Women Without Men

 

Women Without Men / Shahrnush Parsipur
trans. from the Persian by Faridoun Farrokh
NY: Feminist Press at CUNY, 2012, c1973.
192 p.

I picked up this book thanks to the International Booker - a new 2026 edition was on the longlist, and then I found this 2012 edition, and discovered it was first published in 1989. So the subtitle, "a novel of Modern Iran" has to be taken in context. 

It's a tale of a group of five women who all face extreme misogyny in their homes, their towns, their entire setting. So they decide to leave, and all end up in the same place, walking the road to Tehran but finding a place to stay on the outskirts, in the home and garden of one lone woman. They have different roles and different experiences; one is happy to settle in with another man, the gardener, one keeps house, one decides to plant herself and turn into a tree. This is definitely the most unexpected part of the story, and it was a little bit of random magical realism for me -- but looking into the role of trees in Iran, they are one of the oldest cultures to treat trees as sacred beings. So I'm sure that once again I am missing many of the context clues to the deeper meanings in this story. 

In any case, many readers might be familiar with this book because of its Booker nomination, well, at least passingly familiar. I thought it was interesting but unfortunately didn't get drawn in completely. The characters were a bit too sketched out for me, I couldn't quite understand how they fit together in their new setting, and the ending was both unexpected and a bit unsatisfying. So I'm glad I read it but it was a bit difficult, and I think I'd need to study it a bit more closely to really get a lot out of it.

A Hamlet Called America

 

The Hamlet Called America / Khrystia Vengryniuk
trans. from the Ukrainian by Kate Tsurkan & Dmytro Kyyan
South Portland, ME: Sandorf Passage, c2026
224 p.

I was sent an advanced reading copy of this book by the publisher; it will be released mid-October of this year. I'm obviously quite interested in this thanks to it being a Ukrainian novel, newly translated. 

It's an intriguing read, something quite different from my recent reading. It's set in the near past, no mention of the war here, but focuses on the lives of a small group of eccentric villagers. 

I saw someone describe it as a Ukrainian version of the village of Macondo from 100 Years of Solitude, and I guess I could see that connection - it does have an element of magical realism, with a few inexplicable things going on that people seem to just accept. And there is a long history to the hamlet, where time seems a little unreliable.

The hamlet is isolated and sticks to itself; the exception is the priest up the hill, a healer who draws people to area. One of our villagers ends up there herself near the end, with an unusual health status to be managed. 

There are characters who come and go, as well, mainly the younger family members of the residents. A grandson or granddaughter here, a bevy of daughters there, coming for visits from the city. There is even a beautiful stranger dumped on the road at night and taken in by one of them. Lots of intrigue to follow. 

It reads like a heightened folktale, with stock characters who are somehow made into complex people in their own right. There are bits of superstition, folklore, unexplained moments, and a bit too much familial togetherness. In some ways I found it reminiscent of Tanja Maljartschuk's Biography of a Chance Miracle -- that novel also plays with expectations of reality, and it is set in a Ukrainian town named San Francisco. But while that novel has a main character, this one really has a cast of characters all as important as the next. Their stories intertwine and depend on one another's stories to exist. 

It's an unusual, earthy read, with a lot of the story so dependent on the setting and the characters' life stories. I am sure I missed some of the nuance because I'm not as familiar with the context. But it was a compelling read that I had to finish. Look for it in October! 

A Brief History of a Long War

 

A Brief History of a Long War / Mariam Naiem
illus. by Yulia Vus & Ivan Kypibida
trans. from the Ukrainian by Nata Hrytsenko
New York : Ten Speed Graphic, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, ©2026
105 p.

This is a short graphic novel that aims to give an overview of how long Ukraine has been resisting Russian aggression, for those who don't know Ukrainian history. Hint: this book starts in the Middle Ages and moves up to 2022 and the start of the most recent Russian attacks on the country. 

Written by an award-winning journalist, scholar and activist, it covers a variety of flashpoints in Ukrainian history. The illustrations are all done in tones of black/grey, white and orange, which reflects the role of the colour orange in freedom movements that the reader will learn about -- it also reflects the nighttime fire and destruction wrought by war.  

For those new to Ukrainian history, this will be a good introduction to the fact that Russia has been oppressing and attacking the country for a very long time. Moving from the middle ages and the rise of the Cossacks, to 19th C. Imperial decrees banning the Ukrainian language in a linguicide, then to the 30s and the Stalin-led Holodomor (death by famine), and continuing into the present invasion, this book will give a sense of Ukraine and all it has stood against for centuries. 

There is a bibliography, noting some of the writing that Naiem consulted for this book, including a couple of very respected Ukrainian historians - and one Ukrainian-Canadian one, too. This provides good resources for readers who are interested enough to read further and find out more about any of the things she shares in this graphic novel. 

I found that the text and imagery in this book worked well together; it was memorable and covered all the information without sounding like a dry list or textbook. There is a focus on the experiences of people during these events and what current wartime is like. Really solid intro, not too overwhelming. 

A short interview with the author, about creating this book, can be found at DTF Magazine. 

Translation Thursday

  

It's Translation Thursday! Each Thursday this month I'm going to share the translation I'm currently reading plus a few more on my reading list. Here's today's list:

Currently Reading:

The Hamlet Called America / Khrystia Vengryniuk
trans. from the Ukrainian by Kate Tsurkan & Dmytro Kyyan

To Read: 

Take Six: Six Ukrainian Women Writers / ed. by Steve Komarnyckyj
trans. from the Ukrainian by Steve Komarnyckyj

Girl with a Bullet / Anna Malihon
trans. from the Ukrainian by Olena Jennings

Women and War / ed. and trans.
from the Ukrainian by Aurélie Bros

Stacks for #WITMonth

 

This #WITMonth I have a pretty small stack of potential To-Reads. I currently have a couple on the go, and a few more that I've finished over the last month that I will be sharing during August. 

I have many books on my own shelves to read, and have made a stack of the ones I am actively reading and/or planning on diving into this month. These are some titles that I've had for a while, almost entirely some ARCs that I never got around to reading! 

I'm going to be sharing reviews this month of books I've finished over the last few weeks as well as reading some more, and of course, adding to my never-ending TBR thanks to other #WIT Month reviews -- I always find great suggestions during this month, plenty to keep my going throughout the rest of the year. 

Reading in Translation: Library Reviews

 

Along with my regular reading and reviewing here on the blog, I've also read a number of women in translation for my professional work. These were reviews for Library Journal, and so I can't really talk in depth about them here. But these are the titles I covered since last August. 

Dams / Irene Sola
trans. from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem

The Friday Bookshop / Sawako Natori
trans. from the Japanese by Yui Kajita

Welcome to the Kokoro Cat Clinic / Syou Ishida
trans. from the Japanese by E. Madison Shimoda

Beautiful Distance / Nao-Cola Yamazaki
trans. from the Japanese by Charlotte Goff

Mount Verity / Therese Bohman
trans. from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy

Reading in Translation: More Books Read since last year!

I did read and review a few books from languages other than Japanese or Korean over the last year, too! These are the handful I got reviewed. Lots more coming this month!

Brightly Shining / Ingvild Rishoi

Fair Play / Tove Jansson 

Forgotten on Sunday / Valerie Perrin