WIT Reads

As many of you know, August is Women in Translation Month and the last couple of years I’ve really made an effort to get in more reads for this and this month is no exception. I made a goal that all books I’ve started this month have to be translated books by women. I’ve finished two reads and wanted to give you a bit of an update on those.

“The trick is to lift up the right foot, just a few centimeters off the floor, move it forward through the air, just enough to get past the left foot, and when it gets as far as it can go, lower it. That’s all it is, Elena thinks.”

Elena Knows
By Claudia Piñeiro; translated by Frances Riddle
Source: Personal copy

It may seem like such a simple action, to move your feet and move forward, but not so for Elena who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Each day and what she is able to do is measured by when she takes her medication, how long it will be before it takes effect and how long it will be before she can take another. She wouldn’t normally be out traversing the streets of Buenos Aires but she has good reason. Her daughter has died and she is sure that the investigation’s findings are wrong as her daughter would never have committed suicide.

So one day she decides to take a taxi to another part of Buenos Aires to call in a favor and get to the truth. Along the way, we see the city through Elena’s memories and its history. We get to know Elena a woman who rants against illness, bureaucracy and many other things. Most importantly though we are privy to a mother-daughter relationship that was often fraught with tension. I have read several of Claudia Piñeiro’s books and have greatly enjoyed them but this one left me stunned. Undoubtedly will be one of my favorites of the year.

“A strange melancholy pervades me to which I hesitate to give the grave and beautiful name of sorrow. The idea of sorrow has always appealed to me, but now I am almost ashamed of its complete egoism.”

Bonjour Tristesse
By Françoise Sagan; translated by Irene Ash
Source: Personal copy

Cécile spent most of her childhood in boarding school but for the past couple of years she’s been enjoying life with her father. He’s still a young widower who is never without a lovely lady by his side. It takes a while for Cécile to get used to this but soon she’s also enjoying the carefree life of a seventeen-year-old in Paris along with her father and his girlfriends. They encounter fun people, drink and stay out late until the summer when their lives change.

They pair along with Elsa, the father’s latest conquest, decide to spend a summer outside of Paris. They are carefree and Cécile thinks she may have found love with a young man until the arrival of a family friend, Anne. Unlike them, Anne is sophisticated and doesn’t approve of their lifestyle and before too long, things start to change and not exactly for the best for Cécile. Before she thought of Anne as a friend and now she thinks of her an intruder and she sets off in motion a series of events which will have unexpected consequences. Really enjoyed this one too and could just feel myself lulled by the relaxing time at the Villa, well until Anne arrives.

These were both fairly quick reads so if you still want to get in some reading for Women in Translation give them a try. Also before I forget, Open Letter books is offering a 40% discount on all print titles written by women, along with any book translated by a woman, for the whole month of August.

Let me know if you are reading any books in translation. Have a wonderful start to the weekend!