
What I'd Rather Not Think about
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024
Jente Posthuma(Author)
Scribe Us (Publisher)
Published on 4. July 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-1-957363-35-6 (ISBN)
Description
What if one half of a pair of twins no longer wants to live? What if the other can't live without them? These questions lie at the heart of Jente Posthuma's deceptively simple What I'd Rather Not Think About. The narrator is a twin whose brother has recently taken his own life. She looks back on their childhood, and tells of their adult lives, and of how her brother tried to find happiness, but lost himself in various men and the Bhagwan movement, though never completely. In brief, precise vignettes, full of surprising humour and gentle melancholy, Posthuma tells the story of a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 133 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
216 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-957363-35-6 (9781957363356)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jente Posthuma is a Dutch writer whose first novel, People With No Charisma, was published in the Netherlands to critical acclaim. Her second novel, What I'd Rather Not Think About (2020) was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature. The English-language translation by Sarah Timmer Harvey was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024. The translation rights of What I'd Rather Not Think About have been sold in more than fifteen countries. Posthuma's third book Witch! Witch! Witch! (2023) is an idiosyncratic and witty retelling of three ancient Dutch sagas. Posthuma is currently working on a memoir.