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The Translator
In silken prose and with subtle suspense, Nina Schuyler brings us a mesmerizing novel of language and translation, memory loss and heartbreak, and the search for answers in a foreign country.
When renowned translator Hanne Schubert falls down a flight of stairs, her injury is an unusual but real condition--the loss of her native language. She is left speaking only Japanese, a language learned later in life. With her personal life at a crossroad, Hanne leaves for Japan. There, the Japanese novelist whose work she translated stunningly confronts her publicly for sabotaging his work.
Reeling, Hanne struggles for meaning and seeks out the inspiration for the author's novel--a tortured, chimerical actor, once a master in the art of Noh theater. Through their passionate and intriguing relationship, Hanne begins to understand the masks she has worn in her life, just as the actor dons the masks that have made him a legend of Noh. The demons from her past and present begin to unfold and Hanne sets out to make amends in this searing and engrossing novel.
When renowned translator Hanne Schubert falls down a flight of stairs, her injury is an unusual but real condition--the loss of her native language. She is left speaking only Japanese, a language learned later in life. With her personal life at a crossroad, Hanne leaves for Japan. There, the Japanese novelist whose work she translated stunningly confronts her publicly for sabotaging his work.
Reeling, Hanne struggles for meaning and seeks out the inspiration for the author's novel--a tortured, chimerical actor, once a master in the art of Noh theater. Through their passionate and intriguing relationship, Hanne begins to understand the masks she has worn in her life, just as the actor dons the masks that have made him a legend of Noh. The demons from her past and present begin to unfold and Hanne sets out to make amends in this searing and engrossing novel.
303 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
49 people are currently reading
4662 people want to read
About the author
Nina Schuyler
13 books112 followersNina Schuyler's short story collection, IN THIS RAVISHING WORLD, will be published July 2, 2024. It won the W.S. Porter Prize and the Prism Prize for Climate Literature.
She's the author of AFTERWORD, winner of the PenCraft Seasonal Book Award for Literary-Science Fiction; a Foreword INDIE Finalist in the categories of Science Fiction and Literary, and a Top 100 Notable Book Unshelved Competition; THE TRANSLATOR, which was a finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and the winner of the Next Generation Indie Book Award, General Fiction; THE PAINTING, a finalist for the Northern California Book Award. Her nonfiction books HOW TO WRITE STUNNING SENTENCES AND STUNNING SENTENCES: A CREATIVE WRITING JOURNAL are bestsellers.
She's the author of AFTERWORD, winner of the PenCraft Seasonal Book Award for Literary-Science Fiction; a Foreword INDIE Finalist in the categories of Science Fiction and Literary, and a Top 100 Notable Book Unshelved Competition; THE TRANSLATOR, which was a finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and the winner of the Next Generation Indie Book Award, General Fiction; THE PAINTING, a finalist for the Northern California Book Award. Her nonfiction books HOW TO WRITE STUNNING SENTENCES AND STUNNING SENTENCES: A CREATIVE WRITING JOURNAL are bestsellers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 210 reviews
September 1, 2013
I have always frowned upon people who seem to think that reading is a mere pastime, barely suppressing the resentment I felt for those who consider the act of complete engagement with a narrative akin to a childish desire of letting go of reality for a while and stepping into a world detached from our own. I believed them to be ignorant, presumptuous and hopelessly prejudiced.
But after having read The Translator, I feel like I have gained enlightenment, become a more empathetic and thoughtful being blessed with a newer perspective on the matter.
Reading can, indeed, be categorized as a form of escapism. A gateway opening up into another metaphysical dimension we cannot gain physical access to. Or it can be the very best thing about our lives. Reading can be whatever we will it to be or perceive it to be. Because contrary to what we like to believe, our world views and personal preferences end up coloring the judgement we pronounce upon every thing else. Nothing can be classified as the absolute truth. It is not wise to view an opinion as a fact, certainly not our own, since our understanding of the world is forever a work in progress.
The essence of The Translator consists not so much of the life events of one particular Hanne Schubert, who effortlessly navigates the world of various languages, but of the basic human fallacy of failing to understand another, the pangs of miscommunication and the tragedies that transpire as a consequence.
A professional translator, Hanne, eases into the reticent formality of the Japanese language from the confident brusqueness of English within the same heartbeat. She keenly understands the basics of linguistics and elements of a foreign culture, yet struggles to understand her own flesh and blood. As a result, an unbridgeable chasm opens up in the relationship with her daughter Brigitte and this yawning gap stretches across time and space, affecting Hanne in ways she remains unwilling to acknowledge.
She continues to drift through a life revolving around translation assignments, shouldering the burden of repressed grief for her departed husband and estranged daughter without letting it engulf her completely.
But when an accident involving a head injury causes her to lose her mastery of all languages barring Japanese, she is forced to evaluate her true standing in life and embark on a journey of self-discovery, at the end of which she reconciles with her daughter. Although by the time realization dawns on her, it is already too late.
But is it really? Nina Schuyler seems to leave the reader with the message that it is never too late to cast aside reluctance and commence the often difficult, two-way process of communication, to stop speaking for a while and patiently listen to what the other one is saying without offering interruptions. And perhaps, it will not be mere folly to take off the rose-tinted glasses of preconceived notions and glance at the world once again, just so we can see facets of it we have been willfully blind to so far.
As a relatively new author, Nina Schuyler shows incredible promise. Her elegant, understated writing style succeeds in capturing the poignancy of many tender moments. There is something deeply atmospheric about this book and had it not been for the meticulous research that Schuyler must have conducted on Japanese culture and language (even the mention of Japanese tv show 'Long Vacation' holds true since I have seen it), half of the scenarios wouldn't have come to life as they did. Japan, the character of Moto Okuro, the theatre art of Noh could have resembled lifeless replicas but in Schuyler's deft hands, they appear believable.
Hence, a very impressed 4.5 stars rounded off to a 4. This is definitely the best among all the 2013 releases I have had the fortune of reading so far.
**I received an ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
But after having read The Translator, I feel like I have gained enlightenment, become a more empathetic and thoughtful being blessed with a newer perspective on the matter.
Reading can, indeed, be categorized as a form of escapism. A gateway opening up into another metaphysical dimension we cannot gain physical access to. Or it can be the very best thing about our lives. Reading can be whatever we will it to be or perceive it to be. Because contrary to what we like to believe, our world views and personal preferences end up coloring the judgement we pronounce upon every thing else. Nothing can be classified as the absolute truth. It is not wise to view an opinion as a fact, certainly not our own, since our understanding of the world is forever a work in progress.
The essence of The Translator consists not so much of the life events of one particular Hanne Schubert, who effortlessly navigates the world of various languages, but of the basic human fallacy of failing to understand another, the pangs of miscommunication and the tragedies that transpire as a consequence.
A professional translator, Hanne, eases into the reticent formality of the Japanese language from the confident brusqueness of English within the same heartbeat. She keenly understands the basics of linguistics and elements of a foreign culture, yet struggles to understand her own flesh and blood. As a result, an unbridgeable chasm opens up in the relationship with her daughter Brigitte and this yawning gap stretches across time and space, affecting Hanne in ways she remains unwilling to acknowledge.
She continues to drift through a life revolving around translation assignments, shouldering the burden of repressed grief for her departed husband and estranged daughter without letting it engulf her completely.
But when an accident involving a head injury causes her to lose her mastery of all languages barring Japanese, she is forced to evaluate her true standing in life and embark on a journey of self-discovery, at the end of which she reconciles with her daughter. Although by the time realization dawns on her, it is already too late.
But is it really? Nina Schuyler seems to leave the reader with the message that it is never too late to cast aside reluctance and commence the often difficult, two-way process of communication, to stop speaking for a while and patiently listen to what the other one is saying without offering interruptions. And perhaps, it will not be mere folly to take off the rose-tinted glasses of preconceived notions and glance at the world once again, just so we can see facets of it we have been willfully blind to so far.
As a relatively new author, Nina Schuyler shows incredible promise. Her elegant, understated writing style succeeds in capturing the poignancy of many tender moments. There is something deeply atmospheric about this book and had it not been for the meticulous research that Schuyler must have conducted on Japanese culture and language (even the mention of Japanese tv show 'Long Vacation' holds true since I have seen it), half of the scenarios wouldn't have come to life as they did. Japan, the character of Moto Okuro, the theatre art of Noh could have resembled lifeless replicas but in Schuyler's deft hands, they appear believable.
Hence, a very impressed 4.5 stars rounded off to a 4. This is definitely the best among all the 2013 releases I have had the fortune of reading so far.
