frontispiece’ but am not sure I am accurate…it is the flip side of the front and back covers of the book, facing on the inside. What do you call those things??!!! 🤨
4. The book is laid out in short chapters, two to three pages in length, and there are color photographs preceding each chapter that were taken by either the author or the author’s mother. Just beautiful — the cost of producing this book had to be more than just a typical book with back-and-white print.
5. The memoir itself makes for an interesting read in part because of Jennifer Croft’s life growing up as a child and adolescent (the memoir is confined to those periods) and in part because of how the book is laid out in short chapters with chapter headings in sentence case and bolded, photographs and accompanying italicized text pertaining to words, translations, or something about the memoir’s content (e.g., Amy’s sister, Zoe).
6. Memoir is told in the third person. Major protagonist is Amy (Jennifer Croft). The other major protagonist is Zoe, her younger sister, by 3 years, who partway through the memoir is diagnosed with a benign brain tumor which causes epileptic seizures. They live in a town in Oklahoma. Father is a university part-time teacher who has occasional difficulty in getting work. Mother works. They seem to be good parents… The memoir is in two parts, Sick and Home. While reading it I was constantly worried about Zoe and my heart reached out to her… I should have been worried about Amy too…she went through some tough times. There was also another person in the book, Sasha, who was a tutor/teacher to both Amy and Zoe and both girls had crushes on him — he plays an important role in Amy’s life.
7. The website, Homesick, is really interesting: http://homesickbook.space/about#/the-.... Once you are in there when you click on ‘More Languages’ it sends you to translations of different chapters of Homesick translated by different people from all over the world into all sorts of languages. It seems to be a project of Jennifer Croft’s…maybe other GRs folks know more about it than I. Anyway, the whole website is quite interesting.
Notes:
• Jennifer Croft is one of four founding editors of the Buenos Aires Review, an online periodical that presents “the best and latest work by emerging and established writers from the Americas, in both Spanish and English”: http://www.buenosairesreview.org/citi... This is sort of unreal…that this beautiful website is freely available.
• From Wikipedia: In 2020, she was awarded the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for Homesick, which was originally written in Spanish in 2014 and was published in Argentina under its original title, Serpientes y escaleras.
• I explained the relationship between the novel written in Spanish, Serpientes y escaleras (Snakes and Ladders) and the memoir written in English, Homesick. This link is from an article in the Tulsa World (from her home state) in which she is interviewed, and it is not as clear to me whether everything in the memoir is “true” and vice versa. https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/.... In fact, Lily Meyer in an NPR book review below says it is “a hybrid, mixing photography and impressionistic autobiographical writing to tell the story of Croft's artistic coming of age” and “a translator's Bildungsroman”.
• Croft won a 2015 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for Olga Tokarczuk’s magnus opus, The Books of Jacob. The English translation by Croft is scheduled to be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in March 2022.
• Croft is finishing up work on her next book, a novel titled “Amadou.” She recently concluded a three-month residence in Switzerland to focus on the book. “It’s about a group of eight translators who meet in the center of this European forest to work with a great novelist,” she said. “Then the novelist disappears.
• OK. This is the last note I will include in this book review. All I can say is Jennifer Croft is amazing. This is an essay from the LA Times Review of Books on postcards, and her grandmother (deceased), and the ability to touch older people at a time when they cannot literally be touched because of the pandemic (October 11, 2020): https://lareviewofbooks.org/short-tak...
Reviews:
• https://www.npr.org/2019/09/15/760613...
• Great review by Ellie Robins if you want to learn more about the content of the book: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/t...
May 29, 2023
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography
Longlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction
Jennifer Croft's Homesick began life as a novel written directly in Spanish, Serpientes y escaleras (Snakes and Ladders).
The book was then re-writen and re-presented in English in the US as Homesick in 2019, drawing on entries Croft had made on her blog (http://jenniferlcroft.com/homesick). Croft is on record that neither version should be considered a translation of the other.
The US version, complete with photographs, was marketed, as her publisher's suggestion, as a memoir, although it has been presented as a novel in all other countries. Per Croft's Goodreads page:
The 2022 UK version, published by Charco Press, removes the photographs and is again marketed as a novel, as Croft explains:
from https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/c...
The novel itself is a coming of age story of two sisters, the narrator Amy (based on Jennifer Croft) and her 3-year younger sister Zoe (in real-life her name is Anne Marie).
It is told in a series of brief vignettes, each based around a particular image, forming a sort of polaroid of text, often with chapter heading that are a story in themselves for example:
When a tornado happens at their grandparents’ house, day still turns to night and the leaves still get upside down and the cars still disappear, but they also get to hide in the hall closet, which is full of their dad’s old games from when he was their age.
Interestingly the sister's love of language is first triggered by the 1994 Winter Olympics where they become fans of figure skating - but end up supporting skaters from different nations, Ukraine (Zoe) vs Russia (Amy).
Key events in the novel include Zoe suffering from seizures eventually diagnosed as a brain tumour, the suicide of the student employed as their Russian-Ukrainian tutor, and Amy attending university aged just 15, and the death of Amy's skating ideal Sergei Grinkov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_...).
But the relationship between the sister, Amy somehow trying to capture Zoe via her photographs, is at the novel's core, and motivates the novel's clever title - homesick - with Amy's desire for connection with Zoe as Amy goes to college and then travels in Europe, why Zoe stays at home, sick. Interestingly Croft has commented that she doesn't know of an equivalent word to homesick in any of the (several) languages she knows.
Formally this is a well-crafted novel, and it makes for the compelling one-sitting read for which Croft was aiming. Although from a personal perspective the topic matter as a coming-of-age novel and relatively simple prose was of less interest to me. I also wonder if the version with photographs wouldn't have been more interesting, although their removal appears to have been the author's choice.
3 stars
Longlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction
Jennifer Croft's Homesick began life as a novel written directly in Spanish, Serpientes y escaleras (Snakes and Ladders).
The book was then re-writen and re-presented in English in the US as Homesick in 2019, drawing on entries Croft had made on her blog (http://jenniferlcroft.com/homesick). Croft is on record that neither version should be considered a translation of the other.
The US version, complete with photographs, was marketed, as her publisher's suggestion, as a memoir, although it has been presented as a novel in all other countries. Per Croft's Goodreads page:
All of the photographs (both color and black and white) come from my travels around Argentina, Europe and Uzbekistan over the past fifteen years. The only exceptions are a few childhood pictures of my sister Anne Marie and me, which were taken by our mom.
The 2022 UK version, published by Charco Press, removes the photographs and is again marketed as a novel, as Croft explains:
The UK version of the book is a kind of hybrid between that original Spanish version and the US version. I’ve once again removed the images to take the book back to where I first wanted it to be, the kind of slim novel that you could conceivably read in one sitting, and hope that the reader will trust the voice of the book enough to keep reading and keep thinking in the white space around and between the tiny ‘chapters’.
...
Writing it as a novel meant that while that kernel of truth inspired the book, I was more concerned with finding the right narrative arc, character traits, and voice for the story than I was with truthfully reproducing real-life events. ... In some ways this process might be comparable to a translation: the original coexists with the translation, and while the two are hopefully in sync with one another, they are inevitably also quite different.
from https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/c...
The novel itself is a coming of age story of two sisters, the narrator Amy (based on Jennifer Croft) and her 3-year younger sister Zoe (in real-life her name is Anne Marie).
It is told in a series of brief vignettes, each based around a particular image, forming a sort of polaroid of text, often with chapter heading that are a story in themselves for example:
When a tornado happens at their grandparents’ house, day still turns to night and the leaves still get upside down and the cars still disappear, but they also get to hide in the hall closet, which is full of their dad’s old games from when he was their age.
Interestingly the sister's love of language is first triggered by the 1994 Winter Olympics where they become fans of figure skating - but end up supporting skaters from different nations, Ukraine (Zoe) vs Russia (Amy).
Key events in the novel include Zoe suffering from seizures eventually diagnosed as a brain tumour, the suicide of the student employed as their Russian-Ukrainian tutor, and Amy attending university aged just 15, and the death of Amy's skating ideal Sergei Grinkov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_...).
But the relationship between the sister, Amy somehow trying to capture Zoe via her photographs, is at the novel's core, and motivates the novel's clever title - homesick - with Amy's desire for connection with Zoe as Amy goes to college and then travels in Europe, why Zoe stays at home, sick. Interestingly Croft has commented that she doesn't know of an equivalent word to homesick in any of the (several) languages she knows.
