Book Review: The Reader

I have just finished reading “The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink.

The Reader – by Bernhard Schlink (via Amazon)

I have known about this book for a while because it is fairly prominent book, and has been turned into a film, which i’ve never seen either. However, i have never read it, until now. This is because i’m starting to attend a translated fiction-themed book club, and the first book is  ”The Reader”.

The blurb reads:

“For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems.

Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does – Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret.”

I was intrigued by the relationship between Michael and Hanna, because it seems to just suddenly happen out of blue. Michael is maybe a bit naïve but being with Hanna teaches him many things. Hanna is a bit of mystery and we don’t learn much about her until later on in the novel, but she seems secure in herself. Her behaviour and her reactions to some things Michael says seem a little odd and lead to them fighting. The sad thing is that Michael always seems to be the one apologizing, even if he isn’t in the wrong, and this surely does some damage to him. Michael reads books to Hanna and it seems very intimate but it’s strange that a grown woman needs a child to read to her. In a way it feels like a mother-son relationship has been flipped on it’s head, with him looking after her at various points through the novel.

When Hanna disappears, Michael slowly gets on with his life and goes to study law. He attends a trial where Hanna is a defendant and turns out to be responsible for several deaths during the war, and this throws out so many questions for Michael and he is determined to find out what happened. He wonders how a normal person can commit such a terrible crime, and how a normal person can love someone who committed such crimes. All the things he has done makes it hard for him to live a normal life: his marriage fails, other relationships fail, he feels numb with the things he knows, he doesn’t want to be a lawyer or judge, but becomes a researcher/writer/lecturer type person who doesn’t socialise much. When he sees Hanna again, he is given the chance to find out her secret, and it turns out that she is illiterate and many things fall into place and suddenly make sense after all these years. He feels guilty at not sharing this knowledge and knowing it could have made her life easier, but he understands her shame of not being able to read and keeps it to himself.

I give “The Reader” a big 9/10 because i loved this novel, it was easy to read and i was fascinated by their relationship and the effect it had on Michael’s life, feelings and beliefs. The themes of sex, guilt, and shame make it a great read, even though the war crimes are horrible to think about, and it’s amazing how one little secret can ruin so many lives. I also love the variety of books which Michael reads to Hanna and love that books are part of their special connection. I wish i’d read it sooner because it is truly a great novel and even better because it is translated from the original German!

Translated Fiction News

Translated fiction has made the news today, well, in the publishing world at least!

Pushkin Press has introduced their new imprint for translated children’s books, which aims to bring “classic and bestselling children’s books from all around the world to British children”, to help change the current situation of around 3% of UK books being translated from another language, and the huge lack of translated fiction in the children’s book market.

I personally will be keeping an eye on these developments because it is about time that more translated books entered the UK children’s markets!

To see the whole article on the Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/07/pushkin-imprint-childrens-books-translation

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One thing that bugs me is that during the whole time i was writing my Masters dissertation on Translated Fiction, i couldn’t find a single source for the magical “3% of the UK book market is translated fiction” figure, and then suddenly i find this has decreased to 2.5% according to an article on Publishing Perspectives website! - Books in Translation: It’s time for others to join the fight

The problem is that there aren’t enough books coming into the UK from non-Anglophone markets, and there is a lack of airtime dedicated to translated fiction, unless you know where to find it. I do my best to review translated fiction here on my blog and i have a page dedicated to the reviews of books which i have read: A World Of Randomness – Translated Fiction

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Why is Translated Fiction not getting far in the UK market? Well, according to the Publishing Perspectives article Books in translation it’s time for others to join the fight:

1. “The permeating stereotype about books in translation is that they are “too literary” and “too serious” for a general readership in comparison to, say, light and entertaining cook books, celebrity memoirs or the recent publication of “mummy’s porn” Fifty Shades of Grey which was given almost every available space in every paper.”
   
2. “All publishers rely heavily on reviews to capture a market for their titles. And although the days of the British Empire are long gone, it still seems that the mainstream media, even those left leaning outlets which pride themselves on cultural diversity and liberal values, are far too conservative to devote column inches to literature and non-fiction in translation.”
3. “How are we going to convince a reviewer to give it a go if most of them get an instant headache when they can’t pronounce the author’s name?”
4. “Publishing a book in translation is expensive. You are lucky as a publisher if you get a translation grant which rarely covers 100% of the amount it is costing you to get the work done; sometimes you get nothing and you face the possibility of dropping the title from your list altogether because it’s simply too expensive for a small press to cover the translation costs.”
5. “If a publisher decides to take on a book written in a non-English language, the foreign author will be very well established with a few prizes under his/her belt to give the publisher a fighting change of getting the title reviewed at all. And so those books translated into English are often literary, high-brow, and serious.”
6. “It’s common knowledge that there’s no money in publishing books in translation, meaning it’s done by people who are seriously passionate about literature often subsidise the business with their savings or second jobs.”