**I received an ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
January 19, 2020
As the book opens, Hanne Schubert, living in San Francisco, is finishing the first Japanese to English translation of a book by a celebrated Japanese author. She relates closely to the book’s protagonist and feels she thoroughly understands his personality and motivations. She is convinced her work will be acclaimed as a masterful translation. Her personal life is secondary to her work. Her son and his family live in New York, and she has been estranged from her daughter for six years. Then, she suffers a fall, which injures her brain in an unusual way, rendering her able to speak only Japanese. Feeling isolated, she travels to Japan, where she is profoundly changed by her experiences.
This book is a deep character study of a woman gifted in language but impaired in emotional connections. Hanne is intelligent, confident, disciplined, and hard working. She believes she is “right” about pretty much everything, and anyone that sees life differently is “wrong.” As her own backstory is revealed, she becomes an empathetic character. She is believable and the reader will likely know people with similar traits.
Schuyler subtly explores how people impose their own views on others rather than valuing them for their unique qualities. I think the author does a magnificent job with Hanne’s emotional epiphany. The book also imparts an appreciation of Noh, a Japanese theatrical art. I found myself riveted by the performance scenes. Highly recommended to those that appreciate novels about personal transformations.
This book is a deep character study of a woman gifted in language but impaired in emotional connections. Hanne is intelligent, confident, disciplined, and hard working. She believes she is “right” about pretty much everything, and anyone that sees life differently is “wrong.” As her own backstory is revealed, she becomes an empathetic character. She is believable and the reader will likely know people with similar traits.
Schuyler subtly explores how people impose their own views on others rather than valuing them for their unique qualities. I think the author does a magnificent job with Hanne’s emotional epiphany. The book also imparts an appreciation of Noh, a Japanese theatrical art. I found myself riveted by the performance scenes. Highly recommended to those that appreciate novels about personal transformations.
September 13, 2022
This is the story of a 53 year old woman named Hanne, whose identity is wrapped up in her work as a translator. As the novel opens, we see her finishing the English translation of a Japanese author's book. Hanne is so engrossed in the project, that she thinks of the main character of the Japanese book as "My Jiro". The line between faithfully translating the author's actual book and Hanne's projecting her own beliefs into it becomes blurred.
In a strange twist of fate, Hanne hits her head in an accident and loses her ability to understand English (and the other languages she knows), but does retain her ability to speak Japanese. After the accident, Hanne is invited to Japan to discuss her translated work in a symposium. While visiting Japan, she meets the real Jiro upon whom the book is based. He is an actor in the legendary Noh theater. This meeting changes her life profoundly.
I enjoyed getting to know Hanne as well as the Noh actor and his brother, who graciously let Hanne stay with them during her visit to Japan. For me, this was the strength and delight of the story. I found the portions of the story that dealt with Hanne's daughter Bridgette to be less compelling.
Trigger Alert: Cancer
Here is a Youtube video that showcases the Noh art form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsa2G...
In a strange twist of fate, Hanne hits her head in an accident and loses her ability to understand English (and the other languages she knows), but does retain her ability to speak Japanese. After the accident, Hanne is invited to Japan to discuss her translated work in a symposium. While visiting Japan, she meets the real Jiro upon whom the book is based. He is an actor in the legendary Noh theater. This meeting changes her life profoundly.
I enjoyed getting to know Hanne as well as the Noh actor and his brother, who graciously let Hanne stay with them during her visit to Japan. For me, this was the strength and delight of the story. I found the portions of the story that dealt with Hanne's daughter Bridgette to be less compelling.
Trigger Alert: Cancer
Here is a Youtube video that showcases the Noh art form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsa2G...
September 24, 2013
Originally published on my blog at therelentlessreader.blogspot.com
The first thing that intrigued me about this book was the cover. Isn't it striking? I know we're not supposed to judge books by their covers but how could I not? This one is gorgeous.
I was looking forward to reading The Translator for a few reasons. The premise sounded fab. Can you imagine what it would be like to lose the ability to speak your native language? Also, I enjoy reading about Asian cultures. I was eager to learn more about Japan and about Noh theater.
While I looked forward to all of those things what really drew me was the main character Hanne. She is such an interesting and realistic person. She knows best for the people in her life. So much so that her daughter hasn't spoken to her in years and the author whose work she translated basically calls her a hack. In public.
Hanne's first language is gone. Her career is in deep trouble. Her family is broken. She struggles, as many of us do, to find the meaning of it all. Where did she go wrong? What could she have done differently? Hanne takes a journey seeking answers and redemption.
It was a journey that I was glad to take with her.
The first thing that intrigued me about this book was the cover. Isn't it striking? I know we're not supposed to judge books by their covers but how could I not? This one is gorgeous.
I was looking forward to reading The Translator for a few reasons. The premise sounded fab. Can you imagine what it would be like to lose the ability to speak your native language? Also, I enjoy reading about Asian cultures. I was eager to learn more about Japan and about Noh theater.
While I looked forward to all of those things what really drew me was the main character Hanne. She is such an interesting and realistic person. She knows best for the people in her life. So much so that her daughter hasn't spoken to her in years and the author whose work she translated basically calls her a hack. In public.
Hanne's first language is gone. Her career is in deep trouble. Her family is broken. She struggles, as many of us do, to find the meaning of it all. Where did she go wrong? What could she have done differently? Hanne takes a journey seeking answers and redemption.
It was a journey that I was glad to take with her.
August 2, 2013
The Translator, A Novel
By Nina Schuyler
Narrated by Kirsten Potter
9 hours 18 minutes
Published July 2nd 2013 by AudioGO
ISBN- 1482101467
This audio version of The Translator was provided to this reviewer by AudioGO for an honest review.
This book wonderfully translated into audio. The narrator captures Hanne Schubert’s character. Not an easy task considering the number of languages that she had to use. There were a few times during these passages in which there might have been some carefulness in the speech. Yet these were few and far between and not enough to diminish the enjoyment of Kirsten Potter’s performance. The director and producer are to be commended for the quality of the performance and the audio presentation.
Hanne Schubert is a fifty something woman who is translating the greatest work of a well known Japanese author. Language is Hanne's passion, she speaks several. We observe her as she painstakingly thinks through all the interpretations of the Japanese words and phrases and the appropriate English translation. Hanne is absorbed by the work and she has clearly developed a fondness for the main character.
After finishing the work and sending it off to the publisher Hanne has an accident, falling down the stairs. She wakes up in the hospital where she discovers she's lost the ability to speak all languages except Japanese. Released from the hospital she finds herself lost, disconnected with the people around her, unable to communicate with them. She accepts an offer to give a presentation in Japan and hopes to meet the author she spent over a year translating. To her horror, she meets the honored author when he shows up at her talk and confronts her in front of the audience, accusing her of ruining his work. His work was inspired by the great Noh actor and she has dishonored him by her translation. Hanne, embarrassed and angry decides to try and meet this actor and see if he indeed was like the character she so admired in her translation.
Hanne moves through the rest of the book on a transformative journey. Meeting the great actor who is all spirit and emotion, living in the present, Hanne is bewildered by him. She doesn’t understand him but she is also drawn to him. She revisits her own memories of growing up as well as memories of her marriage and raising her two children. She shares stories of her daughter, Brigitte, a bright and sensitive girl with a talent for languages whom Hanne tried so hard to nurture, while trying to teach her resilience. Brigitte who has refused to see her these last 6 years.
This book explores so many ideas. Do we really understand each other? Words can be so powerful and yet they can miss the true essence of a persons being. Do we use language to create the story we already know or the one that we want to tell? I found myself asking, “Am I hearing the meaning that this author was hoping to share or have I taken my experiences and applied it to her words and created the story that I know?” Are words a bridge between people or do they create a chasm of unplumbed experience? Everyone is a translator of their own and others in their lives. Nina Schuyler has created a beautiful meditation on language and relationships. Don’t miss its poignant message.
By Nina Schuyler
Narrated by Kirsten Potter
9 hours 18 minutes
Published July 2nd 2013 by AudioGO
ISBN- 1482101467
This audio version of The Translator was provided to this reviewer by AudioGO for an honest review.
This book wonderfully translated into audio. The narrator captures Hanne Schubert’s character. Not an easy task considering the number of languages that she had to use. There were a few times during these passages in which there might have been some carefulness in the speech. Yet these were few and far between and not enough to diminish the enjoyment of Kirsten Potter’s performance. The director and producer are to be commended for the quality of the performance and the audio presentation.
Hanne Schubert is a fifty something woman who is translating the greatest work of a well known Japanese author. Language is Hanne's passion, she speaks several. We observe her as she painstakingly thinks through all the interpretations of the Japanese words and phrases and the appropriate English translation. Hanne is absorbed by the work and she has clearly developed a fondness for the main character.
