I'm not sure on whether a sole post about a single writer is something usual or approved here, but I'm honestly too starstruck by the writer in question to do anything else. Margarita Karapanou (1946-2008) was a greek novelist. I somehow ended up, relatively recently, getting her first three novels (Kassandra And the Wolf, The Sleepwalker and Rien Ne Va Plus) which has been translated in English among other languages as well. Now, having read all three of them for quite a while a now, I am left astonished by how highly original and totally unique her style and work is. Kassandra And The Wolf reads as a highly fragmentary surreal fever dream written from the lens of the 6-year old Kassandra, who (concernigly to those who have read the novel) shares a lot in common with Karapanou herself. In The Sleepwalker, a new Messiah is sent by God in a touristy greek island during the high summery season, in what ends up becoming a hypersexual and (surprisingly) occasionally queer, surreal murder mystery novel but also a sharp satire and deconstruction of the island's society. I think it's my personal favourite from the three novels, truly a wild ride of a book. Rien Ne Va Plus is a story of love (?) (or the lack thereof), reversed, and narrated two times by Louise, an incipient writer who (once again) feels like an alter-ego of Karapanou herself. Generally that feels like a reoccuring theme amond all the three novels (in The Sleepwalker there's a character called Luka who is also pretty much an alter ego of Karapanou), which is something I loved, because despite the pattern each book felt and was totally unique and distinctive from the others. Those who choose to read Kassandra And The Wolf should really do some research on Karapanou's childhood, because that will make them realise that (unfortunately) the acts and emotions that are depicted on the novel are far from just a frigment of Karapanou's imagination. But back to Rien Ne Va Plus, quite honestly the novel has one of the most impressive and innovative structures I've ever seen a novel have. To make a long story short, I adored all three of the novels and rated them all with five out of five starts. The Sleepwalker has won Karapanou the French Prize for the best foreign novel, a prize whose list of winners of the years include writers such as Gabriel García Márquez, Salman Rushdie and John Updike among others. Despite that, I've barely seen any mentions of Karapanou's work online, at least in English. So I was wondering, has anyone here read any of her novels (if you haven't you most definitely should). If yes, what did you think of them? And last but not least is there a relatively obscure writer from some non English country whose work you highly recommend? After the delightful discovery that was Karapanou's work, I'm left eager for more
NOTE: sorry that the post ended up so huge, I didn't intend that
by I-Like-What-I-Like24