Literary Bread | Translated Lit

  • Home
  • About
  • Musings
  • Reviews
  • Review Policy
lauren@literarybread.com

Literary Bread | Translated Lit

  • Home
  • About
  • Musings
  • Reviews
  • Review Policy

Tag: Memoir

Background with repeated text of #MeToo

Black Box: The Memoir That Sparked Japan’s #MeToo Movement

It feels tone deaf to review and rate a memoir, particularly one based on such traumatic experiences - I have no place to judge the lived experiences of someone else. So while this is not a full review, I did want to make sure I give space and voice to…

Continue Reading

Language Categories

  • Chinese
  • Dutch
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Spanish
  • Swedish

Currently Reading

No currently reading book right now.

Recently Reviewed

no title has been provided for this book

Longing and other Stories

Author: Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Longing and Other Stories is a collection of three stories from Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, a prominent twentieth century Japanese writer. At only 148

The Art of Losing Book Cover

The Art of Losing

Author: Alice Zeniter

Prix Renaudot-winning author Alice Zeniter’s newest book to be translated into English ‘The Art of Losing’ (L’Art de Perdre), translated from the Fren

The Last One Book Cover

The Last One

Author: Fatima Daas

“My name is Fatima Daas.” This is the rhythmic refrain of Fatima Daas’ debut novel The Last One, a tender but powerful exploration of the “often confl

Instagram

  • Happy pub day to BLOOD FEAST by Malika Moustadraf, translated by Alice Guthrie!

I promise a full review is coming but for now I will just say that this is exactly the kind of bold and critical writing that makes me proud to be a member of the @feministpress Young Feminist Leaders Council. This short story collection is an unflinching look at gender and sexuality in Morocco that is not to be missed!
  • Happy lunar new year 🐯 

I've loved seeing my bookstagram fill up with tiger book recommendations. I've read all three of these in the last six months and was excited to have an excuse to share them with you!

Swipe for a look at my new year's feast!
  • DISORIENTATION by Elaine Hsieh Chou ⭐⭐⭐⭐ is not only a laugh-out-loud-funny satire and heavy-handed criticism of ivory tower academia, but also a Taiwanese woman’s reckoning with her own identity as a light-skinned Asian woman and her personal complicity in the larger system of institutional racism.

This book reads like a rollercoaster ride–its setup feels like such a slow, predictable climb but as the introduced conflict feels like it's about to start resolving itself, the story instead explodes into sharp turns, frenzied plot developments, and unexpected character twists (read: this story is WILD).

Hsieh Chou’s characters are exaggeratedly unrealistic— but these caricatures of personalities that we recognize in our own lives (and in ourselves?) are a strength in such a satirical work, serving as direct criticisms of the ways that people engage in racial discourse, from the white supremacists to the radical left social crusaders to the “model-minorities” to the “yellow fever” stricken men.

The novel seems to suggest that we do not have to take the paths of these extreme personalities but that there’s instead a middle way to engage with our current social-political climate and to stand up to long-standing systems of racial oppression without committing our entire lives to taking down those systems. Perhaps this moderation is necessary but maybe it's permission for us to feel like we’re doing enough when we’re not. As a light-skinned, half-Taiwanese half-White woman, I worry that this is a privileged point of view that betrays our ability to engage in difficult conversations only to the degree that we desire: that is a privilege that most people of color do not have.

While I personally loved this book (I probably align pretty solidly with Hsieh Chou’s “perfect reader”), it feels like a small slice of experience within a much larger conversation. It’s a book that’s begging to be talked about – a great choice for a book club or just to discuss over coffee with a friend– and perhaps a book that *needs* to be talked about in order to identify both what it got right and what it failed to name. If you’ve read DISORIENTATION, I’d love to hear what you think!
Follow Me!
Copyright © 2022 | Literary Bread. All Rights Reserved.
This website uses cookies to enhance your user experience. By using our site, we will assume you agree to our privacy policy.
Terms and Conditions | Disclaimer |Privacy Policy