After finishing the work and sending it off to the publisher Hanne has an accident, falling down the stairs. She wakes up in the hospital where she discovers she's lost the ability to speak all languages except Japanese. Released from the hospital she finds herself lost, disconnected with the people around her, unable to communicate with them. She accepts an offer to give a presentation in Japan and hopes to meet the author she spent over a year translating. To her horror, she meets the honored author when he shows up at her talk and confronts her in front of the audience, accusing her of ruining his work. His work was inspired by the great Noh actor and she has dishonored him by her translation. Hanne, embarrassed and angry decides to try and meet this actor and see if he indeed was like the character she so admired in her translation.
Hanne moves through the rest of the book on a transformative journey. Meeting the great actor who is all spirit and emotion, living in the present, Hanne is bewildered by him. She doesn’t understand him but she is also drawn to him. She revisits her own memories of growing up as well as memories of her marriage and raising her two children. She shares stories of her daughter, Brigitte, a bright and sensitive girl with a talent for languages whom Hanne tried so hard to nurture, while trying to teach her resilience. Brigitte who has refused to see her these last 6 years.
This book explores so many ideas. Do we really understand each other? Words can be so powerful and yet they can miss the true essence of a persons being. Do we use language to create the story we already know or the one that we want to tell? I found myself asking, “Am I hearing the meaning that this author was hoping to share or have I taken my experiences and applied it to her words and created the story that I know?” Are words a bridge between people or do they create a chasm of unplumbed experience? Everyone is a translator of their own and others in their lives. Nina Schuyler has created a beautiful meditation on language and relationships. Don’t miss its poignant message.
October 21, 2014
I have to give this book 5 stars for the shear emotional impact it had on me.
To say that this story explores language and words is banal. It is myriads more. I'm afraid that I don't have the mechanics in language to express the depth of this book. There are people so much better at it than I - Nina Schuyler to name one. But let me try.
When Hanne Schubert, a gifted translator, falls and sustains a brain injury, losing her ability to speak all languages but Japanese, she goes on a journey of self discovery. In spite of her intelligence and grasp of various languages, she discovers that without the understanding of what those words convey, they are meaningless.
This story is a moving story and one that brought me to tears. I'd give this a "two hanky" rating.
To say that this story explores language and words is banal. It is myriads more. I'm afraid that I don't have the mechanics in language to express the depth of this book. There are people so much better at it than I - Nina Schuyler to name one. But let me try.
When Hanne Schubert, a gifted translator, falls and sustains a brain injury, losing her ability to speak all languages but Japanese, she goes on a journey of self discovery. In spite of her intelligence and grasp of various languages, she discovers that without the understanding of what those words convey, they are meaningless.
This story is a moving story and one that brought me to tears. I'd give this a "two hanky" rating.
August 25, 2013
This is one of those light and slightly ethereal books where my opinion of it might waver in the breeze. Today it seems in sync with my spirit; ask me next week I might more revisit its weaknesses.
The (titular) Translator, Hanne, a 53 year-old polyglot and mother of a successful, attorney son Tomas and daughter with a troubled soul Brigitte, is finshing up the translation of a Japanese novel into English when an accident in her hometown (San Francisco) causes her to lose her primary language, leading her to examine her life as it's played out so far, questioning her career path, life choices and parenting skills.
My description doesn't do Ms. Schuyler's book justice: it's not nearly as depressing as sounds above. The author takes dour subject matter and with a deft hand maps a prose-y voyage of Hanne's self-discovery that rang true to me. I'm no polyglot by any means, nor am I a parent of adult children (or, even, a woman) but I could easily put myself in Hanne's shoes and waft along in her reverie (and in the process glean a little insight into my own life's foibles and folly).
February 8, 2017
Translating a work of literature into another language is a daunting task. A character speaks. Is he being ironic or straightforward? Is he addressing other fictional characters or is he speaking directly to the reader? Or, is he telling himself a story that he doesn't even believe, an argument between warring parts of his psyche? Grammar provides an important clue. Hanne Schubert, the eponymous translator in this novel, has been working for nearly a year on a translation from Japanese into English. The author, Kobayashi, has been terse and hostile to her questions, so she is left on her own. It's an important work, a bestseller in Japan. She puzzles over ambiguous viewpoints. “There are scenes of weeping, staring at random objects, talk of a lost, lonely soul wandering the earth alone. Kobayashi didn't use a subject or personal pronouns. That's not unusual in Japanese, but it doesn't help her. And the verbs don't lend much direction either — standard form and sometimes informal in present tense. It could be anyone, anyone but Jiro.” (Location 231)
Hanne is a conscientious translator. She is proficient in several languages including both English and Japanese. She has been agonizing over the multiple possibilities each sentence presents. Schuyler even demonstrates the process with a line of Japanese poetry: “Hana no iro faturi ni keri na itadura ni.” Hanne considers several alternative translations progressing from the more literal to the more interpretive.
By narrating from a third person viewpoint, Schuyler provides the reader with a dual vantage point. Hanne identifies with Jiro, the protagonist of the work she is translating. He is the distraught husband of a suicidal wife. Jiro is finally forced to commit his wife to a psychiatric hospital. Hanne imbues him with the stoicism she values in her own life. So great is her identification with Jiro that she even has erotic dreams about him. On the other hand, the reader also views Hanne analytically. When she questions a juxtaposition of an ecstatic episode with feelings of despair, the reader comes to realize she is starting to impose a highly personal interpretation on the author's writing. To what degree is that interpretation a deviation from the author Kobayashi's intentions? The book explores this question when Hanne travels to Japan and meets the Noh master Moto Okuro, Kobayashi's inspiration for the book.
Their first encounter is as puzzling as Kobayashi's book. Moto is the embodiment of contradictions. Bouts of boorish drunkeness alternate with periods of candid lucidity. Like the fictional Jiro, he has just responded to a crisis in his life. His erratic behavior unsettles Hanne. He insists on speaking to her in English on the pretext that it will help her recover the language. In reality, the language seems to give him license to press confrontational assertions. They are assertions that provoke Hanne to re-examine her own assumptions.
Schuyler discloses Hanne's past in tantalizing fragments. We learn she is a widow (how did her husband die?). We learn she is estranged from her daughter Brigette. They have not seen or spoken to each other for six years. (Why?). The technique keeps the story moving forward despite the leisurely pace. It also suggests a process of excavating Hanne's deeper character.
Schuyler employs creative ways of advancing a spiritual aesthetic. Hanne suffers an accidental fall and loses her ability to speak English or any of her other languages. She can only speak in Japanese. The effect is uncanny. She comprehends as if Japanese were her native language. She begins to dream in Japanese. It is almost as if she has been swallowed by the world of Kobayashi's book. It's the prelude to her immersion in unsettling contrasts. When she travels to Japan, her world of words and categories are confronted by the Noh master's world of movement and gesture where words are stylized evocations, almost primal sounds. Her art of mediation between languages is confronted with an actor's drive to inhabit a character. Her method of contemplative reasoning is reshaped by the crucible of Moto's emotions.
I enjoyed this book, but had difficulty with the conclusion. I would have been happier had Schuyler left the conclusion more open-ended.
NOTES:
A number of websites give variant translations of the poem fragment from Ono no Komachi's collection. They add an extra dimension to Schuyler's brief demonstration.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/hvj/h...
http://100poems-100poets.blogspot.com...
https://poetree.dreamwidth.org/33514....
Hanne is a conscientious translator. She is proficient in several languages including both English and Japanese. She has been agonizing over the multiple possibilities each sentence presents. Schuyler even demonstrates the process with a line of Japanese poetry: “Hana no iro faturi ni keri na itadura ni.” Hanne considers several alternative translations progressing from the more literal to the more interpretive.
By narrating from a third person viewpoint, Schuyler provides the reader with a dual vantage point. Hanne identifies with Jiro, the protagonist of the work she is translating. He is the distraught husband of a suicidal wife. Jiro is finally forced to commit his wife to a psychiatric hospital. Hanne imbues him with the stoicism she values in her own life. So great is her identification with Jiro that she even has erotic dreams about him. On the other hand, the reader also views Hanne analytically. When she questions a juxtaposition of an ecstatic episode with feelings of despair, the reader comes to realize she is starting to impose a highly personal interpretation on the author's writing. To what degree is that interpretation a deviation from the author Kobayashi's intentions? The book explores this question when Hanne travels to Japan and meets the Noh master Moto Okuro, Kobayashi's inspiration for the book.
Their first encounter is as puzzling as Kobayashi's book. Moto is the embodiment of contradictions. Bouts of boorish drunkeness alternate with periods of candid lucidity. Like the fictional Jiro, he has just responded to a crisis in his life. His erratic behavior unsettles Hanne. He insists on speaking to her in English on the pretext that it will help her recover the language. In reality, the language seems to give him license to press confrontational assertions. They are assertions that provoke Hanne to re-examine her own assumptions.