They are all true and all need to be sorted out if translated fiction wants to have a bigger stake in the UK book market.

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Other recent interesting articles on the subject of Translated fiction:

Books in Translation: It’s Time for Others to Join the Fight - http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/02/books-in-translation-its-time-for-others-to-join-the-fight/

British children miss out on foreign bestsellers - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10039917/British-children-miss-out-on-foreign-bestsellers.html

Best Translated Fiction Award 2013 - http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?s=btb

Book Review: The Finno-Ugrian Vampire

I have just finished reading “The Finno-Ugrian Vampire” by Noémi Szécsi, translated from the original Hungarian. I won my copy in a competition (See my recent post: My latest book stuff), which was good because i had discovered the novel not long ago and was eager for the English translation to be published!

My shiny new copy of “The Finno-Ugrian Vampire” by Noemi Szecsi!

This is one strange, yet fascinating, novel!

I loved the refreshing take on vampires, going back to a more traditional view of bloodsucking and coffin-sleeping creatures who, against tradition, go out in the daylight and work meaningless jobs and live in less than privileged circumstances despite being rich.

Jerne is interesting as she is a graduate of the arts who wants to be a writer but ends up moving further away from this. She obsesses over her animals in her stories and you can tell she studied literature from the way she talks about them. I get the impression that she has a independent streak, but still lets her grandmother take care of her (in the only way a vampire guardian can!) and give her advice.

Her grandmother is a fascinating character, who is over 200 years old yet still glamourous. She bosses Jerne around, giving her advice which isn’t always taken, and telling stories from her past, many of which Jerne knows off by heart! She is a fabulous example of a meat-grinding vampire, whose age has helped contribute to her vast fortune accumulated over her afterlife. She is caring though, looking after her granddaughter from the moment Jerne arrived in an unexpected parcel. However, she is determined to make her  into a proper vampire and basically acts like a vampiric life-coach (or after-life-coach!).

The first half of the novel is about Jerne and her writing and her job at a small publishers. She doesn’t like the sight of blood and her grandmother despairs at her lack of vampiric desires. Jerne tries to get her animal stories published but is knocked back by her boss and sets about re-writing them. Her boss’ partner sets his sights on Jerne and this develops into a strange sort of relationship.

The novel shifts rather suddenly into Jerne’s death and reincarnation as a vampire, although the change is fairly subtle and i wasn’t sure what and how it had happened at first read. It all happens rather matter-of-factly: no big fuss  is made about the change. Jerne gets a new job and leaves behind people in her past, but meets a bunch of new people, and also develops a relationship with a woman who teaches her Hungarian.

The ending is somewhat surprising, but i won’t spoil it!

The mood of the novel seems to change with Jerne’s ressurection, with her grandmother being adamant that she doesn’t write anymore until she gets more life experience. I do think she is just being a little bit selfish towards her granddaughter though. Jerne has all these possibilities as a young woman: she could still want to marry and have children, and maybe actually make it as a proper writer as she wanted to be at the start of the novel. She seems to lose interest in her old career choices (maybe it’s her grandmother’s influence, or just the after-effects of her change into a vampire) and seems to settle for more mundane jobs. I had expected more exciting things to happen, thinking that the change into a vampire would be the focal point of the novel but i’m not sure if this novel has a proper climax because it seems to plod along. It’s not hard to follow or read, but it’s not the best novel i’ve ever read, although it has its merits!

I give this novel a 7 out of 10 because it is interesting to read about vampires in a different way, the grandmother is a fabulous character, and the Hungarian aspect is totally different to anything i’ve read before. It reads like a more literary novel than contemporary in some places but it’s a really good piece of writing. Worth a read if you fancy something different to the normal and current trend of pathetic vampires!

Book Review: Zeina

I have just finished reading “Zeina” by Nawal El Saadawi (translated from the Arabic by Amira Nowaira).