Formally this is a well-crafted novel, and it makes for the compelling one-sitting read for which Croft was aiming. Although from a personal perspective the topic matter as a coming-of-age novel and relatively simple prose was of less interest to me. I also wonder if the version with photographs wouldn't have been more interesting, although their removal appears to have been the author's choice.
3 stars
August 10, 2019
In Jennifer Croft's impressionistic memoir of sisterhood, Amy and Zoe, two children from an academic family in Oklahoma, are absolutely different and yet inseparable. Amy, the elder sister, is the family star, the perfectionist, obsessed by words and actions and collections, protective and attached to the three years younger Zoe, a lively and lovable girl striken by seizures caused by a brain tumor. Amy is our narrator, and unfolds a tale of mutual dependence and shakily growing separation, as they both fall in love with their homeschool language teacher, Sasha, from whom Zoe, in love with Oksana Bayul, takes Ukranian, and the brilliant Amy, in love with the figureskating pair Ekatarina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov--takes Russian. Zoe is still a child, 9 or 10, but Amy is twelve, is thirteen, and graduate student Sasha is a movie star to them.
Following a bitter tragedy, the brilliant Amy is admitted to college--at 15 years old. There is no way to know if this will be a triumph or a curse. As the homeschooled girl struggles to find her way on frat row in the Honors House of the University of Tulsa, her beloved younger sister can't abide her absence, and runs away from home to live with her in the dorm--only to fall ill from her recurring seizures. Finally, the family leaves Amy behind to move to Minnesota with the parents, where the father gets a new teaching job.
I found it fascinating and enigmatic that the memoir was written in third person, and that the persona of the author doesn't bear the author's name. But the more I thought about it, the more I understood--that in telling the story of Amy and Zoe, the author could present the picture of the two girls more equally. When it become I and the Other, I is automatically amplified, and the Other drops back into secondary character hood. Where in this book, Zoe is the other half of the story, by no means the lesser. That was phenomenally important to the story--the tenderness that Amy feels towards Zoe would probably not have rung as true or been as convincingly depicted in the first person.
The small anecdotes which comprise the memoir--one or two page vignettes--alternate with enigmatic color photographs taken by Amy (thought in Sebald style, it's hard to know whether these are Amy/Jennifer's childhood photographs, or photographs later used to dimensionalize the memoir) juxtaposed to captions having to deal with words, word use and translation. (Jennifer Croft is a Man Booker Prize-winning translator of the Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk).
All in all it's quite a heady brew for such a quiet book, readable in a day or two, but the power of it is such that you should be careful not to start it when you have other books you need to read, because it will hold you until it's done with you. A beautiful, unusual, simple yet deep work. Profoundly moving.
Following a bitter tragedy, the brilliant Amy is admitted to college--at 15 years old. There is no way to know if this will be a triumph or a curse. As the homeschooled girl struggles to find her way on frat row in the Honors House of the University of Tulsa, her beloved younger sister can't abide her absence, and runs away from home to live with her in the dorm--only to fall ill from her recurring seizures. Finally, the family leaves Amy behind to move to Minnesota with the parents, where the father gets a new teaching job.
I found it fascinating and enigmatic that the memoir was written in third person, and that the persona of the author doesn't bear the author's name. But the more I thought about it, the more I understood--that in telling the story of Amy and Zoe, the author could present the picture of the two girls more equally. When it become I and the Other, I is automatically amplified, and the Other drops back into secondary character hood. Where in this book, Zoe is the other half of the story, by no means the lesser. That was phenomenally important to the story--the tenderness that Amy feels towards Zoe would probably not have rung as true or been as convincingly depicted in the first person.
The small anecdotes which comprise the memoir--one or two page vignettes--alternate with enigmatic color photographs taken by Amy (thought in Sebald style, it's hard to know whether these are Amy/Jennifer's childhood photographs, or photographs later used to dimensionalize the memoir) juxtaposed to captions having to deal with words, word use and translation. (Jennifer Croft is a Man Booker Prize-winning translator of the Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk).
All in all it's quite a heady brew for such a quiet book, readable in a day or two, but the power of it is such that you should be careful not to start it when you have other books you need to read, because it will hold you until it's done with you. A beautiful, unusual, simple yet deep work. Profoundly moving.
March 7, 2023
March 7, 2023 Update Now longlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. See further information about it and the other nominees at 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.
Homesick - The Novel Version
Review of the Charco Press UK paperback edition (August 2022) of the Unnamed Press hardcover original Homesick: A Memoir (September 2019)
I missed learning about Jennifer Croft's Homesick when it was first published as a memoir in 2019. Now thanks to my subscription to Charco Press in the UK, I had the benefit of catching up by reading it in its original intended version as a novel. Those who know the original U.S. edition may be surprised to hear that the photographs of the original memoir have been completely dropped in this new version (I was discussing this with a Canadian bookseller who remarked: "But those were the best part!"). I now have a copy of the original from the library and even a quick perusal shows that other edits have been made as well. The overall arc of the story remains the same though. Jennifer adopts the identity of "Amy" in both the novel and the memoir versions.
I found Homesick to be a remarkable and beautiful evocation of childhood and sisterhood. It also takes us through the traumas of first love and first disappointments, the burden of illness, the discovery of secrecy and privacy, the knowledge of death, the discovery of the beauty of language and writing, the exultation of independence, the acceptance of oneself and family. All in all a captivating journey whether as a novel or as a memoir.
As an especial bonus for readers. writers. and translators in other languages it charts the journey of her early love of letters, her singling out as a teenage prodigy and the resultant pressures which came with that:
Trivia and Links
Author/translator Jennifer Croft is interviewed about her work and the languages which she speaks/understands (Ten including English!!) at Meet the Translator. The interview was conducted after her winning the 2018 International Booker Prize for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights (which was 5 stars from me, but read before my more intensive reviewing days began during the pandemic) but before Homesick: The Memoir was published in September 2019.
See more about Jennifer Croft and her work at her own website.
There is a YouTube interview/discussion with Jennifer Croft at Bibliotopia 2020 after Homesick: A Memoir was published. Due to technical difficulties the video only consists of still photographs from the session.
Homesick - The Novel Version
Review of the Charco Press UK paperback edition (August 2022) of the Unnamed Press hardcover original Homesick: A Memoir (September 2019)
I missed learning about Jennifer Croft's Homesick when it was first published as a memoir in 2019. Now thanks to my subscription to Charco Press in the UK, I had the benefit of catching up by reading it in its original intended version as a novel. Those who know the original U.S. edition may be surprised to hear that the photographs of the original memoir have been completely dropped in this new version (I was discussing this with a Canadian bookseller who remarked: "But those were the best part!"). I now have a copy of the original from the library and even a quick perusal shows that other edits have been made as well. The overall arc of the story remains the same though. Jennifer adopts the identity of "Amy" in both the novel and the memoir versions.
I found Homesick to be a remarkable and beautiful evocation of childhood and sisterhood. It also takes us through the traumas of first love and first disappointments, the burden of illness, the discovery of secrecy and privacy, the knowledge of death, the discovery of the beauty of language and writing, the exultation of independence, the acceptance of oneself and family. All in all a captivating journey whether as a novel or as a memoir.
As an especial bonus for readers. writers. and translators in other languages it charts the journey of her early love of letters, her singling out as a teenage prodigy and the resultant pressures which came with that:
Amy spends hours studying Russian in their room with the door closed. Her favorite letter in the Cyrillic alphabet is ж, which looks like a butterfly and sounds like the s in treasure, zh. Amy copies out all the words from her pocket dictionary that start with ж.I would already rate Homesick - The Novel in my Top 3 Reads of 2022. The other current top reads being Jessica Au's Cold Enough for Snow and Manuel Astur's Of Saints and Miracles.
You have to have good grades and really good standardized test scores, and do well in your interview. Amy is a polite child whose taciturn manner—in fact a blend of shyness and mistrust—tends to be confused with maturity. She is admitted to the University of Tulsa and given a free ride, including room and board. She is what is known as a Presidential Scholar.
The headline of the article reads: Wonderkid Starts TU at 15. It starts by explaining that Amy is the youngest freshman in the history of the University of Tulsa. It goes on to include statistics from the U.S. Department of Education and interviews with the University of Tulsa’s Dean of Admissions, Amy, and their mom. The Dean of Admissions is quoted in the second paragraph saying he would advise against anyone doing anything like this. - excerpt from Homesick
Trivia and Links
Author/translator Jennifer Croft is interviewed about her work and the languages which she speaks/understands (Ten including English!!) at Meet the Translator. The interview was conducted after her winning the 2018 International Booker Prize for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights (which was 5 stars from me, but read before my more intensive reviewing days began during the pandemic) but before Homesick: The Memoir was published in September 2019.