Schuyler discloses Hanne's past in tantalizing fragments. We learn she is a widow (how did her husband die?). We learn she is estranged from her daughter Brigette. They have not seen or spoken to each other for six years. (Why?). The technique keeps the story moving forward despite the leisurely pace. It also suggests a process of excavating Hanne's deeper character.
Schuyler employs creative ways of advancing a spiritual aesthetic. Hanne suffers an accidental fall and loses her ability to speak English or any of her other languages. She can only speak in Japanese. The effect is uncanny. She comprehends as if Japanese were her native language. She begins to dream in Japanese. It is almost as if she has been swallowed by the world of Kobayashi's book. It's the prelude to her immersion in unsettling contrasts. When she travels to Japan, her world of words and categories are confronted by the Noh master's world of movement and gesture where words are stylized evocations, almost primal sounds. Her art of mediation between languages is confronted with an actor's drive to inhabit a character. Her method of contemplative reasoning is reshaped by the crucible of Moto's emotions.
I enjoyed this book, but had difficulty with the conclusion. I would have been happier had Schuyler left the conclusion more open-ended.
NOTES:
A number of websites give variant translations of the poem fragment from Ono no Komachi's collection. They add an extra dimension to Schuyler's brief demonstration.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/hvj/h...
http://100poems-100poets.blogspot.com...
https://poetree.dreamwidth.org/33514....
December 27, 2018
We all have a little cop in our heads. An inner voice that tells us what is necessary and proper to do. Many times this is the voice of our parents, a point of view that we have internalized as a child and have accompanied us all our lives. Hannah Schubert, a respected Japanese-English-language translator, also has a voice of that kind. This is the sound of her German mother, who was strict and meticulous in teaching her through language learning, hard work, devotion and without too many complaints and treats. Hannah had become a kind of replica of her mother. A responsible, serious and thorough working woman, a strict mother to her two children. Hannah is a fifty-three-year-old widow living in San Francisco. Her eldest son, Thomas, is a busy, successful lawyer who lives far away with his family on the East Coast of the United States and Brigitte, her sensitive young daughter, had cut off contact with her six years ago. Hannah knows nothing about her.
We meet Hanna at the end of a year of intensive translation work of a significant Japanese-English novel. She feels she has been very successful in her work and is almost in love with the main character - the musician Jiro. In a nostalgic fit, she goes to visit the town hall where she married many years ago to her Japanese husband whom she loved. When she leaves the building, she stumbles down the stairs. The accident has strange results. Hannah cannot use any of the languages she knows except Japanese. In a fit of despair and loneliness, she decides to go to Japan to lecture at the conference she invited too. This trip will lead her to a surprising encounter.
Nina Schiller manages to build a sensitive and reliable world of a non-young woman who met with some very unpleasant truths about herself. The accident and the journey to Japan become a journey of acquaintance with her internal policeman, with its initial assumptions and as a result of its understanding and change. Of course, language and the work of translation play an essential role in the book. The interpretation is Hanna's work, the center of her life and her pride, but it is also a metaphor. Hannah believes in the power of translation to create meaning in the text. The text discusses more than one facet of understanding, communication and a gap between cultures, people, parents, and children. This is not the first novel that describes an internal change following a journey to a different lifestyle and the encounter between East and West, but this time I felt that the journey, as well as transformation, are real, complex and very personal. And the more personal the mission, the more universal it is, and the more it speaks to me, it is a unique book with exceptional qualities.
We meet Hanna at the end of a year of intensive translation work of a significant Japanese-English novel. She feels she has been very successful in her work and is almost in love with the main character - the musician Jiro. In a nostalgic fit, she goes to visit the town hall where she married many years ago to her Japanese husband whom she loved. When she leaves the building, she stumbles down the stairs. The accident has strange results. Hannah cannot use any of the languages she knows except Japanese. In a fit of despair and loneliness, she decides to go to Japan to lecture at the conference she invited too. This trip will lead her to a surprising encounter.
Nina Schiller manages to build a sensitive and reliable world of a non-young woman who met with some very unpleasant truths about herself. The accident and the journey to Japan become a journey of acquaintance with her internal policeman, with its initial assumptions and as a result of its understanding and change. Of course, language and the work of translation play an essential role in the book. The interpretation is Hanna's work, the center of her life and her pride, but it is also a metaphor. Hannah believes in the power of translation to create meaning in the text. The text discusses more than one facet of understanding, communication and a gap between cultures, people, parents, and children. This is not the first novel that describes an internal change following a journey to a different lifestyle and the encounter between East and West, but this time I felt that the journey, as well as transformation, are real, complex and very personal. And the more personal the mission, the more universal it is, and the more it speaks to me, it is a unique book with exceptional qualities.
June 30, 2013
I really liked the idea of this book, and even if the execution wasn't as great as I would have liked, I still feel like it is a good book. The concept is original and the problems the characters faced were realistic, but the writing and plot held the book down at times. In the same way that the main character, Hanne, is a translator, a connection between writer and readers of different linguistic backgrounds; I felt like her purpose was to not necessarily connect the people around her but augment their personalities, just as a translator conveys and augments the meaning of a novel to foreign readers. It is evident that Nina Schuyler knows something about the Japanese language and culture, but the setting she created for most of the novel didn't feel Japanese in its presentation; perhaps only from a few visits or secondhand information. Which is okay, because it is still more than I know.
The Translator includes interesting examples of languages and translation, and the family dynamics will appeal to many readers.
The Translator includes interesting examples of languages and translation, and the family dynamics will appeal to many readers.
February 4, 2016
I received a galley copy of this novel to read in exchange for an honest review.
The Translator is a wonderful, beautiful, thought-provoking novel; I honestly could not put it down once I started reading it. Having studied a few languages in recent years, I've come to appreciate the tricky and detailed job that translators have and I enjoyed reading how the character Hanne approached the job and her understanding of the Japanese language.
I also enjoyed reading about Hanne's time in Japan and the prominent role that Japanese culture plays in the story as well as the personal journey that the character embarks on, re-evaluating her life and decisions as well as how she and her daughter came to a sad estrangement.
I highly recommend this novel if you're into Japanese culture or are into novels featuring internal character drama. Definitely one of the best novels I've read this year.
My complete review of the title was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/201...
The Translator is a wonderful, beautiful, thought-provoking novel; I honestly could not put it down once I started reading it. Having studied a few languages in recent years, I've come to appreciate the tricky and detailed job that translators have and I enjoyed reading how the character Hanne approached the job and her understanding of the Japanese language.
I also enjoyed reading about Hanne's time in Japan and the prominent role that Japanese culture plays in the story as well as the personal journey that the character embarks on, re-evaluating her life and decisions as well as how she and her daughter came to a sad estrangement.
I highly recommend this novel if you're into Japanese culture or are into novels featuring internal character drama. Definitely one of the best novels I've read this year.
My complete review of the title was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/201...
July 29, 2013
Such a compelling, beautifully written novel. Hanne Schubert, who as a translator prides herself on getting things right, manages to get it all wrong, not just in her latest translation assignment but in her relationship with her estranged daughter. Using the precision of language and translation as a metaphor for how Hanne relates to the world, Nina Schuyler tells a fascinating, richly textured story that takes us from San Francisco to Japan to a small village in India, and leaves Hanne, a woman for whom words are everything, feeling that in certain cases, love for instance, words just aren't enough.
June 2, 2014
So I won this book through the Goodreads first reads giveaway a while ago. I know I know, it's taken me a long time to actually sit down and read this book and review it and everything. I know, I'm terrible. But I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to read, tragic story.
Secondly, I haven't actually finished this book, and I'm really not so sure if I will. And the reason for that is, I guess mostly I just don't have much interest in it. This book is supposed to be a self-discovery of sorts for our MC, Hanne, but it's just kind of...annoying I guess. To me it feels like the only way for Hanne to "discover" herself is in the beds of various men. Her whole life is defined by the sexual relationships she's had with men, and only slightly defined by her relationship with her estranged daughter. I don't know if she has some sort of revelation later in the story and she realizes that there is more to life than fucking sleeping around, and I'm not sure if I'm going to stick around to find out.
But seriously, this woman's life is filled with men. There's her dead husband, Hiro; the fictional Japanese man she moons over, Jiro; her lover, David; and the Noh actor Jiro was based off of, Moto. Not to mention the only one of her kids that still talks to her is her son. I'm not sure if the author was trying to make some sort of point with this, but so far it doesn't feel like... And to me it just feels really uncomfortable as I think the author is making a few unfortunate implications.
Not to mention that Hanne seems a little delusional and self-important when it comes to her role as a translator. To think that the translator is more important than the author is a bit far-fetched, and I was totally on Kobayashi's side when he told her off. But I dunno, that could be all apart of her character development and self-discovery.
