Since I've been spending a bit more time on "side quests" and dealing with health-related stuff, I only managed to read two books this week...
First, I listened to the audio version of The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola, a novel based on the tragic event known as the "Edgeware Road Murder." It imagines the actions and motivations of the people caught up in the killing and dismemberment of a woman called Hannah Brown. The author introduces into the story a fictional criminal barrister tasked with determining whether the death sentence pronounced on one of the accused, Sarah Gale, is excessive — and who finds himself deeply embroiled in her life. Along the way, we witness the pervasive misogyny of the legal and carceral system in 1830s England, and must try to see through the multiple layers of lies and manipulation obscuring the truth.
Although I correctly guessed two of the plot elements fairly early on, and the word "albeit" is used a little too frequently (yes, I tend to notice speech patterns and tics, it drives me so distracted!), I found this book absolutely gripping. It happens very seldom that I'm kept on my toes until the very end, so brava to Anna Mazzola! I love a historical crime novel, which is a difficult genre to pull off successfully, as the story needs to hold its own on both fronts; in my opinion, The Unseeing should be upheld as exemplary in this regard. Sadly, it's the only work by this author available to me at the moment, but I want to read more by her in the future!
I then read Babel by R.F. Kuang, set in a parallel universe where silver, on which the English keep a tight rein, controls just about everything in the world. However, unlocking this hoarded silver's potential requires exceptional translation skills, which is where Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation, its staff and students come in. While it initially presents translation as a noble task, Babel denounces it as a tool of colonialism and imperialism, addressing racism and privilege very directly. As both a white person and a professional translator, I might have found this uncomfortable, even confronting; instead, I believe the author makes extremely valid points, and she's given me a number of things on which to reflect regarding how I view my position as a "carrier of meaning" in today's society. I love discussing the philosophical implications of translation and am fascinated by etymology, so I truly enjoyed those parts of the book, but I wonder how much interest they can elicit in readers outside the broad field of linguistics.
I unfortunately can't lavish praise on what in theory should be a brilliant story, especially due to the author's not very original and rather unconvincing world-building. I found silver-working to be a confusing device, used as a metaphor for too many different concepts to wrap one's head around. The final section seemed interminable, and the epilogue clumsily ruined what would have been a touching conclusion.
All the same, I'd like to end this post with a quote that feels highly appropriate right now:
"That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world and hoping someone understands."