"...
A MERRY, YEARLONG CHASE AROUND THE GLOBE
...."--
Kirkus Reviews
"
Exceptional
,
original
deftly crafted
from beginning to end
, ... an inherently
fascinating
unique
funny
, and
compelling
read ...
very highly recommended
Midwest Book Review
"A comic masterpiece" "Poignant" "Pretty much perfectly done"and A Shelf Unbound 2015 Notable Book
Charles Abel Baker--short story writer and a "most unlikely middle-aged hero"--sets off around the world on a quest to see one of his short stories translated into ten different languages and back again into English, a sort of literary version of the old party game "telephone. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, Siberia, China, India, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, and more, Charlie's round-the-world peregrinations are comical, romantic and, at times, hair-raising.
Problems of Translation
is a cloak-and-dagger adventure, a love story, and a bracing ride for the language buff. Its naïve hero's quixotic mission will ultimately transform Charlie and those around him. And along the way, Charlie--lonely, divorced--comes to love and be loved by a generous, complicated woman, and at last to understand what drove him to undertake this journey.
Who knew that literary translation could be so perilous? So romantic? So downright funny?
A rousing hybrid and a great read, Problems of Translation is as stimulating as it is entertaining.
"An insanely amusing adventure that has a deep love of language at its belly-shaking core."-Gary Shteyngart, author of
Little Failure
and
A Super Sad True Love Story
"Jim Story's name says it all: he was meant to be a writer...I hope everyone reads this book!"-Hannah Tinti, author of
The Good Thief
; editor-in-chief of
One Story
"In this comic masterpiece...we take a wild ride...through the underside of the literary world...as [Charlie] stumbles and careens into all kinds of trouble in and obsessive pursuit of hid Dream."-Robert Roth, author of
Health Proxy
; editor, co-creator of
And Then
"A fascinating look at the issues of translation, publishing, and an unglamorous middle-age."-Edith Grossman, author of
Why Translation Matters
; award-winning translator of Cervantes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and others
"...Marvelous touches of...poignancy that don't...delay the progress of the story toward it's delectable conclusion...pretty much perfectly done."-Ron Story (no relation), Emeritus Professor, UMass Amherst; author of
Jonathan Edwards and the Gospel of Love