Anyway, as I said, I'm really not sure if I'll be finishing this one, but that doesn't mean that I've given up completely. I'm hoping these issues I have with the book will be addressed later on, or else this story's conclusion will be non too satisfactory for my like.
Update So, yeah... I ended up not finishing this. I really tried, but I guess I just couldn't really get into it. I didn't care about the story or Hanne, and I didn't care about her harem of men. So yeah, this'll be a 2 star book for me. It wasn't terrible, but I don't think it was for me.
Secondly, I haven't actually finished this book, and I'm really not so sure if I will. And the reason for that is, I guess mostly I just don't have much interest in it. This book is supposed to be a self-discovery of sorts for our MC, Hanne, but it's just kind of...annoying I guess. To me it feels like the only way for Hanne to "discover" herself is in the beds of various men. Her whole life is defined by the sexual relationships she's had with men, and only slightly defined by her relationship with her estranged daughter. I don't know if she has some sort of revelation later in the story and she realizes that there is more to life than fucking sleeping around, and I'm not sure if I'm going to stick around to find out.
But seriously, this woman's life is filled with men. There's her dead husband, Hiro; the fictional Japanese man she moons over, Jiro; her lover, David; and the Noh actor Jiro was based off of, Moto. Not to mention the only one of her kids that still talks to her is her son. I'm not sure if the author was trying to make some sort of point with this, but so far it doesn't feel like... And to me it just feels really uncomfortable as I think the author is making a few unfortunate implications.
Not to mention that Hanne seems a little delusional and self-important when it comes to her role as a translator. To think that the translator is more important than the author is a bit far-fetched, and I was totally on Kobayashi's side when he told her off. But I dunno, that could be all apart of her character development and self-discovery.
Anyway, as I said, I'm really not sure if I'll be finishing this one, but that doesn't mean that I've given up completely. I'm hoping these issues I have with the book will be addressed later on, or else this story's conclusion will be non too satisfactory for my like.
Update So, yeah... I ended up not finishing this. I really tried, but I guess I just couldn't really get into it. I didn't care about the story or Hanne, and I didn't care about her harem of men. So yeah, this'll be a 2 star book for me. It wasn't terrible, but I don't think it was for me.
July 27, 2013
A slow, languid, strangely hypnotic read, The Translator introduces us to Hanne who speaks languages for a living. Dutch/German by birth and upbringing but currently living in the States, Hanne teaches Japanese at a San Francisco university and is working on a Japanese-to-English translation of a novel by one of Japan's up and coming authors. She becomes so wrapped up in the novel that she essentially imposes her own ideas and thoughts about the characters onto her translation; she doesn't so much translate as rewrite.
An accident that causes a head injury wrecks havoc on Hanne's life. She travels to Japan in an effort to rediscover herself and meet the famous Japanese Noh (classic Japanese stage drama) actor on whom the main character in the novel she translated is based.
During her time in Japan, Hanne's thoughts drift to her estranged adult daughter, Brigitte, who was a troubled, sensitive, rebellious adolescent.
I am a linguist and found beauty in the descriptions of Hanne's translation and her love of language, but the novel was too heavy on the internal monologue (pages upon pages of Hanne's thoughts, memories, and musings). Hanne didn't feel like a real character, more like a sketched idea. She was stiff, serious, and could see the world only through her own subjective interpretation of it. Hanne spends the majority of the novel in Japan (a place I've visited), but Japan here felt like an extension of Hanne's mind; I didn't get much sense of the culture or people.
The main plot point goes beyond translation and Hanne's inability to move beyond words in her experiences of the world, and focuses instead on Hanne's relationship with Brigitte. The expectation, I think, was that that the audience would connect with Brigitte, feel bad for a daughter who had such a distant, methodical woman as a mother, but I just found Brigitte cloying. She failed as a sympathetic character. There are worse things in life than having a mom who doesn't praise your tattoos, doesn't understand why at 15 you don't come home all night, and ships you off to boarding school in an effort to help you quit drugs. Plenty of mothers and daughters don't see eye to eye during the turbulent teen years. I thus found Brigitte's reaction to Hanne extreme, and their relationship didn't sustain my interest.
An accident that causes a head injury wrecks havoc on Hanne's life. She travels to Japan in an effort to rediscover herself and meet the famous Japanese Noh (classic Japanese stage drama) actor on whom the main character in the novel she translated is based.
During her time in Japan, Hanne's thoughts drift to her estranged adult daughter, Brigitte, who was a troubled, sensitive, rebellious adolescent.
I am a linguist and found beauty in the descriptions of Hanne's translation and her love of language, but the novel was too heavy on the internal monologue (pages upon pages of Hanne's thoughts, memories, and musings). Hanne didn't feel like a real character, more like a sketched idea. She was stiff, serious, and could see the world only through her own subjective interpretation of it. Hanne spends the majority of the novel in Japan (a place I've visited), but Japan here felt like an extension of Hanne's mind; I didn't get much sense of the culture or people.
The main plot point goes beyond translation and Hanne's inability to move beyond words in her experiences of the world, and focuses instead on Hanne's relationship with Brigitte. The expectation, I think, was that that the audience would connect with Brigitte, feel bad for a daughter who had such a distant, methodical woman as a mother, but I just found Brigitte cloying. She failed as a sympathetic character. There are worse things in life than having a mom who doesn't praise your tattoos, doesn't understand why at 15 you don't come home all night, and ships you off to boarding school in an effort to help you quit drugs. Plenty of mothers and daughters don't see eye to eye during the turbulent teen years. I thus found Brigitte's reaction to Hanne extreme, and their relationship didn't sustain my interest.
August 10, 2013
This is a very thought provoking book, ostensibly about literature translation, but it becomes a lot more. It's about a 50-something woman who translates books from Japanese to English and her experience translating a new Japanese novel which has swept Japan. She really gets into it, and, as a matter of fact, really gets a crush on the main male character. He is a professional musician who has been caring for his wife for some years, then finally has to put her in a mental institution as he just can't do it anymore. The Translator thinks she really "gets him", but does her translation go too far in interpreting (or misinterpreting) the original author's intent? This whole premise is stood on its head when she falls down some stairs, hits her head, and can only speak Japanese (although she can still understand and write English). What a great opportunity to go to Japan (being invited to a conference there on translation gives it to her), meet the author, have a great discussion with him, etc. It turns out HE thinks she really screwed up the translation, so she travels to meet the traditional Noh actor on whom the novel is based, to see if his claims are supported. All of this surrounds the central sorrow she has over her estrangement from her daughter for the last six years.
I could not put this book down, especially the last half. Translation of literature has to be one of the most undervalued (and underpaid) professions. Most people think of it as just changing the words from one language to another, but forget all that is involved in trying to create understanding of one culture by another, using words that have such different nuances in meaning. A translated work becomes a new work of art, hopefully faithful to the original author's intent, but also giving insight in cross-cultural ways. But this novel goes way beyond that meditation, to how the protagonist's experience with her language "dysfunction" and her relationships in Japan affect her understanding of herself and her relationships with others in her life, especially her children. Highly recommended.
I could not put this book down, especially the last half. Translation of literature has to be one of the most undervalued (and underpaid) professions. Most people think of it as just changing the words from one language to another, but forget all that is involved in trying to create understanding of one culture by another, using words that have such different nuances in meaning. A translated work becomes a new work of art, hopefully faithful to the original author's intent, but also giving insight in cross-cultural ways. But this novel goes way beyond that meditation, to how the protagonist's experience with her language "dysfunction" and her relationships in Japan affect her understanding of herself and her relationships with others in her life, especially her children. Highly recommended.
August 7, 2013
In the post “Born Again in a Second Language”, Costica Bradatan writes: “if for any reason the writer has to change languages, the experience is nothing short of life-threatening … Changing languages is not for the fainthearted, nor for the impatient” (The Opinion Pages of the NYT, Aug. 4, 2013). This is indeed the situation faced by Hanne Schubert, the title character in Nina Schuyler’s The Translator, when she loses her native language as the result of a fall down the stairs. As Bradatan puts it: “to abandon your native tongue and to adopt another is to dismantle yourself, piece by piece, and then to put yourself together again, in a different form.” Experiencing this process of dismantling and reconstruction is what makes reading Schuyler’s novel so captivating.
As a literary translator myself, I found The Translator to be exceedingly resonant. When I read her words about Hanne, “She has found no other way to be in the world, only the movement of words from one language to another,” I felt she was speaking of me. And I particularly identified with Hanne’s feeling that speaking another language remolds her persona. In Hanne’s case, the language is Japanese, which Hanne finds “too quiet, too passive. … When she spoke it, she could feel it shaping her private mental life into something more demure, indecisive, even wishy-washy.” These are just two of the many examples I was able to relate to in this novel, a work in which the author’s respect for literary translation and her sensitivity to the challenging issues it presents shine through clearly. All in all, a thoroughly engaging read.
