In present-day New York City, an Albanian interpreter reluctantly agrees to work with Alfred, a Kosovar torture survivor, during his therapy sessions. Despite her husband’s cautions, she soon becomes entangled in her clients’ Alfred's nightmares stir up her own buried memories, and an impulsive attempt to help a Kurdish poet leads to a risky encounter and a reckless plan.As ill-fated decisions stack up, jeopardizing the nameless narrator’s marriage and mental health, she takes a spontaneous trip to reunite with her mother in Albania, where her life in the United States is put into stark relief. When she returns to face the consequences of her actions, she must question what is real and what is not. Ruminative and propulsive, Ledia Xhoga’s debut novel Misinterpretation interrogates the darker legacies of family and country, and the boundary between compassion and self-preservation."
I've struggled with this review because this is a hard book for me to condense into a neat review, but as always I will do my best. I'm not entirely sure how to summarize this one myself, so feel free to take a look at the premise above if you'd like a better overview.
Misinterpretation is what I consider a "quiet" novel. Plenty of things happens, but it's all told in a tone that's somewhat passive in nature and doesn't stray too far into extreme emotions. It captures an atmosphere that feels almost dreamlike in a hazy way with it's quality.
Although the entire story is told through the unnamed protagonist's POV, this book looks a lot at different perspectives on people's actions and how they affect relationships, and the authors makes it easy to put yourself in the shoes of those around the protagonist and how her choices affect them. You don't necessarily feel like you're on the side of the protagonist the entire time, but rather observing her thoughts in a way that puts into perspective the almost casual way in which she makes decisions and interacts with others.
Our protagonist has a very passive feel to her, as if she is going through all these regular motions and events but isn't offering all that much of a response. She's very generous and willing to help others without really realizing sometimes when things are going too far, but she embodies her generosity in a way that feels as if she's slightly removed from it, like she's just doing it out of habit and not really considering if it's to specifically be nice or helpful. This somewhat passive nature of living reminds me a bit of how depression can manifest itself, but it's hard to tell where exactly our protagonist may fall with this, especially with how she just seems to be moving aimlessly at times. Her actions often actually made me feel like I wanted to "side" with her husbands at times because many of her choices could easily come across as a bit selfish towards him, when that's not really her intent at all.
Misinterpretation explores different sentiments, emotions, struggles, and experiences of immigrants and those who attempt to make a new life in a foreign place. whether from moving to a new place or returning to an old one. I thought the author captured these aspects really well and makes it easier to understand the different situations and mindsets that many immigrants have when attempting to be successful in a new country, especially while capturing how differently people approach issues as well.
There's also some focus on traumas and how people react differently to them, whether having to continue on or how it affects slowly over time in the long term. There's a lot of ideas about avoidance in this book, as well as a lot of ideas around communication itself. We see a lot of this with interactions (and a lack of interactions) between our protagonist and her husband, as well as the protagonist and various other people, most notably her clients.
And, of course, as this book is about a translator, there are also themes of translation explored and what goes into being a translator for another. It's much more personal than one might expect, with more complications than may be anticipated. Additionally, the impact of a translator on another's life can be profound and lead to a variety of circumstances.
Overall, I've given Misinterpretation four stars. This was a really thought-provoking read that also taught me a little bit more about Albanian culture and had me pondering a variety of topics. The pacing is on the slower side, but I think if you start reading it and the story clicks, then you'll have no problems with it.
Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org
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