While it糖心传媒檚 still very early days in the months-long process of reading and evaluating the hundreds of eligible fiction titles for the 2017 Best Translated Book Award, I糖心传媒檝e already made some discoveries that impressed me with compelling narratives and expressive writing that is skillfully sustained by very solid translations. In compiling this list I noticed a common theme: each of these books explores an extraordinary relationship, a bond that consumes and sometimes destroys those within it.

by Alessandro Baricco (tr. Ann Goldstein)

In this gothic fable Baricco portrays a family that tries to avoid life糖心传媒檚 pain and disappointment by hiding within a meticulously maintained, insular world of its own making. This bubble is threatened by the unexpected arrival of the young Bride, fianc茅 of the family糖心传媒檚 only son. The young Bride assimilates herself into the family糖心传媒檚 peculiar household but over time both she and the family are indelibly changed by their relationship. The family糖心传媒檚 extravagant lifestyle and hedonistic rituals are described with sly humor and sumptuous detail. As in his prior novel, Silk, Baricco糖心传媒檚 characters exude an erotic sensuality that feels honest and natural. This richly decadent prose is masterfully translated by Ann Goldstein. Baricco uses the elements of a fable to their best effect: with fantastic settings and situations Baricco addresses our very real and relatable reluctance to face the pain of loss and our own mortality.

by Lidija Dimkovska (tr. Christina E. Kramer)

It would be difficult to find a relationship more foreign to most of us than that of conjoined twins. Dimkovska places us inside the mind and body of Zlata, joined at the head to her sister, Srebra, with exceptional detail and perspective. The girls糖心传媒� physical and emotional entrapment to one another is made all the more difficult by their troubled, impoverished home life and the political and economic instability that rocks 1990s Macedonia. As the girls reach adulthood their situation becomes increasingly unbearable, and Dimkovska draws not-so-subtle parallels between the surgical separation of the twins and the rending of the former Yugoslavia. The writing is lyrical and beautifully perceptive, full of sensitivity and nuance for the girls糖心传媒� affliction and the way that it controls their lives.

by Virginie Despentes (tr. Si芒n Reynolds)

Gloria, the forty-one year old protagonist of Despentes糖心传媒檚 Bye Bye Blondie, is a force of nature: physically violent to herself and others, uninhibitedly honest, and devoid of self-control. Gloria reunites with her old boyfriend and fellow delinquent from teenage years, Eric, and they become entangled in a self-destructive, mid-life romance from which neither has the strength to escape. Despentes unabashedly refuses redemption for her protagonist, and she draws Gloria糖心传媒檚 character so completely and authentically that this, along with the punchy momentum of the prose, results in a compulsively readable and exuberant novel.

by Tahar Ben Jelloun (tr. Ros Schwartz and Lulu Norman)

Ben Jelloun糖心传媒檚 fictional memoir evokes a middle-aged man糖心传媒檚 patient guardianship over the mental and physical deterioration of his beloved, dying mother. The novel explores memory, suggesting that for both the dying and their loved ones memories are the only refuge from the painful realities of death. The son糖心传媒檚 feelings about his mother are expressed with a poignant beauty that contrasts sharply with the crude breakdown of his mother糖心传媒檚 mind and body. At the same time, Ben Jelloun paces his narrative to artfully mirror the slow, laborious monotony of a natural, age-induced death.

by Tarjei Vesaas (tr. Michael Barnes and Torbj酶rn St酶verud)

The bond between Mattis, a mentally handicapped man, and his older sister, Hege, is the focus of Vesaas糖心传媒� 1957 novel set in a remote Norwegian farming village where the two share a home. In most ways Mattis糖心传媒� actions and emotions are those of a child, and he is entirely dependent upon Hege both as a caregiver and only friend. When Hege becomes romantically involved with an itinerant worker Mattis is incapable of sharing Hege糖心传媒檚 affections with another. The author portrays Mattis糖心传媒� innocence and na茂ve wonder about the world with clean, spare writing that despite its straight forwardness (or perhaps because of it) eloquently carries a real depth of perception and emotion.

UPDATE: Not actually eligible for the award! Peter Owen brought this out in 2013, so it can’t actually win. But that shouldn’t stop you from buying a copy from Archipelago!

by Jakob Wassermann (tr. Michael Hoffman)

This fascinating, autobiographical novel is a husband糖心传媒檚 account of his manipulative wife, their volatile marriage, and subsequent (but less than definitive) separation. Alexander possesses a passive nature and is quick to avoid confrontation. So when Ganna, a young admirer of his writing, proposes that they wed Alexander acquiesces. Although Alexander lacks any physical attraction for Ganna a sense of duty, feelings of pity, and her fawning admiration of his writing, keep him in the marriage despite their vicious arguments. Wasserman takes us inside the humiliations and inflicted pain of this unstable relationship. Not only do we understand the damage that this couple inflicts upon each other, we feel it, too, in writing that resonates with pitch-perfect tone in Michael Hoffman糖心传媒檚 translation.