See more about Jennifer Croft and her work at her own website.
There is a YouTube interview/discussion with Jennifer Croft at Bibliotopia 2020 after Homesick: A Memoir was published. Due to technical difficulties the video only consists of still photographs from the session.
August 31, 2021
I thought it would be interesting to change it up for #WITmonth and read an award-winning translator's memoir. I will call it memoir adjacent, because she calls the girl in her place a different name, and uses photography taken by others but credited to the protagonist, but many other details come from her life.
This is not a translated work, but it was written first in Spanish. From her website: "The book was written in Spanish first, as a novel called Serpientes y escaleras, and then as a memoir in English, called Homesick. Neither the Spanish nor the English is a translation." Fascinating.
I loved the story of the sisters, the obsession with language, the use of brief entries and many photographs to tell this story. I wished for more of the author, as it felt in some ways that renaming and the form were keeping us at arms' length. It's pretty impressive that Jennifer Croft translates from Polish, Ukrainian, and Spanish. She is this month's MVP.
This is not a translated work, but it was written first in Spanish. From her website: "The book was written in Spanish first, as a novel called Serpientes y escaleras, and then as a memoir in English, called Homesick. Neither the Spanish nor the English is a translation." Fascinating.
I loved the story of the sisters, the obsession with language, the use of brief entries and many photographs to tell this story. I wished for more of the author, as it felt in some ways that renaming and the form were keeping us at arms' length. It's pretty impressive that Jennifer Croft translates from Polish, Ukrainian, and Spanish. She is this month's MVP.
May 19, 2024
4,5*
There is no such thing as boring people, that in fact every single person in every single place is so fascinating as to be unfathomable, and when they die, all of what’s unfathomable dies with them: not people die but worlds die in them.
Jennifer Croft é uma respeitada tradutora de espanhol (da Argentina) e do polaco, reflexo dos países onde viveu, mais famosa por ser a premiada tradutora de Olga Tokarczuk para a língua inglesa, que se estreou na autoficção com “Homesick”, um pungente e delicado livro de formação que acompanha duas irmãs com três anos de diferença e uma ligação inquebrável apesar das dores do crescimento.
Desde pequenas que Amy e Zoe são alertadas pela mãe para os perigos do mundo. Sejam tornados, terroristas, violadores ou acidentes, ela prepara-as para o pior.
The girls stay quiet while their mother talks, but they don’t really listen. All they know is that there is always a disaster happening somewhere. Besides tornados there are earth-quakes, and plane crashes, and wars. There is an AIDS epidemic, although neither Amy nor Zoe knows what AIDS is. They only know they are supposed to wash their hands.
A tragédia que, no entanto, se abate sobre a sua família não podia ser antecipada nem prevenida: depois de convulsões persistentes, os médicos descobrem um tumor benigno no cérebro da irmã mais nova. A partir daí, a relação que já era umbilical torna-se mais intensa e, simultaneamente, mais conflituosa na inevitável busca de individualidade e autonomia.
Zoe wants to learn a language, too, but isn’t sure if what she wants to learn is Russian because by now the girls have learned that Zoe’s favorite ice skaters are from Ukraine which has recently turned into a separate place from Russia. Their parents are astonished to discover a true feud arising between their daughters; more astonishing still is that the source of the feud is a question of sovereignty in Eastern Europe.
As meninas passam a ter uma vida mais isolada, com aulas em casa, brincadeiras conjuntas, tentativas de usarem um alfabeto próprio, muitas polaroids e horas a fio em frente ao televisor, isto é, até ao primeiro amor, à necessidade da existência de segredos…
She takes stock of the secrets between them: on her side, the secret stash of photographs that she still keeps; her secrets about Sasha, which now number in the dozens; her secret future; her secret grief.
…e ao momento de Amy sair de casa para a universidade, o que acontece aos 15 anos devido à sua inteligência e precocidade.
She thinks of her sister’s sadness, which redoubles her own. She cries until she falls asleep, wishing she had never wished for her own room.
Esta obra está dividida em duas partes, “Sick” e “Home”, cuja polissemia só resulta em inglês, mas basicamente alude à doença de Zoe e à saída de casa de Amy e como isso afecta a sua saúde mental e a união de ambas. “Homesick” é um dos mais belos e ternos livros sobre irmãs que já li, que mostra que de A a Z há todo um espectro de emoções e de movimentos de aproximação e afastamento que não corrompem um amor incomensurável.
What she wants – what she’s always wanted – is to capture and to fix forever the presence of her sister, to contain her, to never let her go, or break, or even change. Whatever animal or bird, whatever butterfly or flower, whatever street, whatever car, whatever house has captured her eye, it has only done so insofar as it has featured some component of Zoe – some mood, some shape, some angle, some quality of glance. There were never really any action shots. And that seamless series of gestures that Amy performs, cradling the camera in her left hand, is always that same gesture: an attempt at a hermetic, time-repellant embrace.
There is no such thing as boring people, that in fact every single person in every single place is so fascinating as to be unfathomable, and when they die, all of what’s unfathomable dies with them: not people die but worlds die in them.
Jennifer Croft é uma respeitada tradutora de espanhol (da Argentina) e do polaco, reflexo dos países onde viveu, mais famosa por ser a premiada tradutora de Olga Tokarczuk para a língua inglesa, que se estreou na autoficção com “Homesick”, um pungente e delicado livro de formação que acompanha duas irmãs com três anos de diferença e uma ligação inquebrável apesar das dores do crescimento.
Desde pequenas que Amy e Zoe são alertadas pela mãe para os perigos do mundo. Sejam tornados, terroristas, violadores ou acidentes, ela prepara-as para o pior.
The girls stay quiet while their mother talks, but they don’t really listen. All they know is that there is always a disaster happening somewhere. Besides tornados there are earth-quakes, and plane crashes, and wars. There is an AIDS epidemic, although neither Amy nor Zoe knows what AIDS is. They only know they are supposed to wash their hands.
A tragédia que, no entanto, se abate sobre a sua família não podia ser antecipada nem prevenida: depois de convulsões persistentes, os médicos descobrem um tumor benigno no cérebro da irmã mais nova. A partir daí, a relação que já era umbilical torna-se mais intensa e, simultaneamente, mais conflituosa na inevitável busca de individualidade e autonomia.
Zoe wants to learn a language, too, but isn’t sure if what she wants to learn is Russian because by now the girls have learned that Zoe’s favorite ice skaters are from Ukraine which has recently turned into a separate place from Russia. Their parents are astonished to discover a true feud arising between their daughters; more astonishing still is that the source of the feud is a question of sovereignty in Eastern Europe.
As meninas passam a ter uma vida mais isolada, com aulas em casa, brincadeiras conjuntas, tentativas de usarem um alfabeto próprio, muitas polaroids e horas a fio em frente ao televisor, isto é, até ao primeiro amor, à necessidade da existência de segredos…
She takes stock of the secrets between them: on her side, the secret stash of photographs that she still keeps; her secrets about Sasha, which now number in the dozens; her secret future; her secret grief.
…e ao momento de Amy sair de casa para a universidade, o que acontece aos 15 anos devido à sua inteligência e precocidade.
She thinks of her sister’s sadness, which redoubles her own. She cries until she falls asleep, wishing she had never wished for her own room.
Esta obra está dividida em duas partes, “Sick” e “Home”, cuja polissemia só resulta em inglês, mas basicamente alude à doença de Zoe e à saída de casa de Amy e como isso afecta a sua saúde mental e a união de ambas. “Homesick” é um dos mais belos e ternos livros sobre irmãs que já li, que mostra que de A a Z há todo um espectro de emoções e de movimentos de aproximação e afastamento que não corrompem um amor incomensurável.
What she wants – what she’s always wanted – is to capture and to fix forever the presence of her sister, to contain her, to never let her go, or break, or even change. Whatever animal or bird, whatever butterfly or flower, whatever street, whatever car, whatever house has captured her eye, it has only done so insofar as it has featured some component of Zoe – some mood, some shape, some angle, some quality of glance. There were never really any action shots. And that seamless series of gestures that Amy performs, cradling the camera in her left hand, is always that same gesture: an attempt at a hermetic, time-repellant embrace.