Zeina – Nawal El Saadawi (via Amazon)

The book description reads as follows:

 ”Bodour, a distinguished literary critic and university professor, carries with her a dark secret. As a young university student, she fell in love with a political activist and gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Zeina, whom she abandoned on the streets of Cairo. Zeina grows up to become one of Egypt’s most beloved entertainers, despite being deprived of a name and a home. In contrast, Bodour remains trapped in a loveless marriage, pining for her daughter. In an attempt to find solace she turns to literature, writing a fictionalised account of her life. But then the novel goes missing. Bodour is forced on a journey of self discovery, reliving and reshaping her past and her future. Will Bodour ever discover who stole the novel? Is there any hope of her being reunited with Zeina?”

The plot sounds quite interesting and i was intrigued by the social and cultural issues which affect the characters in this book.

Bodour is quite likeable as a character, particularly when she is young and in love. I felt sorry for her having to abandon her daughter on the streets, unable to acknowledge her because she is illegitimate and has no father. Bodour is constantly haunted by the event of abandoning her child, and in her dreams she searches for the lost child. Her waking life revolves around writing and her loveless marriage. She secretly writes a novel about her life and her lost daughter, and her fictional self seems to be a stronger and more confident character than she. At times through the book, it gets confusing who is talking, Bodour or Badreya, her protagonist. It is a shock for Bodour when her novel is stolen, the one thing that was keeping her sane in her unhappy life.

Bodour has another daughter, from her marriage: Mageeda. Mageeda has grown up with her parents fighting in private, and has grown up through school alongside her mother’s lost daughter, although she is unaware of this fact. She follows in her parent’s footprints and becomes a writer herself, although she secretly hates writing. She represents the next generation and is a contrast to her half-sister, Zeina: Mageeda is short, plump and from an affluent background, with a talent for writing from her parents, despite her dislike of it.

Zeina is the abandoned daughter, brought up on the streets by a woman she called her mother – Nanny Zeinat, a servant of Bodour and her family. Zeina is described as having her father’s blue-black eyes, which have haunted her mother Bodour ever since she was born.She is clearly more like her father than Bodour, as no-one seems to associate her with her real mother. Zeina is a musically gifted child and grows into a beautiful woman, untouchable by any man, yet touches the heart of all who hear her sing and play music.

Zakariah al-Khartiti is Bodour’s husband, and he is a unpleasant character in my opinion. It is clear to see why Bodour is repulsed by him in the way he is described physically and by his behaviour. He cheats on her constantly, and finds sex in many places, from prostitutes to even raping young boys and girls. He writes a column in a newspaper and has an egotistical pride in his writing.

The book gets confusing, switching from one character to the next every couple of paragraphs, from the points of view of the characters i have described above, to other characters such as the psychiatrist, Bodour’s best friend, and Bodour’s cousin. I find there are many repetitions of the same scenes over and over again, and the repetition of the same lyrics of the song sung by the street-children. These get annoying after a while. I find this book very hard to read because it goes around in circles and goes off on a tangent every now and then, and doesn’t seem to go anywhere. We don’t really find out answers to our questions throughout the novel, and what could be classed as an answer is hard to decipher as being real or not. Each character thinks about themselves all the time, which gets boring after a while, although the exception is probably Zeina, who we don’t hear much from: we only hear about and see her through other people, be they kind or cruel.

The only thing i like about the book is the contradictions between the religious, social and cultural beliefs of the Arabic world: the outsider thinks that everything is black and white, with men acting a certain way, women acting another, and certain things being unacceptable, when actually things happen in the Arabic world just the same as the Western world, except they are hidden from public view. Everything on the surface is a lie.

I give this book 5/10 because it doesn’t answer the obvious questions, it is confusing, and most of the characters, while they are believable and well-written, are just too self-absorbed and self-loathing. I have never read anything so repetitive. It’s not boring by any means, it’s just got no obvious direction, and i can’t imagine what would happen next.

Book Review: Delicacy

I’ve just finished “Delicacy” by David Foenkinos, and is translated from the French.

Delicacy – David Foenkinos (via Amazon)

I pretty much read it in 2 sittings (having to go to work really cuts into reading time!) and i did read it fairly quickly, but it was actually quite good! This was a spur-of-the-moment purchase as i was in WHSmith and they had a Buy-One-Get-One-Half-Price offer so this was my choice (the other book was “How to be a Woman” by Caitlin Moran).

