A Leopard-Skin Hat

"I think this book in particular, while surely a fine work of literature in the original French, really takes on something extra in translation. It is a work of great empathy and, therefore, love, a careful attempt by a narrator who is trying to understand a friend who is inaccessible to him, as we are all ultimately inaccessible to each other. But he tries anyway. And the fact that there’s an extra narrative layer to filter through—the translator—makes the conceit hit home even harder. With great trepidation! On the one hand, I knew we had such a great shortlist that it seems impossible to pick a bad winner. On the other hand—and this would sound terribly pretentious coming from anyone who isn’t a professional literary translator, but hear me out—the question of who wins the International Booker Prize has real historical consequences for our field at large. Either way, I’m prepared to spend the rest of my life celebrating our longlist cohort."