As a literary translator myself, I found The Translator to be exceedingly resonant. When I read her words about Hanne, “She has found no other way to be in the world, only the movement of words from one language to another,” I felt she was speaking of me. And I particularly identified with Hanne’s feeling that speaking another language remolds her persona. In Hanne’s case, the language is Japanese, which Hanne finds “too quiet, too passive. … When she spoke it, she could feel it shaping her private mental life into something more demure, indecisive, even wishy-washy.” These are just two of the many examples I was able to relate to in this novel, a work in which the author’s respect for literary translation and her sensitivity to the challenging issues it presents shine through clearly. All in all, a thoroughly engaging read.
November 10, 2013
The main character Hanne Schubert has finished translating a book for Kobayashi, a Japanese novelist, who rejects her translation and her version of his main character, Jiro. She travels to Japan to meet the Noh actor, Moto, who is the real life model for the character in Kobayashi's book. This trip is easy for her as Hanne has lost all memory of her native language, English, and all other languages, expect for Japanese. This came as a result of an unfortunate fall and head injury.
Meeting Moto, learning about Noh drama and how it communicates feelings and emotions through drama, dance, and music all help Hanne ponder her life and slowly realize what she has done wrong in her translation as well as in her relationships. She has been estranged from daughter Brigitte for six years and Hanne wonders how she could have done better.
I gave the novel 5 stars for the topic, plot, excellent writing and character development, with a slight caveat - I felt that not all the blame for the broken mother-daughter relationship was Hanne's.
Meeting Moto, learning about Noh drama and how it communicates feelings and emotions through drama, dance, and music all help Hanne ponder her life and slowly realize what she has done wrong in her translation as well as in her relationships. She has been estranged from daughter Brigitte for six years and Hanne wonders how she could have done better.
I gave the novel 5 stars for the topic, plot, excellent writing and character development, with a slight caveat - I felt that not all the blame for the broken mother-daughter relationship was Hanne's.
August 7, 2013
As a Japanese translator myself, of course I wanted to read this book. I wasn't disappointed. I found the book compelling and became quickly interested in the narrator and her life. It didn't hurt that I got to read someone else's thoughts about the process of translating. I didn't sense Japanese language lurking behind the English "translations" that are part of the book, so I suspect Schuyler is not a Japanese speaker herself, but I was so glad she took on this subject. As a translator I inevitably had quibbles--it's kind of my job--but my interest in the characters, situations, and story completely overrode them. The narrator was a very distinctive person, and her journey to insight about past failings with her daughter made her feel so real that when the last few chapters came--with a surprising direction I should have seen coming--I was boiling with strong opinions and feelings about what the narrator should do and anxious to see the directions she chose. To me, that kind of involvement is the sign of a really successful book. Well done, Nina Schuyler!
February 4, 2015
This novel by Nina Schuyler truly surpassed my expectations. I write Japan-related fiction and I've worked as a translator in the past and Schuyler's understanding of the Japanese culture as well as the Japanese mind-set is very impressive. This is clearly evident in the dialogue between Hanne and the Japanese characters Moto and Renzo. I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful interpretation of an American woman who travels to Japan to find herself as she searches for the answers that will validate her work as a translator. Every page is a testament to good prose and a captivating plot which will hold your attention until the final page of this wonderful story.
July 12, 2013
This is a beautifully written story about the journey a woman takes when she loses her first language. It is the tale of a woman who discovers herself through a deep look inward and to her past, to how she has lived her life, the beliefs she has held. It is a story of perception and misconception. It is about living your best life. It is a story about the possibility to change.
The book is a little confusing in the beginning, but quickly finds its rhythm. The writing is incredible and the story is extremely interesting. Definitely a fascinating read!!
The book is a little confusing in the beginning, but quickly finds its rhythm. The writing is incredible and the story is extremely interesting. Definitely a fascinating read!!
February 15, 2016
This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. Hanne Schubert is a translator of books and good at her job. Ironically this talented translator has trouble interpreting her daughter's sensitive nature and pains. After a fall, Hanne suffers a head trauma and she loses all her languages except one. I was incredibly moved by Hanne introspective journey back to language but more importantly back to life and her daughter. Nina Schyler is an insightful writer that stands above.
January 1, 2017
Audio version: If you’re a parent who has made some real mistakes with raising your kids, or one who is having a hard time with a child, this is a book to listen to. The main character, Hanne, shows us that we never really grow up, we are constantly growing up. And it takes some of us a lot longer than others to make any progress. It's beautifully written and the narrator was the perfect choice.
August 25, 2013
I have to say that I'm disappointed. I expected much more from this book. But there is no plot, almost nothing is going on. Just some soul-searching that wasn't written very well.
The end wasn't satisfying either. Boring, all the way till the end.
The end wasn't satisfying either. Boring, all the way till the end.
November 21, 2022
There probably won't ever be a time in my life where I fully resolve the reality of my upbringing with the escapism that the publishing industry is willing to grant me: in this case, a white comradery with with an Asian world (although, as can be seen in this work, not everything 'Asian' is considered equal). It was hard enough when I believed myself to be a white woman enamored with engineers who tended to hail from Taiwan, but now that gender is an addiction that I'm finally going cold turkey on (or as much as one can so long as the cis are in power, at any rate), finding the kind of relationship I honed my social intercourse egg teeth on is probably almost entirely in the realm of pornography and fanfiction than in the kind of works I'm likely to stumble across on a site such as this. Still, for all that, I know the difference between a sociocultural bridging of two hearts and minds and a serious case of Orientalizing nonsense, and sadly, this book was not only very much the latter, but didn't even have wherewithal to realize it. A self-absorbed character trundling through disasters of their own making is nothing new and hardly a deal-breaker, but when the narrative contorts itself around in some of the most Orientalizing ways (although mind the shift between Japan and India) in order to maximize the character's pathos without ever really making them acknowledge other folks as human beings? Pathetic, and I mean that with a vengeance.
Ah, Japan. Quite possibly the nation that white folks the world over have the absolute weirdest relationship with. I certainly did back in the day, but for whatever reason and through whatever means, I've absorbed enough of the history and read enough of the literature to have a sense of the difference between Japanese person as human and Japanese person as character, especially when the latter pops up in Anglo lit. So, when a white character shows up who was once married to a Japanese person, has part Japanese kids, and then through an accident loses all fluency save for in the Japanese language, I'm either in for something rare and rather wonderful or, unfortunately more likely, a wild ride, and this book was very much the latter. Not in the same clownishly abusive manner as Nothomb's Fear and Trembling, perhaps, but instead in the vein of every Japanese person having a second sense for when a white person requires Comfort, or Contrast, or Character Development, and then not hesitating for a second to fulfil it, even when they themselves are literally on the verge of mental breakdown. Under these circumstances, the main character's sojourn through the character arc underworld was hardly engaging, for under the fantastically self-serving circumstances where an entire country (or nearly, save for a single irascible/(ungrateful) male) was bending over backwards to offer financial restitution and emotional recuperation, how could they have possibly failed? After that, the downgrade in the main character's appreciation as she went from pristine Japan to rustic India (aka, from very little European colonialism to as much as one can have without going full settler state) was not just drastic, but insulting . All in all, a work that needed a lot more research and a lot less flibberty gibbertiness to be credible (or at the very least less irredeemably self absorbed) enough to be worth reading.
The library that I librarian at prides itself on its collection of travel guides, which is fitting given its location smack dab in the middle of tourist trap with old fashioned aspirations and modern day hegemonies. With the plethora of vacation homes and plentiful number of weeks citizens of the area can afford to take off for vacations overseas, one could be forgiven for thinking that this generates some sort of broader awareness of the real world and all its wonderful multiplicities. However, judging from one conversation I had with a patron who returned from a five week four country sojourn across Europe and could only say that they had dined exclusively at Italian restaurants (and no, Italy was not one of the visited countries), I'd say that in the realm of international hobnobbing, money makes the opportunity and the rest, however puerile, follows. In any case, unlike as was the case with this book, I rarely commit to reads within six months of their publication anymore, so the chances of my being drawn in by a similar premise without doing my homework is lower these days. I simply wish, as one food critic commented, that there was a way of being more effectively discriminating when it comes to gauging literary reception of works like this: namely, which reviews are coming from Japanese readers, and which are coming from everyone else. The average rating on this book is on the low side, but go through the top rated ones and tell me what I'm missing.
