This novel was supposed to be all about bilinguality and sounded very interesting, however in reality it wasn't all that.In my opinion it lacked wholesomeness and some kind of a structure. It all sounded like mumbling about nothing and there was no story line really. It did really irritate me how instead of s**t she used sheet and fick instead of f**k.I wouldn't even give it one star in all honesty.

This made no sense whatsoever. I was totally baffled by the writing style and could discern no plot beyond a person called Bobo, someone who is maybe pregnant and someone working in a care home. DNF.

The premise of this book, bilingualism and inter-language translation, appealed to me particularly as bilingualism is my academic field.   The reality of the book however did not appeal.   The short novel is set over a few days in the lives of Kristin and Ciaran, an ethnically and linguistically mixed couple living in Edinburgh. Kristin is probably pregnant and unsure what she want to do about this. Ciaran, in an attempt to connect with Kristin's cultural background, is trying to learn Swedish.   Irritatingly (for both Ciaran and the reader) Kristin does not see the point of him doing this and won't help him in his endeavours.   Parts of the novel were funny and I appreciated the commentary on the way languages work for different purposes but I feel this would have been much more enjoyable as a couple of short stories as other parts of the book were tedious at best.   Kristin works in historic reenactment as a Viking woman - a little of this was relevant to the story but much of the work scenes seemed to me as if only there to pad out a thin tale.
Thanks to the publisher via Net Galley for sendng a complimentary ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

This book turned out to be one of the very few books I didn’t want to continue reading so my only feedback was that it really wasn’t for me.

No, sorry, this just didn't work for me at all, I'm afraid. The writing is rambling and chatty, the day headings make it sound like a diary but it's not really. This feels incomplete, striving to say something about language, understanding and misunderstanding, the bridges and spaces between people even when they love each other - but it's all fluff, lacking precision and substance. I get a sense of a voice circling around but unable to pin down what it wants to say. *Great* cover design, though.

Kristen is 24, Swedish and lives in Edinburgh with her black Scottish boyfriend, Ciaran.  This novel is written largely in the second person, as she addresses her musings to him.  It is about language and belonging and love.  It isn't an easy book to get into and can be confusing at points,  it is a literary novel based around language more than plot.  I suspect that many readers will give up early, which is a shame as it is an interesting read.

Well this book is absolutely bloomin lovely! The writing style is my absolute favourite. It’s the tiny details and fascinating observations. So many quirks! Oh, the quirks. I’ve genuinely never loved characters more than this couple. (Even the acknowledgment page is lovely, that’s how far I wanted to keep reading!)

It’s written from the perspective of 24-year-old Kristin, a Swedish immigrant living with her Black boyfriend, Ciaran, in Edinburgh. It’s written almost as her diary to him. She writes “you said” and “you were” when talking about him, and she dissects the languages of both English and Swedish throughout. This somehow highlights their differences, struggles and harmonies perfectly, as they try to navigate through their thoughts and feelings to each other.

When we meet them they are 4 years into their relationship and they’re so different yet so in love. It’s beautiful the way Kristin studies Ciaran‘s actions and his body, you can feel the love seeping from the pages, even when she’s talking about his knobbly knees. It’s the way she hopes she’ll see his beard turn grey one day and that his creaky sinuses are nothing serious. They drive each other nuts, they overthink constantly, and I love them so, so much.

Picking a single favourite quote is impossible here. For the first time ever I’m doing 3:

“At about eleven pm I set about looking up all the old school friends I could find online to check if any of them had died or become neo-Nazis. You were getting ready for bed.”

“The end of July has always been my least favourite time of year anyway, because it sits in the throat of summer and refuses to be swallowed.”

“It’s a shame we don’t write emails to each other anymore. I liked re-reading the best things you say. I’m up for being a grown up with you, you wrote once. As if I’d asked you to give ficking pottery a go.”

Please let there be a second book coming. I need more of this!

How We Are Translated is out on the 2nd February 2021, thank you so much to Scribe UK for the arc!

How We Are Translated by Jessica Gaitan Johannesson is an insightful novel about relationships and language. Mostly I enjoyed it although I did find myself getting a bit confused at some points.