The blurb reads:

“He was passing by, she kissed him without thinking. Now she wonders whether she did the right thing. But Natalie isn’t certain of anything anymore. One minute she was a happily married young woman, successful in her career, and convinced the future was full of promise. But when her husband was run over by a car, her whole world was turned upside down. Years later, still bruised with grief but desperate to move on with her life, she impulsively kisses her colleague Marcus. For Natalie, the kiss is just a gratuitous act. For the awkward, unassuming Marcus, it is the moment at which he falls hopelessly, helplessly in love. But how will he ever convince such a beautiful, intelligent but confused young woman that he is the man who can bring her back to life?”

Natalie is quite a romantic character, beautiful and intelligent. Men are attracted to her but she seems unaware of the effect she has on them. By chance, she meets her husband in the street and they develop a relationship that is easy-going and loving, and it seems to be the envy of many of their friends. Then disaster strikes and she throws herself into her work, unable to live any other way. She becomes the object of her boss’ affections (and, later, his obsessions) but she isn’t interested. One day she kisses a co-worker, Marcus, with no idea of why she did it. This begins Natalie’s re-awakening after so many years of grief and distance from everyone around her, particularly men.

Marcus is an interesting character: He is a Swede, with an odd but charming sense of humour, who falls in love with Natalie after that first unexpected kiss and tries to win her heart. He is more deserving of Natalie than their boss, Charles, who tries to ruin their relationship.

The book is fast-paced at the start: It starts with Natalie meeting François (her future husband) for the first time, then rushes through their relationship from engagement to marriage and up to the point where François is killed. Then it slows down, almost to mirror Natalie’s grief-stricken life after the death. The important focus of this novel is obviously the relationship between Natalie and Marcus, and it is an interesting twist on an office romance. Their co-workers obviously want the gossip about the pair, but are disappointed by the couple’s indifferent attitude. I actually got a bit annoyed with the gossip-mongers! It is clearly a delicate (to reference the title of this book) matter, with Natalie trying to move on from her grief and find happiness with a new man, and this new relationship starts in a very delicate way as it has no real foundations, but it is stronger than it seems. The ending is quite sweet and fitting for such a story.

I didn’t think it was a very French book, but maybe i have a different feeling about what makes a book French! It is a nice easy read, and deals with some very real issues though. The short chapters cut the story up into manageable bites, although it didn’t really need to. The chapters are segmented with outside contextual information, such as what characters were eating when they out at dinner, which adds extra content to the book, although i daresay it’s not wholly necessary to the story.

I give this book 7/10 because it is a good read and quite an original twist on a office romance story. It’s not really my thing as it is a bit sickly sweet but i quite enjoyed it and would recommend it if you like chick lit. It is also one of the easiest translated novels that i’ve read to date! (Or maybe i just subconsciously choose the most difficult ones!)

This book has been made as a film (hence the film tie-in the cover on my copy) which i haven’t seen, but i’m considering it as it would be interesting to see how it comes across in a visual format.

Book Review: New Finnish Grammar

I have just finished reading “New Finnish Grammar” by Diego Marani (translated from the Ialtian by Judith Landry). I read it because it ended up in the shortlist for the Independent Foreign fiction Prize 2012 and it sounded intriguing.

New Finnish Grammar – Diego Marani (via Amazon)

The blurb reads:

“One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can identifying him. When he regains consciousness he has lost his memory and cannot even remember what language he speaks. From a few things found on the man the doctor, who is originally from Finland, believes him to be a sailor and a fellow countryman, who somehow or other has ended up in Trieste. The doctor dedicates himself to teaching the man Finnish, beginning the reconstruction of the identity of Sampo Karjalainen, leading the missing man to return to Finland in search of his identity and his past.”

The book follows this man “Sampo” as he tries to recover his memory and his identity, and immerses himself in learning the Finnish language and trying to re-build himself with a Finnish identity. He notes down everything he learns and has help from a pastor who teaches him about Finnish history and folklore while helping “Sampo” learn the difficult Finnish language.

Most of the book is written from the point of view of “Sampo” himself, but there are notes and background information along the way added by the Finnish doctor who found him, treated him, and told him to learn Finnish. These notes are useful in filling in some of the gaps, but we also learn about the doctor and his own personal history and feelings towards his homeland.