March 10, 2021
Gdy Amy robi zdjęcie swojej paczce przyjaciół na studiach, a jednej z jej koleżanek się ono nie podoba, nazywa owo zdjęcie 'zdjęciem migawkowym'. I 'Odeszło, zostało' jest właśnie takim albumem pełnym migawkowych zdjęć.
'Odeszło zostało' początkowo zdaje się być fotograficznym zapisem scen z życia dwóch sióstr. Amy i Zoe oglądają telewizję, Amy i Zoe odwiedzają babcię i dziadka, Amy i Zoe ukrywają się w schowku, itd. Amy jest starsza, więc czuje się odpowiedzialna za Zoe. Zoe jest młodsza, więc może pozwolić sobie na więcej luzu. Aż w końcu Zoe zaczyna chorować, początkowo nie wiadomo na co, trzeba sprawdzać, badać, jeździć na wizyty. I to, co łapie mnie za serce bardzo mocno, gdy myślę o "Odeszło.." to to, że nowotwór nie przeraża. To, że jest on częścią codzienności, wpisał się w nią równie naturalnie, jak każde inne mniej lub bardziej ważne wydarzenie w życiu tej rodziny. Po prostu jest. Ale mimo że jest to Amy i Zoe nadal oglądają telewizję, Amy i Zoe nadal odwiedzają babcię, Amy i Zoe...
To opowieść o dojrzewaniu. To nie jest powieść, w której choroba młodszej siostry stanowi wątek przewodni, choć ta choroba w istotny sposób formułowała pewną część okresu dojrzewania Amy. Ale "Odeszło, zostało" dotyka wielu innych aspektów towarzyszących dojrzewaniu (i dorastaniu, bo "Odeszło..." opisuje również doświadczenia początków studiów). To opowieść o lękach bez teatralności. O niezrozumieniu bez patosu. O miłości bez słodyczy. O codzienności bez pompatyczności. O życiu bez niepotrzebnych słów. O relacjach bez zbędnych opisów. Croft serwuje czytelnikom album pełen migawkowych zdjęć, których nie opatruje komentarzem. Zostawia pole, po którym błądzić mogą myśli i intuicje czytelników. Zostawia kilka otwartych furtek, by każdy czytelnik mógł wejść w to pole i z niego wyjść z zupełnie innymi wnioskami, doznaniami, przemyśleniami. To pole, w którym aż roi się od uczuć i emocji, choć Croft nie stawia ich w centrum uwagi. Te emocje tam są, ale tak jak Amy jeszcze ich nie rozumie, tak Croft ich nam nie tłumaczy. Nie ostrzega czytelnika przed tym, co przeczyta. Nie podbija wagi pewnych wydarzeń, jednocześnie nie ujmując jej innym. Prowadzi czytelnika za rękę, pokazując, nie tłumacząc, i szepcząc mu do ucha: no, patrz, tak było, to opowieść o mnie.
Croft stosuje bardzo specyficzną narrację: trochę jakby dziecka, bo i styl i słownictwo na to wskazują, ale jednak wisi nad nią pewna mądrość, którą zyskuje się patrząc na przeszłość z bezpiecznej odległości. Bo nie jest to ani perspektywa infantylna, ani mentorska. Jest to perspektywa zawieszona pomiędzy tym, co Amy widzi jako nastolatka, a tym, co Croft widzi jej oczami w swoich wspomnieniach. Bo należy podkreślić, że "Odeszło..." jest inspirowane życiem autorki (która jest tłumaczką, m.in. Olgi Tokarczuk, a "Odeszło..." jest jej debiutem prozatorskim).
To krótkie rozdziały, po których słychać nieobecny gong, pozwalający słowom wybrzmieć. Rozdziały, między którymi pojawiają się fotografie opatrzone krótkim komentarzem pozornie zupełnie niezwiązanym ze zdjęciem. Komentarzem, w którym bardzo wybrzmiewa pasja Croft do słowa pisanego. O poprzednich znaczeniach danych słów, o ewolucji znaczeń i o znaczeniach indywidualnych. Te fotografie wrzucone między tekst właściwy opowiadają jakby poboczną historię, stanowią drugą opowieść uzupełniającą tę właściwą.
Croft jest oszczędna w słowa, co jeszcze dokładniej każe się czytelnikowi przyjrzeć każdemu z nich. Bo słowa Croft znaczą więcej niż może powierzchownie się wydawać. Słowa Croft mają genezę, zmieniają znaczenia i przybierają indywidualne definicje.
A więc 'Odeszło, zostało' to opowieść o tęsknocie. O miłości. O sobie. O kobiecie. O siostrze. O dzieciństwie, dojrzewaniu, poszukiwaniu. O tęsknocie.
O połączeniu, które jest tak silne, że trudno jest funkcjonować w odosobnieniu, gdy jest się pozbawionym 'równowagi'.
Gorąco Wam tę książkę polecam. Z pewnością przeczytam ją ponownie. Jestem nią zafascynowana.
'Odeszło zostało' początkowo zdaje się być fotograficznym zapisem scen z życia dwóch sióstr. Amy i Zoe oglądają telewizję, Amy i Zoe odwiedzają babcię i dziadka, Amy i Zoe ukrywają się w schowku, itd. Amy jest starsza, więc czuje się odpowiedzialna za Zoe. Zoe jest młodsza, więc może pozwolić sobie na więcej luzu. Aż w końcu Zoe zaczyna chorować, początkowo nie wiadomo na co, trzeba sprawdzać, badać, jeździć na wizyty. I to, co łapie mnie za serce bardzo mocno, gdy myślę o "Odeszło.." to to, że nowotwór nie przeraża. To, że jest on częścią codzienności, wpisał się w nią równie naturalnie, jak każde inne mniej lub bardziej ważne wydarzenie w życiu tej rodziny. Po prostu jest. Ale mimo że jest to Amy i Zoe nadal oglądają telewizję, Amy i Zoe nadal odwiedzają babcię, Amy i Zoe...
To opowieść o dojrzewaniu. To nie jest powieść, w której choroba młodszej siostry stanowi wątek przewodni, choć ta choroba w istotny sposób formułowała pewną część okresu dojrzewania Amy. Ale "Odeszło, zostało" dotyka wielu innych aspektów towarzyszących dojrzewaniu (i dorastaniu, bo "Odeszło..." opisuje również doświadczenia początków studiów). To opowieść o lękach bez teatralności. O niezrozumieniu bez patosu. O miłości bez słodyczy. O codzienności bez pompatyczności. O życiu bez niepotrzebnych słów. O relacjach bez zbędnych opisów. Croft serwuje czytelnikom album pełen migawkowych zdjęć, których nie opatruje komentarzem. Zostawia pole, po którym błądzić mogą myśli i intuicje czytelników. Zostawia kilka otwartych furtek, by każdy czytelnik mógł wejść w to pole i z niego wyjść z zupełnie innymi wnioskami, doznaniami, przemyśleniami. To pole, w którym aż roi się od uczuć i emocji, choć Croft nie stawia ich w centrum uwagi. Te emocje tam są, ale tak jak Amy jeszcze ich nie rozumie, tak Croft ich nam nie tłumaczy. Nie ostrzega czytelnika przed tym, co przeczyta. Nie podbija wagi pewnych wydarzeń, jednocześnie nie ujmując jej innym. Prowadzi czytelnika za rękę, pokazując, nie tłumacząc, i szepcząc mu do ucha: no, patrz, tak było, to opowieść o mnie.
Croft stosuje bardzo specyficzną narrację: trochę jakby dziecka, bo i styl i słownictwo na to wskazują, ale jednak wisi nad nią pewna mądrość, którą zyskuje się patrząc na przeszłość z bezpiecznej odległości. Bo nie jest to ani perspektywa infantylna, ani mentorska. Jest to perspektywa zawieszona pomiędzy tym, co Amy widzi jako nastolatka, a tym, co Croft widzi jej oczami w swoich wspomnieniach. Bo należy podkreślić, że "Odeszło..." jest inspirowane życiem autorki (która jest tłumaczką, m.in. Olgi Tokarczuk, a "Odeszło..." jest jej debiutem prozatorskim).