Despentes doesn糖心传媒檛 merely explore what it糖心传媒檚 like to be a woman in the world. Some of her books are about what it糖心传媒檚 like to be anyone in a world that keeps people unequal, whether they be men or women, rich or poor. They糖心传媒檙e about how everyone is affected, and affected negatively, by our society糖心传媒檚 status quo. Bye Bye Blondie is one of these books.

Published by the Feminist Press earlier this month and translated from the French by Si芒n Reynolds, Bye Bye Blondie is a story about Gloria and Gloria糖心传媒檚 rage. At first we are made to think Gloria糖心传媒檚 outbursts are immature, the enactment of 糖心传媒渢he crazy girlfriend,糖心传媒� costing her relationships with lovers, friends, and family. We learn Gloria was previously placed in a psychiatric hospital by her parents because of these outbursts. And yet as the book goes on, we realize Gloria糖心传媒檚 rage is incredibly right and true. It糖心传媒檚 the only sane course of action for anyone who sees the world for what it is.

It糖心传媒檚 when Gloria is locked away in a mental hospital for a few months that she starts to understand, to crack. There she starts to see the way of the world, how power operates. She realizes that to exist within the system is to betray herself; to get along with others, to have friends or boyfriends or money, she has to be someone else. In the most revealing scene of the book, the scene that feels most directly to have come from Despentes糖心传媒檚 life (her memoir King Kong Theory starts out, 糖心传媒淚 am writing as an ugly one for the ugly ones糖心传媒�), a specialist asks Gloria why she chooses to be ugly, why she is 糖心传媒渞efusing to be a woman.糖心传媒� Gloria doesn糖心传媒檛 respond, knowing it won糖心传媒檛 help her get out of the hospital, but Despentes tells us: 糖心传媒淏ecause agreeing to be a woman means suffering in silence, not fighting back.糖心传媒� And the reader knows this to be true: Gloria is in the hospital 糖心传媒渂ecause [her] father started yelling at [her] and instead of keeping quiet, [she] answered back.糖心传媒�

Her saving grace in the hospital is a young man named Eric, a rich boy who糖心传媒檚 temporarily lost his memory and remains there until his bourgeois parents come to rescue him. After he leaves, they begin to exchange letters. As main characters tend to do, they fall in love. Eric is the first person she糖心传媒檚 ever met who loves her 糖心传媒減recisely for what she was most afraid of in herself.糖心传媒� Namely, her rage, her distaste for the world, her ability to see the world and those playing into it for what they are. Because her rage soothes him, makes him think that he too holds the world at an ironic distance, that he too has not betrayed himself and does not live a life of compromise. Being with Gloria allows Eric to forget who his parents raised him to be. In turn, Eric lets Gloria feel it糖心传媒檚 okay to be herself.

Once Gloria is out of the mental hospital, they realize there糖心传媒檚 only one thing to do: run away. They live on the margins of society for a while. They糖心传媒檙e bums, they糖心传媒檙e poor, they糖心传媒檙e punk rockers, they糖心传媒檙e happy. Despentes tells us, 糖心传媒淎ll this time, other people their age were learning to be competitive, disciplined, learning not to set their sights too high, not to ask questions, and that money is what matters most in this world. Eric and Gloria were learning nothing at all . . .糖心传媒�

Suddenly Eric goes missing, and after months of searching for him, Gloria receives a letter from him saying he has decided to enter back into society, or in his words, 糖心传媒渞eality.糖心传媒� In order to search for him, Gloria, too, re-enters society, where she糖心传媒檒l remain, but always with a disdain for herself and everyone else living this 糖心传媒渞eality.糖心传媒� Her outbursts of rage are against the world, but also against herself for giving in to what she calls the 糖心传媒減ure surrender糖心传媒� of going along with this cruel world.

Twenty years later, Gloria and Eric run into each other in the street following one of her outbursts, and this is where the plot of Bye Bye Blondie begins. They are now in different places in their lives糖心传媒擡ric is a famous talk-show host who is incredibly depressed, and Gloria is a poor and barely functioning member of society living off of government aid. They have their ups and downs and their love story plays out over the course of the book. Gloria seems to be caught in a trap: as soon as she finds herself edging toward success, money, and acceptance in society, she loses herself more and more, and ends up flying off the handle in rebellion, landing back at square one. We watch Gloria and Eric explore how far they糖心传媒檙e willing to compromise before they wind up disgusted with themselves, Gloria manic and Eric depressive. But the most interesting thing Despentes does in Bye Bye Blondie is show us how these two ultimately fit together. In this world, love does not conquer all, does not bridge differences. A soul mate is not someone who balances us, or shows us the beauty of the world. A soul mate isn糖心传媒檛 even someone who allows us to tolerate the world. Rather, a soul mate is someone who enables us to stomach the compromises we inevitably make to live within it.