I’m not so sure i like the doctor very much because he seems so determined that “Sampo” is Finnish and encourages him to find himself again. But, even though he was acting in what he believed is the best way, i feel a bit sorry for the doctor because of his mistake.

The pastor is a more interesting character: He talks a lot about Finnish folklore and God and so on, and he seems to lose the plot a bit towards the end where things turn a bit strange. He seems to think a lot about things and has a lot of opinions, and i thought this might push “Sampo” in the wrong direction, as he may not be the best influence on him. I’m still not sure though.

The focus on the Finnish language (the book isn’t, as the title suggests, about Finnish grammar in a technical manner) is quite interesting, especially with the book’s original language being Italian. As i’m reading it in English, i found it hard to believe that it was from Italian, because there is just so much Finnish in there. Indeed, as well as the story, we learn a lot about the language itself from this book. I was fascinated by the idea of a man with no memory of a mothertongue learning a whole new language from scratch, not even able to match a word in Finnish with one in an existing language. Especially Finnish, which is one of the most difficult languages to learn and which is rarely spoken outside Finland. Language is really important to identity because it is the only way you can communicate with others, or even inside your own head. To have no language at all can cut you off completely from the world around you, and i can’t imagine the feelings of desperation that “Sampo” was feeling during this book. He makes a great effort to create a new identity for himself by learning Finnish and exploring Helsinki and joining in with others, but he is still the outsider with nothing of his own to share.

This book is difficult to follow, maybe a bit too long as well, and having two narrators can get a little confusing at times, but it is a fascinating read. If you can persevere with it, you will appreciate how difficult it must have been to not only write, but also to translate. The ending is a bit predictable, but at the same time it is rather vague.

I give this book 6/10 because it is an intriguing subject to read about and “Sampo’s” tale is desperately sad and kind of beautiful in its own way. Difficult but worth reading if you can get through the considerable amount of brain-draining waffle in it! I wouldn’t read it again though, too much effort!

Note: I read this on my Kindle, and the ebook read very well.

Book Review: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I just finished reading “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery!

The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery

It’s taken me about 2 months to read because i found it a heavy read as it is full of quite intellectual musings. It has been translated from the French, and is indeed a very French book!

The blurb reads:

“Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building, home to members of the great and the good. Over the years she has maintained her carefully constructed persona as someone reliable but totally uncultivated, in keeping, she feels, with society s expectations of what a concierge should be. But beneath this façade lies the real Renée: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives. Down in her lodge, apart from weekly visits by her one friend Manuela, Renée lives resigned to her lonely lot with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever.”

The story is told from the perspectives of these two characters: Renée, and Paloma. Both are intelligent but trying to hide it from everyone else, and both are very imaginative and say quite thought-provoking things. Renée is older and wiser than Paloma and has her own secrets which start to come out as the novel progresses. Paloma is maybe a little naïve and too young to have experienced life, which makes me think she is wasting her time planning to kill herself.

The death of a resident of the apartment building brings about changes which neither character could have predicted, especially the arrival of an interesting gentleman who blows both their secrets out of the water and changes the relationship between the supposedly less refined and less privileged concierge and the supposedly more superior residents of the building.

It is interesting to see the other characters, with Paloma’s family and many of the other residents being a bit snobby and less likable, whereas people like Manuela are really lovely and enthusiastic. Many of the characters i don’t like any better by the end of the novel though.

I found this novel a little hard to get into, with the narrative switching constantly between Renée and Paloma and getting a little confusing as they have quite similar trains of thought, and also because the narrative is quite heavy, making it more the sort of novel you fight to get through rather than just reading it. You have to focus intently on the words as you read them. I found a lot of the subjects covered very interesting, and it is very cultured, more high brow culture.

I finally got into it when the new resident appears and suddenly the book comes to life as everything gets turned upside down. I just starting to like the characters more when a sudden twist at the end changes everything again and i was kind of annoyed that something beautiful would end so abruptly! But i won’t spoil the ending for you!

I give it 7/10 because it is original and intelligent, if a little on the heavy side. You have to really want to read this book, i fear that a lot of people might get bored quickly. It really is worth persevering with though: i’m glad i made myself finish reading it because the second half of the book is much better! If you like a bit of high-brow culture and literary fiction, i think you’ll like this.

A Poll on Translated Fiction

I’m curious how many of you lovely visitors to my blog actually read translated fiction, so i have created a little poll to find out! I would appreciate a few seconds of your time to click one of the options below. Thanks!