Ah, Japan. Quite possibly the nation that white folks the world over have the absolute weirdest relationship with. I certainly did back in the day, but for whatever reason and through whatever means, I've absorbed enough of the history and read enough of the literature to have a sense of the difference between Japanese person as human and Japanese person as character, especially when the latter pops up in Anglo lit. So, when a white character shows up who was once married to a Japanese person, has part Japanese kids, and then through an accident loses all fluency save for in the Japanese language, I'm either in for something rare and rather wonderful or, unfortunately more likely, a wild ride, and this book was very much the latter. Not in the same clownishly abusive manner as Nothomb's Fear and Trembling, perhaps, but instead in the vein of every Japanese person having a second sense for when a white person requires Comfort, or Contrast, or Character Development, and then not hesitating for a second to fulfil it, even when they themselves are literally on the verge of mental breakdown. Under these circumstances, the main character's sojourn through the character arc underworld was hardly engaging, for under the fantastically self-serving circumstances where an entire country (or nearly, save for a single irascible/(ungrateful) male) was bending over backwards to offer financial restitution and emotional recuperation, how could they have possibly failed? After that, the downgrade in the main character's appreciation as she went from pristine Japan to rustic India (aka, from very little European colonialism to as much as one can have without going full settler state) was not just drastic, but insulting . All in all, a work that needed a lot more research and a lot less flibberty gibbertiness to be credible (or at the very least less irredeemably self absorbed) enough to be worth reading.
The library that I librarian at prides itself on its collection of travel guides, which is fitting given its location smack dab in the middle of tourist trap with old fashioned aspirations and modern day hegemonies. With the plethora of vacation homes and plentiful number of weeks citizens of the area can afford to take off for vacations overseas, one could be forgiven for thinking that this generates some sort of broader awareness of the real world and all its wonderful multiplicities. However, judging from one conversation I had with a patron who returned from a five week four country sojourn across Europe and could only say that they had dined exclusively at Italian restaurants (and no, Italy was not one of the visited countries), I'd say that in the realm of international hobnobbing, money makes the opportunity and the rest, however puerile, follows. In any case, unlike as was the case with this book, I rarely commit to reads within six months of their publication anymore, so the chances of my being drawn in by a similar premise without doing my homework is lower these days. I simply wish, as one food critic commented, that there was a way of being more effectively discriminating when it comes to gauging literary reception of works like this: namely, which reviews are coming from Japanese readers, and which are coming from everyone else. The average rating on this book is on the low side, but go through the top rated ones and tell me what I'm missing.
January 22, 2018
The Translator by Nina Schuyler
Hebrew review follows סקירה בעברית בהמשך
This book deals with several subjects I find intriguing, so it had a good chance of being a favorite. The plot is also unique and ideas are fresh. Two failings prevent this book from shining. First, that the protagonist did not manage to get my sympathy, and second, that it failed to deliver on the subjects I was interested in.
The first subject is translation. I once heard it said (or more probably, read it somewhere) that reading a translation, as opposed to reading the original, is like eating microwaved food as opposed to eating freshly cooked food. I agree with this in at least one way – that for me reading is as necessary as food, and if reading the original is not available, a microwaved translation will do. As someone who consumes most of his books in translation, I was looking forward to see what the author has to say. The protagonist starts the story believing that the translator has a much more meaningful purpose than transferring the book from one language to another and that the translator is partner in the creation, having a synergy with the author. Through an odd accident, "the universe" sends her on a journey to discover how wrong she is. While Schuyler got the right idea, the execution is unconvincing. Other that fate intervening, I was not convinced there is a reason for the protagonist to change her beliefs. Instead of the characters following the logic steps to their conclusion, they act non-consistently, like puppets played by the author.
The second subject is the relationship between a person and their parents, and how this influences their relationship with their children. Again, this is a subject close to my heart, and again, an unconvincing execution. Why would the protagonist suddenly search for her daughter? The timing and the state of this meeting is again detached from the story. In fact, this entire episode did not connect with the rest of the book.
Despite all this, I did enjoy reading the book because of its originality and uniqueness, and I give it three stars out of five.
ספר זה עוסק בכמה נושאים שאני מוצא מסקרנים ולכן היה לו את הפוטנציאל להיות ספר מהמועדפים עלי. העלילה היא גם ייחודית והרעיונות רעננים. שני כשלים עיקריים מונעים מהספר לזרוח. הראשון הוא שהגיבורה לא באמת יצרה אצלי אהדה או סימפטיה ולכן קשה היה לי להתחבר אליה. השני והחשוב יותר הוא הטיפול החסר בנושאים שבהם התעניינתי.
הנושא הראשון הוא התרגום. שמעתי פעם אמירה (או קרוב לוודאי קראתי אותה) שקריאה בתרגום, ביחס לקריאה בשפת המקור כמו אכילת מזון מחומם במיקרוגל לעומת מזון מבושל טרי. אני מסכים עם האמירה הזו לפחות בעניין אחד - בשבילי קריאה היא הכרחית כמו מזון, ואם לא ניתן לקרוא את המקור, תרגום מחומם במיקרוגל הוא הפתרון. כמי שצורך מסיבה זו את רוב ספריו בתרגום, ציפיתי לראות מה יש לסופרת לומר. הגיבורה מתחיל את הסיפור מתוך אמונה שלמתרגם יש תפקיד משמעותי הרבה יותר מהעברת הספר משפה אחת לשנייה ושהמתרגם שותף מלא ביצירה וקיימת סינרגיה בינו לבין המחבר המקורי. באמצעות תאונה מוזרה, "היקום" שולח אותה למסע שבו הגיבורה מגלה עד כמה היא טועה. אומנם אני מסכים עם שיילר והרעיון נכון, אבל הביצוע לא משכנע. אחרי שהגורל מתערב, לא הייתי משוכנע שיש לגיבורה סיבות אמיתיות למסע וסיבות מוצדקות לשנות את אמונתה. במקום שהדמויות יתנהגו בעקביות ויבצעו את הצעדים הלוגיים המביאים למסקנה, הדמויות פועלות באופן לא עקבי, כמו בובות שבהן משחקת המחברת.
הנושא השני הוא הקשר בין אדם להוריו, וכיצד קשר זה משפיע על הקשר עם ילדיו. שוב, גם זה נושא קרוב ללבי, ושוב, הביצוע לא משכנע. הסיבות והמניעים שגורמים לגיבורה לחפש את ביתה והעיתוי והאופן שבו נעשים הדברים אינם מוצדקים ודי מנותקים מהסיפור ומהדמויות. למעשה, כל ההיבט הזה לא התחבר לי לשאר הספר.
זה נראה כאילו כל מה שיש לי זה ביקורת אבל למרות כל זאת, כן נהניתי לקרוא את הספר בגלל המקוריות והייחודיות שלו והאכזבה שלי היא מכך שהוא לא מצליח לטפל לעומק בנושאים שרציתי שיטופלו. אני נותן לו שלושה כוכבים מתוך חמישה.
Hebrew review follows סקירה בעברית בהמשך
This book deals with several subjects I find intriguing, so it had a good chance of being a favorite. The plot is also unique and ideas are fresh. Two failings prevent this book from shining. First, that the protagonist did not manage to get my sympathy, and second, that it failed to deliver on the subjects I was interested in.
The first subject is translation. I once heard it said (or more probably, read it somewhere) that reading a translation, as opposed to reading the original, is like eating microwaved food as opposed to eating freshly cooked food. I agree with this in at least one way – that for me reading is as necessary as food, and if reading the original is not available, a microwaved translation will do. As someone who consumes most of his books in translation, I was looking forward to see what the author has to say. The protagonist starts the story believing that the translator has a much more meaningful purpose than transferring the book from one language to another and that the translator is partner in the creation, having a synergy with the author. Through an odd accident, "the universe" sends her on a journey to discover how wrong she is. While Schuyler got the right idea, the execution is unconvincing. Other that fate intervening, I was not convinced there is a reason for the protagonist to change her beliefs. Instead of the characters following the logic steps to their conclusion, they act non-consistently, like puppets played by the author.
The second subject is the relationship between a person and their parents, and how this influences their relationship with their children. Again, this is a subject close to my heart, and again, an unconvincing execution. Why would the protagonist suddenly search for her daughter? The timing and the state of this meeting is again detached from the story. In fact, this entire episode did not connect with the rest of the book.
Despite all this, I did enjoy reading the book because of its originality and uniqueness, and I give it three stars out of five.
ספר זה עוסק בכמה נושאים שאני מוצא מסקרנים ולכן היה לו את הפוטנציאל להיות ספר מהמועדפים עלי. העלילה היא גם ייחודית והרעיונות רעננים. שני כשלים עיקריים מונעים מהספר לזרוח. הראשון הוא שהגיבורה לא באמת יצרה אצלי אהדה או סימפטיה ולכן קשה היה לי להתחבר אליה. השני והחשוב יותר הוא הטיפול החסר בנושאים שבהם התעניינתי.
