pickI thought the concept was brilliant and original. Without giving anything away, I found myself wanting to save the characters. No, go left, don't call....
The paranoia was intense. I assume immigrants, whether Albanian or Guatemalan, live with daily paranoia. I don't assume, I know. They have to keep a low-key profile ALL the time. Who is safe? Who will help? The exhaustion.
After I post, I plan to look at other reviews.
Adding five countries to #ReadTheWorld2025 for September and October: #Ukraine #Albania #Austria #Croatia and #Portugal, coincidentally all European.
I now have read 31 countries!
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️ Story of an Albanian woman living in NYC, working as an interpreter, married to an American. She gets overly involved in the lives of other Southeastern European immigrants, straining her relationships. It had momentum but then the end just sort of petered off. It felt like nothing resolved, which left me wondering what the point was of picking it up at all. 🤷♀️ Between a soft pick and a so-so. #BookerLongList
pick29 Sep-10 Oct 2025
#Bookerlonglist2025 No 13
An impressive debut, Xhoga follows the life of an Albanian interpreter living in NYC. The narrator reminded me a great deal of a family friend from Bulgaria who seemed to take in all kinds of Eastern European strays (before the fall of the iron curtain) much to the dismay of her conservative, ENT husband.
The tension and underlying violence Xhoga creates is remarkable and disarming. Another great novel.
pickThis one is trending with all you crazy people reading the Booker Longlist. So I read it first. I quite liked it. I have no idea if it's shortlist material but I hated that one that won last year so what the heck do I know?
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
pickI haven‘t gotten ahold of many books from the Booker list yet, but I really liked this one. I loved the way it presented the tensions of culture and marriage, and the sense of unending responsibility the MC feels as an immigrant in America to other Albanian immigrants she encounters. Her American husband struggles to understand this part of her identity and experience.
so-so#BookerLonglist #6
A highly original novel about 3 Ukrainian women on a road trip with some men they keep captive while Russia invades their country. Also, they are looking for a special kind of snail. I loved the fist half and the part which is an interlude by the author herself. Then however I lost interest a bit. So many super interesting story lines and yet I felt like nothing much happened. A so-so for me.
#ReadTheWorld2025 #28 #Albania
GatheringBooks, AnneCecilie, TheKidUpstairs, Chelsea.Poole, rmaclean4, squirrelbrain, Graywacke, ImperfectCJ, MattsbookadaypickThe theme of literal translation/interpretation is wonderfully interwoven with a myriad of ways that we misinterpret. The novel moves from tense to calm but with an underlying sense of fear and dislocation. There is also movement between dreams/nightmares and a dislocation from reality, that leaves you wondering what is actually happening. An impressive first novel and it‘s highly engaging/unputdownable.
#firstnovel #translation #bookerprize
pickHurray! Finally a #Booker25 longlist book I want to make the shortlist.
Thoughtful and relevant novel. After the last read, beyond glad that (unlike another longlisted novel I could mention) it didn't make me want to ask the narrator to Just Stop Already...
In front of us, someone was saying to their relative, 'You know who causes most of the traffic problems? Foreigners or returning immigrants like you. You stop when you're supposed to, give the other cars the right-of-way, allow crowds of pedestrians to cross the street.'
'We follow the rules, you mean?'
'Exactly. It causes confusion.'
The visiting immigrant became silent. He was finally home, he realised.
#Booker2025
