Book Title: Untold Night and Day
Author: Bae Suah
Date Started: June 22nd 2022
Date Completed: June 30th 2022
Genres: Adult, Magical Realism
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star
Final Rating: Three Stars
Review:
In the note at the end, Deborah Smith who translated Suah’s novel describes it as a poetic fever dream and, having read this in chunks commuting on the London Underground in humid summer, that summed it up pretty well to me.
This is one of those stream-of-consciousness-meets-surrealist glimpses through the looking glass that I personally find more interesting from an analytical perspective than an immersive one. There are really fascinating cycles and parallels, patterns and whimsy, and distilled moments of reality that are almost uncomfortable with how close to home they hit. It’s about the worlds we build up in our heads, in our dreams, that are so close to reality sometimes maybe they are, until someone turns a light on or an alarm goes off, or we wonder how we possibly got to his place.
I would recommend reading Smith’s notes in the end if, like me, you were a little lost but also because it’s always fascinating to read about how a translator constructs a translated piece of work - and with one such as Suah’s writing which feels so distinct (this is the second story I’ve read by her) but must be so challenging to translate due to the style. It’s an engaging piece of writing, but I just wasn’t that into it.
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