To krótkie rozdziały, po których słychać nieobecny gong, pozwalający słowom wybrzmieć. Rozdziały, między którymi pojawiają się fotografie opatrzone krótkim komentarzem pozornie zupełnie niezwiązanym ze zdjęciem. Komentarzem, w którym bardzo wybrzmiewa pasja Croft do słowa pisanego. O poprzednich znaczeniach danych słów, o ewolucji znaczeń i o znaczeniach indywidualnych. Te fotografie wrzucone między tekst właściwy opowiadają jakby poboczną historię, stanowią drugą opowieść uzupełniającą tę właściwą.
Croft jest oszczędna w słowa, co jeszcze dokładniej każe się czytelnikowi przyjrzeć każdemu z nich. Bo słowa Croft znaczą więcej niż może powierzchownie się wydawać. Słowa Croft mają genezę, zmieniają znaczenia i przybierają indywidualne definicje.
A więc 'Odeszło, zostało' to opowieść o tęsknocie. O miłości. O sobie. O kobiecie. O siostrze. O dzieciństwie, dojrzewaniu, poszukiwaniu. O tęsknocie.
O połączeniu, które jest tak silne, że trudno jest funkcjonować w odosobnieniu, gdy jest się pozbawionym 'równowagi'.
Gorąco Wam tę książkę polecam. Z pewnością przeczytam ją ponownie. Jestem nią zafascynowana.
May 5, 2023
Beautifully and hauntingly written. As I listened to the audiobook I bookmarked a passage I wanted to re-read and it turns out that it is a poem by the Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Jennifer Croft was one of his students in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The poem is “There are no boring people in this world,” 1961. Here it is:
There are no boring people in this world.
Each fate is like the history of a planet.
And no two planets are alike at all.
Each is distinct — you simply can’t compare it.
If someone lived without attracting notice
and made a friend of their obscurity —
then their uniqueness was precisely this.
Their very plainness made them interesting.
Each person has a world that’s all their own.
Each of those worlds must have its finest moment
and each must have its hour of bitter torment —
and yet, to us, both hours remain unknown.
When people die, they do not die alone.
They die along with their first kiss, first combat.
They take away their first day in the snow…
All gone, all gone — there’s just no way to stop it.
There may be much that’s fated to remain,
but something — something leaves us all the same.
The rules are cruel, the game nightmarish —
it isn’t people but whole worlds that perish.
People die. Their deaths can’t be reversed.
Their secret worlds won’t be traversed
again. And all that’s ever left for me to do
is cry, How can we lose you, too?
There are no boring people in this world.
Each fate is like the history of a planet.
And no two planets are alike at all.
Each is distinct — you simply can’t compare it.
If someone lived without attracting notice
and made a friend of their obscurity —
then their uniqueness was precisely this.
Their very plainness made them interesting.
Each person has a world that’s all their own.
Each of those worlds must have its finest moment
and each must have its hour of bitter torment —
and yet, to us, both hours remain unknown.
When people die, they do not die alone.
They die along with their first kiss, first combat.
They take away their first day in the snow…
All gone, all gone — there’s just no way to stop it.
There may be much that’s fated to remain,
but something — something leaves us all the same.
The rules are cruel, the game nightmarish —
it isn’t people but whole worlds that perish.
People die. Their deaths can’t be reversed.
Their secret worlds won’t be traversed
again. And all that’s ever left for me to do
is cry, How can we lose you, too?
April 19, 2023
This memoir is a combination of coming-of-age, sibling relationships, and significant incidents in the life a young woman. It reads as a mix of fiction and non-fiction, as memoirs tend to do. The book focuses on the lives of Amy and younger sister, Zoe, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and was unable to attend school. Their parents decided to homeschool both daughters. They become infatuated with their tutor, Sasha, who teaches them Russian and Ukrainian. An incident involving Sasha has lasting ramifications. The book concludes with a meeting between Amy and Zoe as adults.
The author depicts the relationship between the siblings in a moving way. Amy is strongly affected by her sister’s illness. At the same time, they engage in the usual disagreements and rivalries. It contains the life experiences that shape an individual, including family bonds, tragedies, and moments of humor. Parts are sad, but the ending feels optimistic.
The author depicts the relationship between the siblings in a moving way. Amy is strongly affected by her sister’s illness. At the same time, they engage in the usual disagreements and rivalries. It contains the life experiences that shape an individual, including family bonds, tragedies, and moments of humor. Parts are sad, but the ending feels optimistic.
April 18, 2023
Women's Prize Longlist / Book #2
Read
April 1, 2023This is now the fifth book that I have read in little over a month that purports to be a novel but is based on real events. And, of course, that hasn't been intentional by me.
So you'll need the backstory.
Jennifer Croft, let's just say, has a special gift for languages. She translates from the Polish, at least she translates Olga Tokarczuk. And she translates various Argentinian and Ukranian authors. Her gift was recognized early, letting her enter the University of Tulsa at age 15.
This novel, Homesick, is told in the third-person, about a young girl named Amy who has a gift for languages which was recognized early, letting her enter the University of Tulsa at age 15.
Croft has a sister who I believe has some serious medical issues. So does Amy. Croft took a lot of pictures of her sister. So did Amy.
Indeed, Homesick has been published as a Memoir and as a novel. This Okie author also wrote it first in Argentinian Spanish. There are some of Croft's photographs in some of the editions (not mine).
I read somewhere that Croft intended this to be a quick read, and it surely is. The sentences are plain-spoken, "chapters" short. Each "chapter" starts on the right-side page, so there's a lot of white space. That was intentional, too. I forget the reason. The effect, though, is to let us know quickly how "Amy" feels. No ponderous philosophizing. It works.
The only thing more I will say about the plot is that when "Amy" gets to the University of Tulsa, she makes some horrible choices. And I don't know if that's the Memoir part or the Novel part. A part of me cares.
You know how you are listening to some music and you hear something special, like, say, a guitar riff. So you check the linear notes and you see at cut four, Bill Frisell was playing guitar. And then you start looking through your other CDs (yes, I still buy CDs and you can't stop me) and keep seeing Bill Frisell playing with freaking everyone. Well. I did some snooping in my shelves, and yes, Jennifer Croft has translated my editions of Olga Tokarczuk. But I saw her name as translator on a good handful of novels on my Argentinian shelf. I will probably read her other novel, and whatever she writes next. But I will definitely read whatever she translates. I trust her.
_____ _____ _____ _____
FUN FACT FROM BOOK THAT I DIDN'T KNOW:
About the O.J. Simpson homicide trial verdict:
Domino's Pizza reports that in the hour before the verdict it receives the most orders ever in its whole history, but not a single pizza is ordered in the entire United States of America in the minutes between 12:00 and 12:05, central time.
So you'll need the backstory.
Jennifer Croft, let's just say, has a special gift for languages. She translates from the Polish, at least she translates Olga Tokarczuk. And she translates various Argentinian and Ukranian authors. Her gift was recognized early, letting her enter the University of Tulsa at age 15.
This novel, Homesick, is told in the third-person, about a young girl named Amy who has a gift for languages which was recognized early, letting her enter the University of Tulsa at age 15.
Croft has a sister who I believe has some serious medical issues. So does Amy. Croft took a lot of pictures of her sister. So did Amy.
Indeed, Homesick has been published as a Memoir and as a novel. This Okie author also wrote it first in Argentinian Spanish. There are some of Croft's photographs in some of the editions (not mine).
I read somewhere that Croft intended this to be a quick read, and it surely is. The sentences are plain-spoken, "chapters" short. Each "chapter" starts on the right-side page, so there's a lot of white space. That was intentional, too. I forget the reason. The effect, though, is to let us know quickly how "Amy" feels. No ponderous philosophizing. It works.
The only thing more I will say about the plot is that when "Amy" gets to the University of Tulsa, she makes some horrible choices. And I don't know if that's the Memoir part or the Novel part. A part of me cares.
You know how you are listening to some music and you hear something special, like, say, a guitar riff. So you check the linear notes and you see at cut four, Bill Frisell was playing guitar. And then you start looking through your other CDs (yes, I still buy CDs and you can't stop me) and keep seeing Bill Frisell playing with freaking everyone. Well. I did some snooping in my shelves, and yes, Jennifer Croft has translated my editions of Olga Tokarczuk. But I saw her name as translator on a good handful of novels on my Argentinian shelf. I will probably read her other novel, and whatever she writes next. But I will definitely read whatever she translates. I trust her.
_____ _____ _____ _____
FUN FACT FROM BOOK THAT I DIDN'T KNOW:
About the O.J. Simpson homicide trial verdict:
Domino's Pizza reports that in the hour before the verdict it receives the most orders ever in its whole history, but not a single pizza is ordered in the entire United States of America in the minutes between 12:00 and 12:05, central time.
