Definitely an interesting debut novel, which seemed promising at first, but the author lost me in the writing. It felt quite long and rambly. The idea of the book itself is so interesting, but it did not deliver.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I really wanted to love this book, especially as it was longlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize, and had such a quirky way of playing with language. However, I found the written style of hopping from one thought to the next made it very disjointed for me, and impossible to concentrate on reading. But while it wasn't a book I personally could get on with, I'm sure others will love the linguistic playfulness.

I wish this book was less rambling and made more points about how we communicate- especially in another language. I have absolutely no idea what the actual point of the book was.

I found this book fascinating in the way that it studied both a language and a relationship. I learned so many things about the English language from the eyes of a non-native speaker. It's not a fast-paced book but it's fascinating nevertheless. Highly recommended.

lovely writing in this book. Confusing, and I found myself strangely disatisfied at the end, but that was all good and perfect for the book. I am usually a reader of genre, with its fast paced action, so this book was a perfect antidote to all that. Recommended in this time of peril and plague.

A haunting exploration of a relationship in crisis - a dense read good for those who want a challenge.

The intersection between reality and identity and language.... SUCH a fecund and exciting place to explore - but I found that this novel didn't quite achieve what it strove to do.
I loved so many of the choices that the writer made: the narrator's job in Edinburgh, her reenacting and translating, her partner's intensive Swedish language learning... I loved the language and translations... but ultimately found it a little flat and disappointing but full of potential and promise.

There is very little of this book of which I am certain - here is what i do know
1. It is set in Edinburgh
2. The MC has a job in a museum which celebrates Scotland's immigrants. For her job she has to speak her native language (Swedish) at all times
3. Her boyfriend who is a male nurse has decided to learn her language by immersing himself in it during a 5 day period off work.
4. She is pregnant - she thinks she wants to go ahead with the pregnancy - he is Certain that he doesn't
5. There is unwarranted and un useful use of Swedish within the text - it serves no purpose and is simply annoying.

Nothing else in the book makes any sense at all, it has minimal narrative, absolutely no flow and there is no reasoning that I can think of that would merit it's publication.

I was persuaded to read this book by its description. I am a translator, and I am fascinated by linguistic, ethnolinguistic and cultural aspects, however, there was much less in this book than I would have liked. Moreover, there was nothing in this novel that engaged or excited me. The book did not appeal to me at all and bored me terribly.

Dear How We Are Translated,

I tried really hard. I tried for a week to love you but I just found you really confusing so we’re going to have to go on a break. It could just be where my head was at at the time of reading so I don’t want to say that I’m DNFing you because I’d like to give you another shot in the near future.

I’m about halfway through your story and I think you’ve been trying to teach me about language. Maybe you were trying to teach me about how language is a tool through which others perceive us and through which we portray ourselves. Maybe you were also trying to teach me about how there is meaning in the gaps and silences between our languages too. But I’m not sure. I’m saying ‘maybe’ and ‘but I’m not sure’ because like I said, I was really confused. I was getting confused because I was never really sure what was going on. I understand the general gist of your story so far but there are a lot of little things that I feel like I’m missing and I don’t want to finish having missed them all.

So you and I? We’re on a break right now. I want to see you through. A lot of time and energy has gone into creating you so you deserve my time and energy too. And when I’ve got the latter, I’ll pick you up again.

Love,
A reader

I found this book very difficult to read and am not sure that I fully understood it. It seemed to be told in the first person with a sort of stream of consciousness technique. The premise is a Swedish girl living in Edinburgh with her boyfriend who refuses to speak to her in anything other than Swedish as he attempts to learn her language. This made for a disjointed relationship which allowed her pregnancy to go unspoken and unaddressed. The narrator worked at some sort of attraction which used her language skills for translation.

I'm not sure that I can say much more about it. Not for me, I'm afraid.

There are some great reviews for this book but I found it incredibly hardgoing. the reader is dropped straight into a situation with little explanation, back-story etc, it's not helped by the wild side journeys which detour around any form of narrative. Not for me I'm afraid

I was intrigued by this book, it sounded very promising but the writing style wasn't for me, although the story subject was interesting.

This is a very strange book but it sort of repays the effort it takes to work out what is going on. The main character and the narrator is Kristin, a young Swedish woman living in Edinburgh with her boyfriend who might be Brazilian but is also quite Scottish. He is rarely named but he is called Ciaran.

What else do you need to know? Kristin works at some kind of glorified theme park possibly attached to Edinburgh Castle where tourists can mingle with people playing the roles of various nationalities and histories. Kristin is a Norse character, rough and ready, keeping animals and ready to be invaded, or perhaps to invade, at a moment’s notice. This is probably the Edinburgh of the near future and there are hints that the climate emergency has got worse or, at least, the world is not doing very well.

While Kristin works, Ciaran is trying to learn Swedish through an immersive technique of sticking labels on everything in the flat and engaging in badly translated small talk. This may be good for his Swedish but not for his relationship. Meanwhile, Kristin has found out she’s pregnant.

That’s about it really. It’s an oddly endearing read and we get used to Kristin and her deprecating way of describing her life. She doesn’t have much of a job or a relationship when she thinks about it. So, what else is the book about?

