Found in Translation is BACK! Each month Laura GM is going to be highlighting new books in translation. This month she has a fantastic selection from around the world:
The Roof Beneath Their Feet by Geetanjali Shree
(tr. by Rahul Soni)
“From the author of Tomb of Sand, this novel is about love. And about grief, women, memory, class, gender and social conventions. Bitwa, now a grown man, wants answers. Initially through his lens, we get to know about Chachcho and Lalna’s friendship that started when the three of them lived under the same roof in a complex of houses. The two women closeness sparked gossiped and judgement in very small community. He wants to find out the truth about his past and childhood and while it might destroy him, not knowing is no longer an option. Nuanced and perceptive this is another kaleidoscopic novel by Shree.”
Eating Ashes by Brenda Navarro (tr by Megan McDowell)
“This is a story about grief and immigrant experience. An exploration of humiliation, silence and keeping our head down. Our narrator is adrift and alone in Barcelona as she griefs the suicide of her brother Diego, who she raised back in Mexico and who shared the immigration experience with her in Madrid before she decided to move alone to Barcelona leaving him behind. Now she needs to return to Mexico with his ashes. Navarro’s pace doesn’t allow time to breathe. It’s a harrowing account of the edges of society and whether survival is enough.”
The Disappearing Act by Maria Stepanova (tr. by Sasha Dugdale)
“Stepanova’s first book since her exile from Russia has strong hints of autofiction. A central character, M, travels to a literary festival in an unnamed country easily recognized as Germany. Her home country, The Beast, is invading a neighboring country. Her contact to her language now erased in an unknown country, she is offered a chance of reinvention by a circus troupe. Dreamlike, the book explores identity, language and the eagerness to disappear.”
Everyday Movement by Gigi L. Leung (tr. by Jennifer Feeley)
“Centered around the Transitional Generation in Hong Kong during China’s proposed extradition bill of 2019. Everyday movement tells history through an everyday lens. We follow a handful of students, parents and professors as they protest, or go to brunch, spend time in malls, and maybe go to protest again for democracy while enduring mainland China’s police brutality. But the routine of every day live persists throughout all, even during the heartbreak of the crumbling of democracy. “
**FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHT**
Pedro the Vast by Simon Lopez Trujillo (tr. by Robin Myers)
“A Bolano prize-winner, this eco dystopian story is both lucid in meaning and textured in its haziness. Meaning that you can grasp the world and still you come out of it without any idea of what has happened. Slipping in and out of characters perspectives Lopez Trujillo reveals an expansive world where an infections fungus can take over minds. In Chile, Pedro works as a forest worker at a eucalyptus plantation and continues to ignore a persistent cough as he is raising his children, Pato and Cata. Parallelly, we follow Giovanna, a mycologist who has set up to investigate a lethal case of the infection. Mind-blowing.”
She Who Remains by Rene Karabash (tr. by Izidora Angel)
“From the Bulgarian poet, this stream-of-consciousness story takes us to rural Albania, where contemporarily the rules of the archaic laws called Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini loom over the villages. Bekija, now Matija, escapes an arranged marriage by becoming a sworn virgin. This feat sets off blood feuds and an unreversible chain of events. In the present day Matija tells their story. A lyrical exploration of patriarchal violence, trauma and love.”