Gintare’s Reviews > The Penguin Book of the International Short Story > Status Update

Night Women • Edwidge Danticat

Desperate protection of innocence.

The Flower Garden • Mieko Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Hitomi Yoshio

We all take root in our homes and to get torn from it is akin to losing sense of self.

One Minus One • Colm Tóibín

And no one is surprised that the Irish short story was (at least so far) the best.

My Sad Dead • Mariana Enriquez, translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell

Collective guilt cannot be solved by one person. And who needs to stay to witness it.

Apples • Gunnhild Øyehaug, translated from Norwegian by Kari Dickson

A story of literary devices. I think this is the first time I read a Norwegian story and apart from crime novels that's what I imagined Norwegian general fiction to be. Why? Who knows.

The Illumination of Santiago • Nona Fernández, translated from Spanish by Idra Novey

It's difficult to imagine how daily (or rather nightly) life looked like before we could blast electric lights whenever we wanted. How miraculous and disorientating in must have been to have the night disappear.

Super-frog Saves Tokyo Haruki Murakami, translated from Japanese by Jay Rubin

Could we all agree to mention if there is any worm related body horror in a story. Here's me starting:
TW: Worm related body horror.

Anyway... A hardy salaryman is the epitomy of mental fortitude and will loan his metaphorical balls to a frog if guilt tripped enough. A power fantasy with only bug and worm related risk.

Super-frog Saves Tokyo • Haruki Murakami, translated from Japanese by Jay Rubin

Could we all agree to mention if there is any worm related body horror in a story. Here's me starting:
TW: Worm related body horror