Minor Detail, Adania Shibli, tr. Elisabeth Jaquette

Wow, this book. It’s devastating but also tantalizing — it keeps you slightly off balance the entire time, in a state of suspense and tension but also morbid, terrified curiosity. It’s a cruel book, in that you know that bad things are coming (the blurbs on the back tell you, if you didn’t) but meanwhile your attention is constantly being drawn to other bizarre details. And so you are led, only semi-willingly, to inhabit a perspective that horrifies or terrifies you, even if only in brief flashes. But that momentary inhabitation does not produce understanding or sympathy, necessarily — it might even heighten the horror, while also denying you any sense of moral confidence. It’s a really chilling work.