הנושא הראשון הוא התרגום. שמעתי פעם אמירה (או קרוב לוודאי קראתי אותה) שקריאה בתרגום, ביחס לקריאה בשפת המקור כמו אכילת מזון מחומם במיקרוגל לעומת מזון מבושל טרי. אני מסכים עם האמירה הזו לפחות בעניין אחד - בשבילי קריאה היא הכרחית כמו מזון, ואם לא ניתן לקרוא את המקור, תרגום מחומם במיקרוגל הוא הפתרון. כמי שצורך מסיבה זו את רוב ספריו בתרגום, ציפיתי לראות מה יש לסופרת לומר. הגיבורה מתחיל את הסיפור מתוך אמונה שלמתרגם יש תפקיד משמעותי הרבה יותר מהעברת הספר משפה אחת לשנייה ושהמתרגם שותף מלא ביצירה וקיימת סינרגיה בינו לבין המחבר המקורי. באמצעות תאונה מוזרה, "היקום" שולח אותה למסע שבו הגיבורה מגלה עד כמה היא טועה. אומנם אני מסכים עם שיילר והרעיון נכון, אבל הביצוע לא משכנע. אחרי שהגורל מתערב, לא הייתי משוכנע שיש לגיבורה סיבות אמיתיות למסע וסיבות מוצדקות לשנות את אמונתה. במקום שהדמויות יתנהגו בעקביות ויבצעו את הצעדים הלוגיים המביאים למסקנה, הדמויות פועלות באופן לא עקבי, כמו בובות שבהן משחקת המחברת.
הנושא השני הוא הקשר בין אדם להוריו, וכיצד קשר זה משפיע על הקשר עם ילדיו. שוב, גם זה נושא קרוב ללבי, ושוב, הביצוע לא משכנע. הסיבות והמניעים שגורמים לגיבורה לחפש את ביתה והעיתוי והאופן שבו נעשים הדברים אינם מוצדקים ודי מנותקים מהסיפור ומהדמויות. למעשה, כל ההיבט הזה לא התחבר לי לשאר הספר.
זה נראה כאילו כל מה שיש לי זה ביקורת אבל למרות כל זאת, כן נהניתי לקרוא את הספר בגלל המקוריות והייחודיות שלו והאכזבה שלי היא מכך שהוא לא מצליח לטפל לעומק בנושאים שרציתי שיטופלו. אני נותן לו שלושה כוכבים מתוך חמישה.
April 5, 2017
2.5 stars.
I'm struggling a bit with rating and reviewing this book. It reminds me of "A Tale for the Time Being" .... all the right elements for me: Eastern thought, eastern religion, grief, pain, struggle and the messy trek to the other side of tragedy. I like aspects of this book, and, in the end, I just felt like was something was missing to make it cohesive.
Some lovely thoughts and quotes:
Just because we can think of something does not give us license to act upon it.
She wanted to be more precise, but it’s more complicated than that, isn’t it? A swarm of emotions—longing, anger, bewilderment, loneliness, guilt, humor—crowding into the gaping chasm between two people who love each other.
People think a mask covers up. But it’s not true. It makes everything possible. You can put yourself into any state of being.
Pain can pare things down to what’s most important. A clarity comes.
I don’t have a one-year or five-year plan. I’m here to experience life, and that includes being present for all of it, not just a small lousy corner of it labeled joy or mirth. Even going through the miserable pain of loss and down the long road of grief.
She put too much of herself into the work, what she wanted it to be, instead of accepting it for what it was.
It was no one’s fault; it was both their faults.
I'm struggling a bit with rating and reviewing this book. It reminds me of "A Tale for the Time Being" .... all the right elements for me: Eastern thought, eastern religion, grief, pain, struggle and the messy trek to the other side of tragedy. I like aspects of this book, and, in the end, I just felt like was something was missing to make it cohesive.
Some lovely thoughts and quotes:
Just because we can think of something does not give us license to act upon it.
She wanted to be more precise, but it’s more complicated than that, isn’t it? A swarm of emotions—longing, anger, bewilderment, loneliness, guilt, humor—crowding into the gaping chasm between two people who love each other.
People think a mask covers up. But it’s not true. It makes everything possible. You can put yourself into any state of being.
Pain can pare things down to what’s most important. A clarity comes.
I don’t have a one-year or five-year plan. I’m here to experience life, and that includes being present for all of it, not just a small lousy corner of it labeled joy or mirth. Even going through the miserable pain of loss and down the long road of grief.
She put too much of herself into the work, what she wanted it to be, instead of accepting it for what it was.
It was no one’s fault; it was both their faults.
July 4, 2025
Being very rigid in how you look at life and what you expect from others rarely works out very well. That rigidity certainly caused a lot of problems for the parent and translator in this novel, Hanne. She should have known better considering her bitterness toward the tightly controlled parts of her own childhood. But she had little tolerance for her daughter's deviating from her expectations. Furthermore, Hanne caused herself some serious career problems when she too quickly formed opinions about the characters in a book she was translating and let those opinions color her translation.
Then Hanne fell and injured her head to the extent that the only language she could speak or understand was Japanese, which was not the language of the country she was living in or her native language.
Hanne regained her ability to speak English after a visit to Japan that revealed how rigid she had been. With her new outlook, she searched for her long-estranged daughter and tried to apologize and make up for the pain she had caused her daughter.
I was glad that Hanne learned to see her errors, but that her enlightenment came from sleeping with an unemployed, alcoholic actor in Japan was not a route I would recommend to people suffering similar problems.
Then Hanne fell and injured her head to the extent that the only language she could speak or understand was Japanese, which was not the language of the country she was living in or her native language.
Hanne regained her ability to speak English after a visit to Japan that revealed how rigid she had been. With her new outlook, she searched for her long-estranged daughter and tried to apologize and make up for the pain she had caused her daughter.
I was glad that Hanne learned to see her errors, but that her enlightenment came from sleeping with an unemployed, alcoholic actor in Japan was not a route I would recommend to people suffering similar problems.
October 5, 2019
Probably not as enjoyable to me because I'm a translator and living in Japan. Kurashiki is NOT 2 hours from Tokyo on Shinkansen. And yes there are many many many many places in Japan that are not city. I found it quite condescending the way she had to keep reminding herself and the reader. What a stereotype! If the protagonist is really a translator of Japanese, she would know that even without visiting the country for years, which I find difficult to grasp. If you are a translator would you not visit the country of your second language often to keep up with the latest trends in language and to improve your skills? You would even know a lot from the translations you do about the state of the country. (Of course depending on the discipline, but she does literature, so she'd know about that, right?) These points alone probably put me off from the beginning.
Read
September 1, 2019Hanne is a polyglot. She uses her language skills to teach and translate. But then one day the unthinkable happens: she falls down a marble staircase and as the result of a brain injury finds herself unable to speak anything but Japanese. No longer being able to communicate with locals in San Francisco, she takes up an offer of an assignment in Japan.
That very briefly is the plot. However, the novel is so much more than that. It explores the power of language and communication and, more importantly, the lack of communication and its consequences. It examines how easy it is to misunderstand and to be misunderstood. It is a novel about the power of words. How words or their absence can hurt or destroy, but how words can also uplift or heal.
Hanne understands language. She grew up with it. She knows every aspect of it, and as she translates she analyses every word and tries to get right into the mind of the protagonist whose words she is transposing from one language to another. But, is she too analytical? Is she shaping the characters to what she thinks they should be? Is she really translating what the author has expressed?
And what about her own life? Where is the beloved daughter with whom Hanne has not communicated for many years? How ironical that someone so gifted with words should unwittingly alienate her daughter through words.
###
In addition to the quotes that I posted whilst reading, here are a few more quotes:
That very briefly is the plot. However, the novel is so much more than that. It explores the power of language and communication and, more importantly, the lack of communication and its consequences. It examines how easy it is to misunderstand and to be misunderstood. It is a novel about the power of words. How words or their absence can hurt or destroy, but how words can also uplift or heal.
Hanne understands language. She grew up with it. She knows every aspect of it, and as she translates she analyses every word and tries to get right into the mind of the protagonist whose words she is transposing from one language to another. But, is she too analytical? Is she shaping the characters to what she thinks they should be? Is she really translating what the author has expressed?
And what about her own life? Where is the beloved daughter with whom Hanne has not communicated for many years? How ironical that someone so gifted with words should unwittingly alienate her daughter through words.
###
In addition to the quotes that I posted whilst reading, here are a few more quotes:
November 15, 2018
Its a decent book. It goes all over the place when your reading it though, and you will have a hard time understanding what they are talking about. It explains that there is this guy who is in this different country and is trying to translate these different languages for people.
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