Centrally, it seems to be about the impossibility of communication perhaps across cultures or perhaps anywhere. Ciaran, in spite of his attempts to learn Swedish, seems to have no understanding of where Kristin exists in her head while the tourists she encounters at work are presented with a kind of caricature of a Norse existence. In the end, everything is translated and in translation the meaning is changed or contorted even in the process of being communicated. The question this raises is whether this is the same for everyone and everything and whether what can be perceived here across languages and cultures has the same impact – probably overlooked – on everyone’s existence. The pregnancy and the different reactions to it kind of sum this up.

It sounds like a dreadful book doesn’t it but it’s actually entertaining in the detail and it makes you think about how we are all translated as we are transacted in our day-to-day lives. It’s well worth a read even if a bit hard to review! All I can say is I liked it.

This tracks the life of 24 year old Kristin; Swedish, living and working in Edinburgh as part of a living history exhibition since graduation and her boyfriend, Ciaran; Brazilian born but raised in Scotland by adoptive parents. It feels we are looking in at their relationship during a low point where neither party engages with the others needs or wishes. Ciaran decides to learn Swedish through intense study and submersion techniques, meanwhile Kristin, who is only allowed to speak in her native tongue whilst at work, does not want to come home to then talk more Swedish and mentor Ciaran through his learning. Throughout the story, we see Kristin struggling to come to terms with a possible pregnancy and avoid spending time with Ciaran by spending an increasing amount of time at work.

As a character based novel, I honestly cared very little for either Kristin or Ciaran. I did, however, enjoy the book. Throughout the story, there are many times where Kristin explores Swedish compound words and how they translate to English. This word play is what really made the book for me and was a pleasure to read. Although the story left me pretty non-plussed, it was definitely worth it for this alone. In fact, I will likely buy this book for my niece who is currently learning Swedish and, I am sure, will find it really interesting. (Also, loved the cover art)

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribe UK for a copy of #howwearetranslated in exchange for my honest review

This is a hard one to summarise. I guess it would be considered a stream of conscious narrative? Of a 20-something Swedish woman living and working in Edinburgh.

Overall I enjoyed it. It was difficult to follow at times, sure, but I got there eventually, just like in a conversation where two people don't share the same native language but eventually reach an understanding. As someone who had also made a life in a country where my native language wasn't spoken, I enjoyed the familiarity of the narrator's thoughts and experiences, and I felt a kind of kinship toward her.

I picked up How We Are Translated because I’m trying to widen my cultural reading horizons. I want to read as many books that feature as many different cultures as possible. As far as I can remember, I’ve never read a book featuring a Swedish character, so How We Are Translated helped towards that challenge.

The book follows Kristin, a Swedish immigrant living in the UK: in Edinburgh, to be precise. She lives with her boyfriend, who in Scottish, but Bazilian-born, so there’s a strong international/immigration theme running throughout the book.

I really enjoyed the writing style in How We Are Translated, but I think it will be a bit like marmite: you’ll either love it or hate it. It’s a very lyrical, poetic, a. little abstract, style of writing. It’s a quiet book. The words almost float on the page. It’s introspective, and almost stream of consciousness. The reader is very much inside Kristin’s head. As I said, I really enjoy this style of writing, but I know it’s not for everyone.

The other aspect of this book that I think some people will like, and others won’t, is the way Johannesson handles language. The Swedish language is a strong theme throughout the novel, partly because Kristin’s boyfriend is trying to learn the language. So he attempts to communicate with her in Swedish, and she (sometimes) corrects him. The way Johannesson handles this is by putting in the Swedish words, then putting the English translation next to it. Almost like a list.

This style is also used throughout Kristin’s thoughts, as she thinks about words, the meanings of them, and how the English and Swedish compare. I liked this style. It’s really unusual, and I’m a lover of language anyway. So I love to learn how different languages handle different emotions and perceptions. I find it fascinating.

As we only see the other characters through Kristin’s eyes, we don’t always learn a lot about them. We get to know her boyfriend pretty well, but her co-workers are often quite indistinct. She works in historical re-enactment, acting out an ancient Nordic life, for the benefit of tourists. A good half of the story centres around her job, and we do get to see some of the other characters out of character, so to speak, but not often. Some we only get to know through the characters they are acting out.

This doesn’t detract much from the novel, but there were a few instances where I felt a little confused and almost like Johannesson had only told me part of the story. Perhaps that’s the effect Johannesson was going for.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It’s a unique novel, with some interesting commentary on modern life and immigration. So if you don’t mind slightly abstract writing, I’d recommend it.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did in the end. I loved the premise, loved the writing, loved the idea. I liked how Kristin, a young Swedish woman in Scotland, observes so many minute details about her life; how she works in Edinburgh castle as a reenactor, playing a Viking woman, Solveig. I loved her boyfriend Ciaran who throws himself into any new project completely and decides to learnSwedish, refusing to speak any English - I loved, loved, loved the writing of the book, with so many Swedish sentences and words thrown on the page, with comments about how things are translated differently, how you think differently in a different language. The secondary characters deserve a mention too - they were good. But ultimately I found the plot... lacking. There was very little going on (apart from the Project - no spoiler here - but that seemed more like a pretext to make something happen), and I found myself getting a bit bored. It's not often I end up preferring the tone of the book rather than the plot, but although I loved the idea, I ended up wishing it would end faster than it did.

Oh how I wanted to love this book. Language and the gap between languages fascinates me. Ultimately I never came to like or even care for any of the characters. Maybe it is a generational thing but this is that rare book that I have no feelings for.