The Extinction of Irena Rey
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3.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
National Bestseller
Named a must read by People, Vanity Fair, Electric Literature, Nylon, Alta Journal, CrimeReads and Debutiful
Named a most anticipated book by Elle, The Millions, Bustle, Lit Hub, Dandelion Chandelier, Zibby Mag, Bookpage, and The Rumpus
"Oh my mushrooms, The Extinction of Irena Rey is incredibly strange, savvy, sly and hard to classify. I also couldn't put it down." -The New York Times, Editors' Choice
From the International Booker Prize-winning translator and Women's Prize finalist, an utterly beguiling novel about eight translators and their search for a world-renowned author who goes missing in a primeval Polish forest.
Eight translators arrive at a house in a primeval Polish forest on the border of Belarus. It belongs to the world-renowned author Irena Rey, and they are there to translate her magnum opus, Gray Eminence. But within days of their arrival, Irena disappears without a trace.
The translators, who hail from eight different countries but share the same reverence for their beloved author, begin to investigate where she may have gone while proceeding with work on her masterpiece. They explore this ancient wooded refuge with its intoxicating slime molds and lichens and study her exotic belongings and layered texts for clues. But doing so reveals secrets-and deceptions-of Irena Rey's that they are utterly unprepared for. Forced to face their differences as they grow increasingly paranoid in this fever dream of isolation and obsession, soon the translators are tangled up in a web of rivalries and desire, threatening not only their work but the fate of their beloved author herself.
This hilarious, thought-provoking debut novel is a brilliant examination of art, celebrity, the natural world, and the power of language. It is an unforgettable, unputdownable adventure with a small but global cast of characters shaken by the shocks of love, destruction, and creation in one of Europe's last great wildernesses.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Translator and memoirist Croft (Homesick) serves up a wickedly funny mystery involving an internationally famous author and her translators. It's 2017 and narrator Emi, who hails from Buenos Aires, is one of eight translators visiting celebrated Polish novelist Irena Ray's house in the ancient Białowieża forest. This is the translators' seventh "pilgrimage" to Białowieża, where they've gathered to put Irena's latest tome into their respective languages. All of them worship Irena, whom Emi calls "Our Lady of Literature," with hilariously slavish devotion. When Irena disappears, so does their collective sanity, and thus begins a twisty detective story. Efforts to track down Irena are interspersed with various "bizarre actions" involving snakes, mythological Slavic creatures, archers, patriots, and attempted murder. Each of the perils is absurdly entertaining in its own way, and the endangered forest's fungi capture Emi's imagination and provide Croft with a magical and metaphor-rich backdrop. Emi's relationships with her colleagues, who are nicknamed for the languages they're translating Irena's novel into, further enliven the narrative as it reaches a poignant denouement. The novel's greatest strength, however, lies in Croft's energetic set pieces, demonstrated most mirthfully in the "catfight" that takes place between Emi and "English," whose footnotes provide her with a juicy opportunity for revenge. This is a blast.
