Haunted Hemming & Hawing: My Heart Hemmed In by Marie NDiaye

I’m honestly not sure where to start with Jordan Stump’s recent English translation of French writer Marie NDiaye’s My Heart Hemmed In, because it feels like I’ve been preparing to read this book for a long time, a long time before I knew of its existence and perhaps even before it was published in its original … More Haunted Hemming & Hawing: My Heart Hemmed In by Marie NDiaye

Binary Banter: The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise, Perec-style

I read both French and English, but I’m not sure how my binary is. Normally, when it comes to French texts I’m curious about, I grab either the original or the English translation, depending on what’s most readily available. If it’s the translation, I nurse the intention of reading the original French and comparing the … More Binary Banter: The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise, Perec-style

Adolescent Amaro: Niccolò Ammaniti’s Anna

Probably mostly due to fear of popular culture, I’m immediately mistrustful of a book that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited entirely by children. That these feelings are somewhat mitigated by the thought of these plot parameters being plunked down in Sicily rather than, say, New York, doesn’t absolve me of my pre-judgment so … More Adolescent Amaro: Niccolò Ammaniti’s Anna