“The way Rankov balances and weaves together the seemingly lighter side of the September 1st story with its darker and more momentous occasions, such as the September 1st, 1939 outbreak of World War II, makes for a highly compelling narrative. By slipping back and forth from fascism to youthful frivolity, the darkness is made darker […]
In commemoration of the death of Czech writer Jan Balabán ten years ago at the age of forty-nine, B O D Y editor Jan Zikmund has reviewed the English version of Balabán’s short story collection Maybe We’re Leaving, translated from the Czech by Charles S. Kraszewski. He writes about how Balabán writes “quiet”, compact stories […]
“The collection’s cast of characters includes, among others, a child-like dwarf creature who needs to be kept away from water and serves as a litmus paper in the human world, an ex-stripper ceaselessly emitting cigar smoke in emulation of her act of long ago and an old woman whose devoted tending of the apricot tree […]
Into the Spotlight is a soon-to-be-published anthology of contemporary Slovak fiction including writers such as Uršuľa Kovalyk, Pavel Vilikovský, Monika Kompaníková and many more. It was translated by Julia Sherwood and Magdalena Mullek and published by Three String Books (an imprint of Slavica Publishers). You can read my review of this fantastic anthology here. Read […]
The Vegetarian by Han Kang has awarded the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. The novel was translated into English by Deborah Smith and published by Portobello Books. The author and translator are each awarded a prize of £25,000 as well as a trophy. If you haven’t read this novel yet you absolutely should. It’s amazing. […]
I have finally begun my ‘Best Books’ list and this year I’m not doing it all at once but am featuring the very best books with reviews and/or links of their own. One of my very favorites this year was McSweeney’s Latin American Crime issue and I reviewed it today in B O D Y. […]
My review of Sándor Jászberényi’s soon-to-be published debut short story collection The Devil is a Black Dog. We have published five of the amazing stories in B O D Y, three of them during this past Sándor Jászberényi Week. So hopefully this review will send you on to the stories and to the book itself, […]
1. The Devil’s Workshop by Jáchym Topol (translated by Alex Zucker) Like my favorite book of the year before, my favorite book of 2013 delves into the ultimate horrors that man inflicts on his fellow man, but does so with a surplus of imagination, suspense and humor. Whereas Selvedin […]
Last month B O D Y published an excerpt from Argentine writer Carlos Busqued’s debut novel Under This Terrible Sun, just recently published in Megan McDowell’s English translation. Now, I have written a review of the book for this week’s Friday Pick. Read the review, read the excerpt, read the novel – not necessarily in […]
On March 7, 2005 the hero of Selvedin Avdić’s brilliant and captivating novel Seven Terrors decides to get up out of bed after nine months of self-imposed apathy as a result of having been left by his wife. Ready to return to life what he actually returns to is horror. Read the book review in […]
