Book Review: Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck

After reading Karin Tidbeck's Amatka I knew I needed to read more by her. Jagannath is an exceptional collection of short stories. In turns beautifully silly and oddly romantic.

What does it mean for a man to fall in love with an airship? If God walks the streets, how can He be summoned? Does the Devil rely on mechanised bureaucracy to connect to people via phone? Each story feels like a half-remembered piece of folklore. There are twists in the tales, but they're rarely cruel.

Rather charmingly, it has been translated from the original Swedish by the author herself!

The decision to translate my own work was born out of an old dream. […] As a result, I’m more careful with the prose, perhaps less adventurous, because without that gut reaction it’s hard to know exactly how something will resonate with an English-speaking reader. […] Cultural shorthand is convenient but can also make you a little sloppy, so being forced to think about what a throwaway phrase really means jolts you out of writing on autopilot.

Whenever I read a translation, there's always a nagging feeling that the translator might be skipping something important. Tidbeck perfectly captures the rhythms of poetic English.

An absolute dream of a collection.