April 28, 2023
(4.5) I was intrigued by the publication history of this one: Croft first wrote it in Spanish, then produced an English-language version which, in the USA, was marketed as a memoir illustrated with her own photographs. Here in the UK, though, Charco Press published it as part of their new range of untranslated fiction – with no photos, alas. So, it’s clear that this is thinly veiled autobiography; literally all that may have been changed is the character names.
The protagonist is ‘Amy’, who lives in a tornado-ridden Oklahoma and whose sister, ‘Zoe’ – a handy A to Z of growing up there – has a mysterious series of illnesses that land her in hospital. The third person limited perspective reveals Amy to be a protective big sister who shoulders responsibility: “There is nothing in the world worse than Zoe having her blood drawn. Amy tries to show her the pictures [she’s taken of Zoe’s dog] at just the right moment, just right before the nurse puts the needle in”.
The girls are home-schooled and Amy, especially, develops a genius for languages, receiving private tutoring in Russian from Sasha, a Ukrainian former student of their father’s. Both sister are more than a little in love with Sasha. They alternate between competing for attention and indulging their joint passions – such as for the young Russian figure-skating couple who sweep the Winter Olympics. Amy starts college at 15, which earns her unwanted attention among her classmates, and struggles with her mental health before deciding to see the world. Despite periods of estrangement, her relationship with Zoe is what grounds her.
In a sense this is a simple chronological story, told in a matter-of-fact way. Yet each of its vignettes – some just a paragraph long – is perfectly chosen to reveal the family dynamic and the moment in American history. Detailed chapter headings continue the narrative and sometimes contain a shocking truth. What Croft does so brilliantly is to chart the accretion of ordinary and landmark events that form a life; Amy realizes this as she looks back at a packet of her photographs: “laid out step by step like this, more or less in order, the pictures also form a kind of path.”
Initially, I had my doubts as to whether this should have been eligible for the Women’s Prize longlist. In the end it didn’t matter whether it was presented as memoir or autofiction, so true was it to the experience of 1990s girlhood, as well as to sisterhood and coming of age at any time in history. It reminded me strongly of Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso, but felt that little bit more universal in how it portrays family ties, ambition, and life’s winding path.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
The protagonist is ‘Amy’, who lives in a tornado-ridden Oklahoma and whose sister, ‘Zoe’ – a handy A to Z of growing up there – has a mysterious series of illnesses that land her in hospital. The third person limited perspective reveals Amy to be a protective big sister who shoulders responsibility: “There is nothing in the world worse than Zoe having her blood drawn. Amy tries to show her the pictures [she’s taken of Zoe’s dog] at just the right moment, just right before the nurse puts the needle in”.
The girls are home-schooled and Amy, especially, develops a genius for languages, receiving private tutoring in Russian from Sasha, a Ukrainian former student of their father’s. Both sister are more than a little in love with Sasha. They alternate between competing for attention and indulging their joint passions – such as for the young Russian figure-skating couple who sweep the Winter Olympics. Amy starts college at 15, which earns her unwanted attention among her classmates, and struggles with her mental health before deciding to see the world. Despite periods of estrangement, her relationship with Zoe is what grounds her.
In a sense this is a simple chronological story, told in a matter-of-fact way. Yet each of its vignettes – some just a paragraph long – is perfectly chosen to reveal the family dynamic and the moment in American history. Detailed chapter headings continue the narrative and sometimes contain a shocking truth. What Croft does so brilliantly is to chart the accretion of ordinary and landmark events that form a life; Amy realizes this as she looks back at a packet of her photographs: “laid out step by step like this, more or less in order, the pictures also form a kind of path.”
Initially, I had my doubts as to whether this should have been eligible for the Women’s Prize longlist. In the end it didn’t matter whether it was presented as memoir or autofiction, so true was it to the experience of 1990s girlhood, as well as to sisterhood and coming of age at any time in history. It reminded me strongly of Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso, but felt that little bit more universal in how it portrays family ties, ambition, and life’s winding path.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
March 31, 2023
The title Homesick, in translator Jennifer Croft’s novel, takes on many meanings and it is worth exploring them as it also helps the reader understand what the book is about.
Essentially, this is a coming of age novel. The book documents the lives of Amy and her younger sister, Zoe. In other words, from A to Z. Early on in the Zoe is diagnosed with a brain tumour. Hence the first example of being sick at home. This leads to the siblings being home educated, with one defining moment where a tutor is asked to come over and teach them Russian and Ukrainian. This leads to another pivotal event which could be caused by another type of sickness.
Eventually Amy, declared a child genius is enrolled in college where the more traditional definition of homesickness occurs at the same time Amy is learning life lessons.
The novel concludes in a heartfelt manner with Amy grown up and reconnecting with Zoe.
Allegedly semi autobiographical and told in vignettes, Homesick is a tale about the power of sibling relationships, both good and bad. Although both sisters are complete opposites they have an unbreakable bond and this is brought out in the novel. There moments of tragedy, other are gently funny and, as stated, the ending is the equivalent of having a hot soup on a cold day. I also appreciated the fact that Jennifer Croft managed to take the coming of age genre and give it a unique spin. The short chapters give the novel a breezy feel but also complexities of Amy and Zoe’s relationship comes out perfectly. My only gripe is that I discovered that the US edition has photographs (as Amy has a polaroid and likes to take pictures) and I think it would have given the Charco edition I have an extra diemsion but this is a small quibble as Homesick is an excellent novel.
Essentially, this is a coming of age novel. The book documents the lives of Amy and her younger sister, Zoe. In other words, from A to Z. Early on in the Zoe is diagnosed with a brain tumour. Hence the first example of being sick at home. This leads to the siblings being home educated, with one defining moment where a tutor is asked to come over and teach them Russian and Ukrainian. This leads to another pivotal event which could be caused by another type of sickness.
Eventually Amy, declared a child genius is enrolled in college where the more traditional definition of homesickness occurs at the same time Amy is learning life lessons.
The novel concludes in a heartfelt manner with Amy grown up and reconnecting with Zoe.
Allegedly semi autobiographical and told in vignettes, Homesick is a tale about the power of sibling relationships, both good and bad. Although both sisters are complete opposites they have an unbreakable bond and this is brought out in the novel. There moments of tragedy, other are gently funny and, as stated, the ending is the equivalent of having a hot soup on a cold day. I also appreciated the fact that Jennifer Croft managed to take the coming of age genre and give it a unique spin. The short chapters give the novel a breezy feel but also complexities of Amy and Zoe’s relationship comes out perfectly. My only gripe is that I discovered that the US edition has photographs (as Amy has a polaroid and likes to take pictures) and I think it would have given the Charco edition I have an extra diemsion but this is a small quibble as Homesick is an excellent novel.
March 26, 2021
“Gdy dzwoni telefon, ziemia usuwa się Amy spod nóg i Zoe znika” pisze Jennifer Croft (a tłumaczy Robert Sudół) w jednym z incipitów tej frapującej książki.
“Frapującej”, bo nie idealnej, składającej się z kilku elementów, z których ten najważniejszy i najciekawszy - tekst jest zasłaniany przez dodatki, które w książce niewielkiego formatu utrudniają nawiązanie relacji z nim, wytrącają ze skupienia. Myślę, że książka by wiele zyskała, gdyby znalazło się w niej więcej przestrzeni dla samego tekstu, który naprawdę warto poznać.
Jennifer Croft, tłumaczka m.in. książek Olgi Tokarczuk w krótkich, jedno- dwustronicowych, ułożonych chronologicznie, tekstach opowiada o dzieciństwie i dojrzewaniu Amy, dziewczyny wrażliwej i mądrej, ale też wycofanej i nieśmiałej. Amy ma młodszą siostrę Zoe, a tragedie czają się dookoła - zaczynamy od spodziewanego tornada, a później już tylko zamach terrorystyczny, choroba nowotworowa Zoe i nastoletnia, nieszczęśliwa miłość do młodego ukraińskiego emigranta, który uczy Amy rosyjskiego.
Croft unika formy autobiograficznej, choć utożsamianie głównej bohaterki z autorką jest oczywiste, nawet gdy Amy wspomina o artykule, w którym się wypowiada w związku z przyjęciem do college’u - znalezienie tego tekstu w internecie zajmuje kilkanaście sekund. Pod koniec książki autobiograficzne elementy będą już czytelne dla polskich czytelników i czytelniczek bez większego problemu.
