The Book of Words
ABOUT
THE BOOK
In The Book of Words, Jenny Erpenbeck captures with amazing virtuosity the inner life of a young girl who survives the totalitarian regime of a curiously unnamed South American country (most likely Argentina during the “dirty war”). Raised by parents whose real identity ends up shocking her, the girl comes of age in a country where gunshots are mistaken for blown tires, innocent citizens are dragged off buses, and tortured and disappeared friends and family return to visit her from the dead.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Susan
Bernofsky
Susan Bernofsky is an American translator of German-language literature and author. She is best known for bringing the Swiss writer Robert Walser to the attention of the English-speaking world, translating many of his books and writing his biography.
Susan Bernofsky is an American translator of German-language literature and author. She is best known for bringing the Swiss writer Robert Walser to the attention of the English-speaking world, translating many of his books and writing his biography.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
An interesting vision of the world thorough the eyes of a child. The world of a child brought up in a totalitarian regime. A story of a family’s secrets. The author creates a dictionary of her own. A story that shows how much a man can keep for himself.