An eclectic round-up of our favorite books of the year from our critics.
Tess Lewis
Book Review: “The Sweetest Fruits” — Stories in Order to Live
Reading The Sweetest Fruits is like looking at the back of an oriental rug in which the pattern is rather more indistinct than the front but the colors much richer and more vivid.
Book Review: “Stigmata of Bliss” — From the Master of the Tersely Disquieting
Klaus Merz’s cunning, compressed prose invites us to listen for the sounds of the inexpressible, the other side of life.
Book Review: Philippe Jaccottet’s “Seedtime” — Exploring the Inherent Mysteries of the World As It Is
French writer Philippe Jaccottet’s ever-questioning poetic analyses of haunting ephemeral perceptions are carried on with such scruple and sincerity that, for his European peers, he has become the model of literary integrity.
Book Review: “Back to Back” — A Powerful Portrait of East German Trauma, Personal and Political
Using her family’s history as a springboard, Julia Franck has created exemplary figures forced to navigate the treacherous shoals of her country’s history.
Book Review: “Maybe This Time” — The Fragility of Personal Identities in Surreal Worlds
The nine tales found in “Maybe This Time” chart the unnerving psychological transformations of its characters. Its style forces us to reconsider our ways of reading and our childlike dependency on narrative authority.
World Books Update: November 2009
By Bill Marx Much new material since the October update for those with an interest in international literature. My latest podcast features an interview with journalist and author Justine Hardy, whose latest book (published by the Free Press), “In the Valley of Mist: One Family in a Changing World,” continues her exploration of life in […]
Book Review: China’s Surreal Corruption
A new novel by a Chinese dissident provides a comically stinging vision of his homeland.
Book Review: “The Swimmer” — Wading Through the Ripples of History
By Tess Lewis A new novel captures the atmosphere of post-1956 Hungary from a child’s point of view. The Swimmer by Zsuzsa Bank. Translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo. (Harcourt Books) In tales of exile, the stories of those left behind are rarely told. This is hardly surprising because the abandoned, when they […]