Beyond Stephen King: 5 Foreign Horror Authors in Translation

 

  1. Koji Suzuki, Ring (リング), Japan


Yes, this is the book the famous horror franchise was based on. Suzuki wrote Ring (or Ringu) in 1991 as part of a trilogy. This is also the only book to ever actually keep me up at night. I read it before watching any of the movies. The book is more of a murder mystery than anything else but the imagery and back story behind Sadako are so disturbing that I had trouble falling asleep. Ghosts and revenge are pretty common hallmarks of Japanese horror and Ring definitely delivers both. I’ve only read to the second book in the trilogy, Spirals, but trust me, this is one you don’t want to miss. Even if you’ve seen the film the book includes so many more details about Sadako’s life and death. Read if you like the Ring franchise, ghost stories, mysteries, and Japanese horror. 





  1.  John Ajvide Lindqvuist Let the Right One in (Låt den rätte komma in), Sweden

 

You may remember the movie Let Me In based on this book. Well. The movie sucked. This book is way better. It’s a thick tome written by Lindqvist which at first looks daunting but flies by. Twelve years old bullied Oskar befriends a centuries-old vampire. The vampire isn’t the scariest part of the book. It’s the dissection of real problems such as divorce, bullying, absentee fathers, genital mutilation, pedophilia, and social isolation. Not in that order. I devoured this book in one sitting and then saw the Swedish film based on it. A must for fans of Nordic noir and vampire novels.





  1.  Ahmed Saadawi Frankenstein in Baghdad (فرانكشتاين في بغداد‎), Iraq


Frankenstein in Baghdad was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and it’s no wonder, it’s literary horror at its best. Saadawi has written a meditation on war, loss, and trauma, against the backdrop of violence in Baghdad. Amid the violence is Hadi, the junk peddler. He often collects junk to bring back to his home but an idea strikes him. Soon he starts bringing back body parts from various bombings. He sews them together to create a truly ugly creature who then escapes and is blamed for a series of murders around Baghdad. Saadawi’s tale is equal parts horrifying and hilarious, riddled throughout with dark humor and descriptions of the monster’s putrefaction. I suggest this for anyone who liked Frankenstein, zombie horror, and who has a sense of humor. 




  1. Mariana Enriquez The Things We Lost in the Fire (Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego), Argentina


I read this book around the beginning of this year and it remains in my top five for the entirety of 2020. Mariana Enriquez’s The Things We Lost in the Fire is a collection of short horror stories that take place in Argentina and take a dark look at its history and politics. Enriquez writes about missing children, haunted saints, dark hotels, inequality, ghosts, political regimes, and other such subject matter. I loved this book. Her descriptions are sensuous, adding to the macabre settings these stories often take place in. I was thoroughly impressed by the entire collection. Read this if you have any interest in Argentina, exploring Latin American writers, want the quick fix of a short story, and love a foreboding atmosphere. 





  1. Pyun Hye-Young The Hole, South Korea


Pyun’s The Hole is often hailed as South Korea’s answer to Stephen King’s Misery. I agree but also think that The Hole stands on its own as an equally terrifying novel. I’d also like to throw in some similarities to Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.  Our main character, Oghi, is a professor who has been paralyzed in a car crash that also killed his wife. He cannot move but to blink and his mother-in-law (a deeply religious woman who becomes more and more unhinged as the book continues) is left to take care of him as he recovers some of the mobility in his limbs. Oghi is trapped in his home and in his body as his mother-in-law destroys the garden his wife worked so hard to grow in order to dig a massive hole in the yard. The book isn’t long but it demands your attention and becomes more and more creepy as you read on. Interspersed with flashbacks to Oghi’s marriage secrets are revealed about his life and how he came to be stuck in his bed as his mother-in-law digs the holes. I suggest this for anyone who likes K-horror, Misery, and psychological thrillers.






LINKS: 


Review of Ring (Koji Suzuki) from The Guardian (2012): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/16/review-ring-koji-suzuki


Review of Let the Right One In (John Lindqvist) from Horror Novel Reivews (2014): https://horrornovelreviews.com/2014/11/14/john-ajvide-lindqvist-let-the-right-one-in-review/


Review of Frankenstein in Baghdad (Ahmed Saadawi) from The New York Times (2018): 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/books/review-frankenstein-in-baghdad-ahmed-saadawi.html


Review of Things We Lost in the Fire (Mariana Enriquez) from The Kenyon Review (2016): https://kenyonreview.org/reviews/things-we-lost-in-the-fire-by-mariana-enriquez-738439/


Review of The Hole (Pyun Hye-young) from Korean Literature Now (2017): https://koreanliteraturenow.com/fiction/reviews/pyun-hye-young-psychic-wounds-and-body%E2%80%99s-rebellion-hole-pyun-hye-young

Comments

Post a Comment