The Naked Eye by Yoko Tawada
In the late 1980s, a Vietnamese schoolgirl is chosen to represent her country at an ‘International Youth Conference’ in Berlin and give a speech on the perils of American Imperialism. The speech is never delivered – on her first evening and under the influence of alcohol, she is kidnapped and spirited through the Iron Curtain. Fleeing her captor, she ends up in Paris, but as a penniless illegal immigrant and unable to speak French, daily life is fraught with danger. Comfort comes in the protective dark of the cinema and an obsession with the films of Catherine Deneuve.
Yoko Tawada’s unsettling novel blurs the lines between dream and reality to explore the precarious existence of ‘unofficial’ members of society and the insidious power of male gaze. – Lucinda
The Antidote by Karen Russell
From Pulitzer Prize finalist, Karen Russell, comes this astonishing new novel set in 1930s Dust Bowl America, in the fictional town of Uz. Here we follow five characters including a prairie witch, a Polish farmer, a New Deal photographer with a one-of-a-kind camera, an orphaned basketball player, and a scarecrow.
At the centre of the novel is the Antidote, otherwise known as a ‘prairie witch’ who acts as a vault for people’s memories. Be it a memory that’s held someone back in life, unable to move on, or a memory they wish to cherish and never forget and be able to come back to at some point; they can ‘bank’ it with the Antidote, and redeem it at a later date. But when the Black Sunday dust storm sweeps across the Nebraskan prairie, the Antidote finds she’s drawing a blank – all of the townsfolk’s memories have vanished, and so has her livelihood.
As these five characters’ lives – their histories and potential futures – converge, they are forced to reckon with their own town’s violent past, everything that they and their ancestors have so easily forgotten, leading them to become the very thing they once despised and fled themselves. Will they be able to make a different future for themselves, and this land so many once called home?
You could argue Karen Russell has bitten off a little more than she could chew here – it’s a kaleidoscopic and ambitious novel, but I found so much to admire and love here. Interspersed with real photographs of the time, and told with Russell’s own signature humour and unique ideas, I was left in awe of how this was nothing like anything I’d read before. A strong contender for awards this year, I’m sure. – Emma
Cloudless by Rupert Dastur
Catrin, John and their sons own a rural farm in Wales, living on land that has been in the family for generations. They were originally proud when their eldest son Harri won an army scholarship, however this is story begins in autumn 2004 and Harri is shipped out to fight in Iraq. As the conflict worsens and the letters home become more distressed, the rest of the family begin to fray. Worsening farm finances, John’s secret gambling addiction, Catrin’s ex-boyfriend reappearing, Rhys’ misbehaviour at school, the harsh conditions of winter farming and the backdrop of the war correspondence create a building tension throughout the story.
This book is an amazing look at how humans have the capacity to keep going, for good or ill, when the world around you feels like it is collapsing. Whether the family relationships could possibly survive had me desperate to read on. – Katrina