Swedish Book Review of “The Quarry” by Johan Theorin.
Blodläge is the third in Johan Theorin’s quartet of novels set on the island of Öland, and as with Skumtimmen (Echoes from the Dead) and Nattfåk (The Darkest Room), the island, its history and its legends have a key role to play. Each novel is set in a different season, and we have now reached spring, a time of hope and optimism, as the days lengthen and the first butterflies begin to appear.
The translator for The Quarry, Marlaine Delargy, reviews the upcoming third book in the Quartet series by Johan Theorin that’s due out June 23rd in the UK. Admittedly, I was surprised she reviewed this but then she’s the translator and not really the author who wrote it…it’s a good review nevertheless but full of plot details. I can’t wait to read this book which won’t be out in the U.S. until who knows when. I pre-ordered myself a copy from the UK. Yes, just call me impatient.
Thanks for revealing to me that the Swedish review is finally online. I have bought print issues in the past and it seems standard for them to have “preview reviews” of novels by their translators, eg I remember one by Laurie Thompson about The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell, long before it was actually published. I suppose that while you are translating a book, that is when you are most immersed in it and have much to say about it. I’ve also bookmarked Marlaine’s article about Camilla Ceder #2, to read when I’ve read the book. Like you, I am looking forward eagerly to Quarry, despite one sniffy review of the Swedish version.
yes, I’ve added The Swedish Review to my sidebar. I’ve enjoyed reading the articles in there. I was just surprised to see the translators reviewing the book but I appreciated her insight.
I’m looking forward to this book. It’s on my Summer Reads list.
It’snot uncommon for translators to review the novels they’re working on for Swedish Book Review. Nobody knows the book better than the translator (apart from the author!), and I hope we all have sufficient integrity to write an honest review. In the past I have read reviews by other contributors on books I’ve translated, and get very cross when they get the facts wrong! Transworld have made some changes to the original Swedish version, in collaboration with Johan, and it will be interesting to see what people think.
I was surprised I must admit and did not know that this was standard procedure. There was a recent spat online about reviewer integrity around the time I posted this article. I don’t question your integrity at all and didn’t mean to imply anything other than surprise.
I hope those changes to the Swedish version were not big ones. I’d like to think we are getting the original story even if it is in translation.
No, I didn’t think you were questioning anyone’s integrity – sorry if it came across that way! SBR tends to ask the translator to do the review because it can be quite difficult to find reviewers; they don’t have the finances to pay for reviews, so asking somebody who’s read the book anyway is one option.
In the original, one of the characters (Vendela) who is obsessed with elves is writing a book about them, and there are a number of extracts from Vendela’s ‘book’. These have no actual bearing on the plot, and have been removed. There has also been the odd ‘tweak’ just to make the chain of events leading to the revelation of the murderer a bit clearer. I hope you enjoy it!
I am looking forward to reading it! Thanks!