The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

May the Tigris Grieve for You by Emilienne Malfatto tr. Lorns Scott Fox (Les Fugitives)

I loved this and kudos to Les Fugitives for publishing as I can't see a mainstream publisher ever getting to this.

The original Que sue toi se lamente le Tigre (2020) won the Goncourt du Premier Roman, the first novel category of one of France’s most prestigious literary prizes. Unusually for such a prize in France, the novel was published by a small independent press: “Le roman, publié au moment de la rentrée littéraire en septembre 2020 par la maison d’édition tunisienne Elyzad, avait déjà été remarqué et salué de la mention spéciale des lecteurs du prix Hors Concours 2020, un titre qui s’adresse aux éditeurs indépendants, rarement récompensés par les plus grands prix littéraires” (from the press release at the time).

The author is also a photo journalist - this is a powerful piece for the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphi...

I also loved this. I read it in the original so can't comment on the translation but don't see any reason why it would be particularly onerous to translate from French to English.

The writing and perspective are quite hypnotic and make fine use of landscape and the voice of the Tigris. The brevity of the narrative keeps the tension high (not in a plot-y way).

The Tigris and the “I am” sections were my favourites of the four strands.

I read this last May and I loved it. My favorite kind of books are quietly powerful and this is that plus beautifully written and heartbreaking.