Zatem jak traktować ten tekst - jak przejmujące wyznanie autorki, czy jednak kreację literacką? Hybrydowy charakter tej książki, jej pozorna fragmentaryczność świadczą o dużej niepewności, a może i nieśmiałości osoby piszącej, a nie o wyrafinowanej grze z czytelnikami. To niezdecydowanie autorki sprawia, że jako czytelnikowi trudniej było mi empatyzować z główną bohaterką, bo choć jej “przygody” są tu opowiedziane ciekawym językiem, Croft zwraca uwagę na kilka elementów dojrzewania dziewcząt, których w polskiej literaturze jest mniej, to faktograficznie jest to jednak historia dość przewidywalna. Każdemu prawo do jego zasłon dymnych w literaturze. A czytelnikom i czytelniczkom ich empatie.
To jest oczywiście momentami bardzo wzruszająca opowieść o relacji między siostrami, o wrażliwym, dziewczęcym patrzeniu świata, o stawaniu się kobietą i miłości do pięknego, ale nie jest to książka, do której łatwo się przykleić, w którą można wejść całym sobą. Dzisiaj literatura bardzo często oferuje nam wyznania osobiste podane właśnie w takiej formie - krótkich opowiadań, czasem łączących wiele form od wiersza po kawałki prozatorskie - żeby wymienić choćby Mirę Marcinów, Marcina Wichę czy Annę Augustyniak, której “Kochałam, kiedy odeszła”. Może tak łatwiej jest nawigować autobiograficznym doświadczeniem?
To, co w “Odeszło, zostało” jednak męczące to nagromadzenie składników tego ciasta. Mamy tu w prostych ramkach zupełnie czasem nieczytelne zdjęcia, którym niekiedy towarzyszą podpisy mające być opowieścią o słowach, a niekiedy przejmujące ciężar narracji. Do tego każdy mikrorozdział rozpoczyna wyróżniony pogrubieniem incipit odnoszący się do jego treści. Za dużo jest tego dobra, może osoby czytające w wersji elektronicznej będą miały lepsze wrażenia, bo w druku cały czas wydawało mi się, że ktoś mnie wytrącał ze skupienia, jakby nie pozwalano wybrzmieć temu, co tu najcenniejsze.
Myślę, że dla wielu czytelników i czytelniczek będzie to przygoda, wejście w świat narratorki, która jest lękowa, unikowa, wycofana, stosująca atak jako obronę, a do tego utalentowana i widząca świat trochę innym niż większość ludzi. Z drugiej strony to doświadczenie nie będzie uniwersalne - mi się nie udało znaleźć tego momentu empatycznego, który by sprawił, że przeżywam życie Amy. I choć nigdy nie byłem dorastającą dziewczyną, która zastanawia się jak się używa tamponów, to są takie książki, w których autorki potrafią zaangażować emocjonalnie także kogoś, kto w tym czasie zastanawiał się czemu prezerwatywy śmierdzą cebulą (do dzisiaj mam takie wrażenie).
Tu się nie spotkaliśmy, ale jestem przekonany, że Jennifer Croft znajdzie w Polsce wielu czytelników, którzy pokochają Amy i jej półotwarty świat.
“Frapującej”, bo nie idealnej, składającej się z kilku elementów, z których ten najważniejszy i najciekawszy - tekst jest zasłaniany przez dodatki, które w książce niewielkiego formatu utrudniają nawiązanie relacji z nim, wytrącają ze skupienia. Myślę, że książka by wiele zyskała, gdyby znalazło się w niej więcej przestrzeni dla samego tekstu, który naprawdę warto poznać.
Jennifer Croft, tłumaczka m.in. książek Olgi Tokarczuk w krótkich, jedno- dwustronicowych, ułożonych chronologicznie, tekstach opowiada o dzieciństwie i dojrzewaniu Amy, dziewczyny wrażliwej i mądrej, ale też wycofanej i nieśmiałej. Amy ma młodszą siostrę Zoe, a tragedie czają się dookoła - zaczynamy od spodziewanego tornada, a później już tylko zamach terrorystyczny, choroba nowotworowa Zoe i nastoletnia, nieszczęśliwa miłość do młodego ukraińskiego emigranta, który uczy Amy rosyjskiego.
Croft unika formy autobiograficznej, choć utożsamianie głównej bohaterki z autorką jest oczywiste, nawet gdy Amy wspomina o artykule, w którym się wypowiada w związku z przyjęciem do college’u - znalezienie tego tekstu w internecie zajmuje kilkanaście sekund. Pod koniec książki autobiograficzne elementy będą już czytelne dla polskich czytelników i czytelniczek bez większego problemu.
Zatem jak traktować ten tekst - jak przejmujące wyznanie autorki, czy jednak kreację literacką? Hybrydowy charakter tej książki, jej pozorna fragmentaryczność świadczą o dużej niepewności, a może i nieśmiałości osoby piszącej, a nie o wyrafinowanej grze z czytelnikami. To niezdecydowanie autorki sprawia, że jako czytelnikowi trudniej było mi empatyzować z główną bohaterką, bo choć jej “przygody” są tu opowiedziane ciekawym językiem, Croft zwraca uwagę na kilka elementów dojrzewania dziewcząt, których w polskiej literaturze jest mniej, to faktograficznie jest to jednak historia dość przewidywalna. Każdemu prawo do jego zasłon dymnych w literaturze. A czytelnikom i czytelniczkom ich empatie.
To jest oczywiście momentami bardzo wzruszająca opowieść o relacji między siostrami, o wrażliwym, dziewczęcym patrzeniu świata, o stawaniu się kobietą i miłości do pięknego, ale nie jest to książka, do której łatwo się przykleić, w którą można wejść całym sobą. Dzisiaj literatura bardzo często oferuje nam wyznania osobiste podane właśnie w takiej formie - krótkich opowiadań, czasem łączących wiele form od wiersza po kawałki prozatorskie - żeby wymienić choćby Mirę Marcinów, Marcina Wichę czy Annę Augustyniak, której “Kochałam, kiedy odeszła”. Może tak łatwiej jest nawigować autobiograficznym doświadczeniem?
To, co w “Odeszło, zostało” jednak męczące to nagromadzenie składników tego ciasta. Mamy tu w prostych ramkach zupełnie czasem nieczytelne zdjęcia, którym niekiedy towarzyszą podpisy mające być opowieścią o słowach, a niekiedy przejmujące ciężar narracji. Do tego każdy mikrorozdział rozpoczyna wyróżniony pogrubieniem incipit odnoszący się do jego treści. Za dużo jest tego dobra, może osoby czytające w wersji elektronicznej będą miały lepsze wrażenia, bo w druku cały czas wydawało mi się, że ktoś mnie wytrącał ze skupienia, jakby nie pozwalano wybrzmieć temu, co tu najcenniejsze.
Myślę, że dla wielu czytelników i czytelniczek będzie to przygoda, wejście w świat narratorki, która jest lękowa, unikowa, wycofana, stosująca atak jako obronę, a do tego utalentowana i widząca świat trochę innym niż większość ludzi. Z drugiej strony to doświadczenie nie będzie uniwersalne - mi się nie udało znaleźć tego momentu empatycznego, który by sprawił, że przeżywam życie Amy. I choć nigdy nie byłem dorastającą dziewczyną, która zastanawia się jak się używa tamponów, to są takie książki, w których autorki potrafią zaangażować emocjonalnie także kogoś, kto w tym czasie zastanawiał się czemu prezerwatywy śmierdzą cebulą (do dzisiaj mam takie wrażenie).
Tu się nie spotkaliśmy, ale jestem przekonany, że Jennifer Croft znajdzie w Polsce wielu czytelników, którzy pokochają Amy i jej półotwarty świat.
May 19, 2023
My sticky note in the front of this (beautiful!) book says “Elliott Bay Covid Order April 2020”. For some reason I just held on to it for 3 years. But that’s okay, because 2023 was the perfect time for this book which is now short listed for the women’s prize. At least I think so; I don’t completely understand if this is different from the nominated UK version. This one is memoir (told in 3rd person about Amy and her little sister, Zoe); that one is fiction. How different are they? The sections I’ve compared are the same. I’ll do more research as soon as I write my thoughts here.
This edition is absolutely stunning. The cover and inside artwork is by Jaya Nicely. There are many photographs (Polaroids I think) by the author throughout the book. Each with a caption, many of them about words or translations. I heard an interview where she says the photos are in reverse order of the story. Interesting. The chapters are short, chronological, and based on the author and her family, especially her younger sister who is the “sick” part of the memoir.
This is a book about words, languages, and a girl who is extraordinarily gifted in that area. To see how her love of languages develops at such a young age is maybe my favorite part of the book. I read Olga Takarczuk’s Flights when it first came out and I bought this book when I realized she was the translator of that wonderful book.
I admire this multitalented woman and enjoyed every moment of her memoir. I look forward to reading much more by her/translated by her.
This edition is absolutely stunning. The cover and inside artwork is by Jaya Nicely. There are many photographs (Polaroids I think) by the author throughout the book. Each with a caption, many of them about words or translations. I heard an interview where she says the photos are in reverse order of the story. Interesting. The chapters are short, chronological, and based on the author and her family, especially her younger sister who is the “sick” part of the memoir.
This is a book about words, languages, and a girl who is extraordinarily gifted in that area. To see how her love of languages develops at such a young age is maybe my favorite part of the book. I read Olga Takarczuk’s Flights when it first came out and I bought this book when I realized she was the translator of that wonderful book.
I admire this multitalented woman and enjoyed every moment of her memoir. I look forward to reading much more by her/translated by her.
September 15, 2019
Since I first received this book in March, I have read it twice. It’s something I rarely do unless I’m returning to one of the classics or to a touchstone, but this book demanded it, which I guess means it has become a touchstone.
There is something to the way that Jennifer Croft explores the seams of language and the paths by which personal idiom intersects with, becomes collective parlance (and the opposite: the way we eke out private meaning from common language). The way words conjure image and the essence of the work of translation, part and parcel of our relationships and the agglutinating material of the systems of meaning embedded within them. Eschewing the esoteric language and frames that so often (wittingly and unwittingly) are employed to explain the task of the translator, Croft’s memoir of sisterhood, illness, and notions of home is, to my mind, a supreme example of what it is to inhabit a language, its dark corners and its bridges to points previously unknown. It is a personal reflection that, in its generosity, invites us to examine this phenomenon in our own lives.
There is something to the way that Jennifer Croft explores the seams of language and the paths by which personal idiom intersects with, becomes collective parlance (and the opposite: the way we eke out private meaning from common language). The way words conjure image and the essence of the work of translation, part and parcel of our relationships and the agglutinating material of the systems of meaning embedded within them. Eschewing the esoteric language and frames that so often (wittingly and unwittingly) are employed to explain the task of the translator, Croft’s memoir of sisterhood, illness, and notions of home is, to my mind, a supreme example of what it is to inhabit a language, its dark corners and its bridges to points previously unknown. It is a personal reflection that, in its generosity, invites us to examine this phenomenon in our own lives.
January 4, 2020
I didn't "get" this book. It's a memoir, but all the names are changed and perhaps lots more. Reviews talk excitedly about the juxtaposition of photographs and text, but most of the photos meant nothing to me. Edges of buildings, rocks, patterns.... Croft is apparently a lover of words (so am I) but in this book the references to words, to their origins and etymologies, seems pretty detached from anything in the text.
There are loads of positive reviews of this memoir, so there must be something there. Just wasn't there for me.
There are loads of positive reviews of this memoir, so there must be something there. Just wasn't there for me.
October 4, 2019
This inventive, stellar memoir examines the tensions between siblings and their separate fates in the most unsettling, unexpected ways. Croft's keen attention to the nuances and music of language is abundantly present in every sentence of Homesick.
October 13, 2022
Wow! Stunning book! Almost lost for words to describe what I’ve just been through; I don’t think I have ever been at the mercy of a master wordsmith as I have been here. I was engrossed very quickly; the simple use of words and short chapters work well to get the characters under your skin and then things become darker…much darker. It’s one of those plots where you know where it is going and no matter how much you shout at the book you are not going to change a thing and it is impossible to look away.
The book follows Amy and Zoe, sisters who have to deal with tragedy at a young age and all whilst living with parents who are cold towards them, the mum is downright creepy at times, she must be dealing with her own issues but what we see is from the point of view of the girls, so you never get a clear image of what is going on with her. I really liked Amy, a perfectionist with a very bright mind and I found myself getting angry as her life gets mapped out by bad decision after bad decision…who sends their 15-year-old daughter to university with no life experience and living in dorms with partying students? My favourite aspect of Amy was her love of photography, copies of the photos are not included and yet with Croft’s descriptions I was able to imagine them.
I both loved and hated this exceptionally haunting novel, I feel really affected by what I have read. The writing style is unique, and Croft’s love of language really shows, I think what we have here is a potential book of the year for the Gnome Appreciation Society. The only question I’m left with is this a memoir or a story?
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2022...
The book follows Amy and Zoe, sisters who have to deal with tragedy at a young age and all whilst living with parents who are cold towards them, the mum is downright creepy at times, she must be dealing with her own issues but what we see is from the point of view of the girls, so you never get a clear image of what is going on with her. I really liked Amy, a perfectionist with a very bright mind and I found myself getting angry as her life gets mapped out by bad decision after bad decision…who sends their 15-year-old daughter to university with no life experience and living in dorms with partying students? My favourite aspect of Amy was her love of photography, copies of the photos are not included and yet with Croft’s descriptions I was able to imagine them.
I both loved and hated this exceptionally haunting novel, I feel really affected by what I have read. The writing style is unique, and Croft’s love of language really shows, I think what we have here is a potential book of the year for the Gnome Appreciation Society. The only question I’m left with is this a memoir or a story?
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2022...
July 11, 2020
This is a memoir that mixes coming-of-age & the art of photography to tell the story of two sisters. Jennifer Croft is a translator who won (w/ Olga Tokarczuk) the Man Booker International Prize for Flights. Homesick is her first book written in English (her first language). I kept thinking while reading Homesick that Jennifer was able to translate what is normally untranslatable: thoughts & feelings. She writes about loyalty, guilt, & the power of love in such an effortless way. Recommended.
July 5, 2022
"If you stop and think of all the different things that could befall a living being—besides the modern shibboleths, besides more and more tornados, there are famines and tsunamis and shootings every day—you realize it’s a miracle a single one of us lives for a single fraction of a second."
August 24, 2023
A fascinating approach to memoir.
September 30, 2020
This was a beautiful and short memoir detailing a rather brilliant girl's relationship with her sister. It is vivid and realistic as well as poetic. I loved particularly this line:
" Above all, we are the shelter we seek out in others and the safe haven we become for those we choose to love. "
" Above all, we are the shelter we seek out in others and the safe haven we become for those we choose to love. "
March 28, 2023
Amy and Zoe grow up in their own world, homeschooled after Zoe develops a brain tumour, constructing their own universe of shared references, words and games. But when Amy leaves for college at fifteen after a sudden tragedy, the sisters' childhood abruptly comes to an end. Jennifer Croft's Homesick was first published in Spanish as Serpientes y escaleras (Snakes and Ladders) before being published in the US in 2019 by Unnamed Press as a memoir with photographs and then published in the UK in 2022 by Charco Press in this novel-form with no images. And the first half of this text, where we are also bound by the tight limitations of Amy and Zoe's early years, is mesmerising. It's remarkably elevated from the many novels that touch on sisterhood and growing up: I think because of the serious, concentrated attention that Croft gives to the girls' experiences, refusing to sentimentalise or to slip into cliches about childhood or about 'opposite' or competing siblings. It resonated deeply with me as somebody who was only homeschooled for a very short time in my childhood, but nevertheless grew up very close to my younger sister after moving from the US to Britain, uprooted from all our friends and cultural references, and then ending up living in a pretty rural location. While I was reading this first half, I was sure this was going to be a five-star read for me. It's a shame, therefore, that it peters out somewhat in the second half, feeling thinner and rushed after the slow, intense build of the sections that focus on childhood, and I didn't feel that Croft quite tied everything together thematically. (I also found the ending confusing - if I had only read this novel, I would have assumed that but I'm pretty sure from everything I've read around it that she doesn't!). Still, probably the best thing I've read on this kind of siblinghood.
August 30, 2022
3.5 rounded up
February 28, 2024
"what she wants - what she's always wanted - is to capture and to fix forever the presence of her sister, to contain her, to never. let her go, or break, or even change."
April 28, 2023
Love it because it helped me get back into reading again. A short read, but beautiful.
March 28, 2021
Poruszająca, przytłaczająca historia, ale... nieco zbyt subiektywna. Brakuje mi tutaj spojrzenia z zewnątrz.
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