BBC推薦：3月必讀書單

Dustin, a Cleveland psychologist in his 40s, is still damaged by the monstrous murder of his parents, aunt and uncle when he was 13. He testified against his older foster brother Rusty, who was sentenced to life in prison. Dustin’s wife is dying from ovarian cancer, and he can barely connect with his teenage sons. His professional distance is challenged by Aqil, a new client, a former policeman obsessed with a string of drownings of drunken young men. And he learns that new DNA evidence has freed Rusty. As Aqil draws Dustin into an amateur investigation, Rusty reaches out to Dustin’s troubled son Aaron. Imagine the shower scene in Psycho, extended across 11 sections and three decades, with multiple unsolved mysteries. That’s the level of intensity Chaon achieves in this dark, provocative thriller.
達斯汀是美國克里夫蘭州一位40多歲的心理學(xué)家。他13歲時，父母、叔叔和嬸嬸都被人殘忍殺害，這件事給他造成陰影到現(xiàn)在都沒散去。他曾經(jīng)作證指控自家收養(yǎng)的兄弟羅斯緹是兇手，后者被判處終身監(jiān)禁。達斯汀的妻子患卵巢癌，將不久于人世，而他與自己十幾歲的兒子們關(guān)系又很疏離。他一貫保持的專業(yè)距離被一位新客戶阿基爾打破了。阿基爾以前是警察，一直沉迷于追蹤一系列醉酒青年溺亡案件。達斯汀還得知，因為有了新的DNA證據(jù)，羅斯緹已經(jīng)被釋放了。阿基爾帶著達斯汀展開業(yè)余調(diào)查的時候，羅斯緹開始接近達斯汀的兒子艾倫。想象一下電影《驚魂記》里的那個謀殺場景，橫跨了三十年，延續(xù)了11部作品，引出多個未解之謎。查恩在這本充滿黑暗又讓人欲罷不能的驚悚小說中描繪的就是如《驚魂記》那樣的緊張氛圍。

Hannah Tinti, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
漢娜•亭蒂《塞繆爾•霍利的十二種生活》

Loo’s mother Lily is dead, her devoted father Samuel is a mystery she deciphers through the dozen bullet wounds on his body – he, remarkably is alive – and his personal mementoes. At the age of 12 he teaches her how to shoot a gun. Shortly after, he moves her to her mother’s hometown, a Massachusetts fishing village. There they subsist mostly on his catch and Loo deals with being an outsider at school. Over the years Loo questions her mother’s death by drowning and discovers elements of her father’s criminal past. Tinti spells it out in chapters based on each of the bullets that pierced his body (Bullet Number Three on Whidbey Island; Number Six in Alaska within view of the glacier where icebergs are born).
盧的媽媽莉莉去世了，一直深愛她的父親塞繆爾還健在，但他一直是個謎。盧通過父親身上的十幾處槍傷和他的一些個人收藏物品試圖解開這個謎團。在盧12歲的時候，父親就教她打槍。之后不久，父親就把她帶到了她母親的家鄉(xiāng)，馬薩諸塞州的一個小漁村。在那里，他們主要靠父親打漁為生，盧在學(xué)校里一直是個局外人。多年以來，盧一直對母親溺亡一事存疑，還發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些父親過往犯罪行為的蛛絲馬跡。亭蒂依照盧的父親身體里子彈的順序展開整個故事(比如：第三顆子彈，惠德比島;第六顆子彈，能看見冰川的阿拉斯加)。

Domenico Starnone, Ties
多米尼科•斯塔諾內(nèi)《牽絆》

Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri’s first published translation of an Italian text is the 11th novel from the Strega-award winning Neapolitan writer Starnone. It’s a story of family ties disrupted, and of the echoes of marital distress played out over many decades, into the next generation. Starnone toggles between past and present, giving equal time to the voices of Vanda and her husband Aldo, and adding the perspectives of their son Sandro and daughter Anna. He frames his tale with a mysterious home invasion. Each detail resonates, from the name of the family cat to the idiosyncratic way in which Aldo ties his shoes to his cherished Polaroids. Distinguished by its distinctive characters and clarity of tone, Ties is a gem.
小說家裘帕•拉希莉出版的第一本源自意大利語的譯作是史特雷加文學(xué)獎獲得者、來自意大利那不勒斯的斯塔諾內(nèi)的第11本小說。這是一個關(guān)于破裂的家庭關(guān)系，以及婚姻困擾持續(xù)幾十年，以致影響到下一代的故事。斯塔諾內(nèi)的敘述在過去和現(xiàn)在之間不斷切換，給予莞達和她的丈夫阿爾多相當(dāng)?shù)钠鶃碚宫F(xiàn)各自的視角，后來還加入了他們的兒子桑德羅和女兒安娜的視角。他以一起奇怪的入室案件搭起整個故事的框架。書中的每個細節(jié)都有深意，從他們家貓的名字，到阿爾多系鞋帶的怪異方式，以及他愛不釋手的拍立得相機。每個角色都特點鮮明，節(jié)奏明晰?！稜拷O》確是一部佳作。

Meg Howrey, The Wanderers
梅格?荷瑞《漫游者》

Howrey’s new novel was inspired by a 2011 news report on Mars500, a 520-day simulation of a space trip to Mars with a six-member crew from Russia, China and Europe. She gives equal time to Yoshi, Sergei and Helen, a crew of three astronauts from Japan, Russia and the US, who hope to be chosen for the Mars mission sponsored by a private company. As they endure a 17-month simulation, each must prove to have the stamina, sanity and discipline to withstand the enforced isolation and the series of calculated failures created by the “sim” team. The key question for each: “Does it feel real?”
荷瑞的這部新作靈感來源于2011年一篇有關(guān)“火星500”項目的新聞報道。該項目是一個為期520天的模擬火星考察項目，由來自俄羅斯、中國和歐洲的六名宇航員參與。她的小說中有三位主人公，來自日本的Yoshi，俄羅斯的Sergei以及美國的Helen。他們?nèi)硕枷Ｍ鼙贿x中參加這個由私人公司贊助的火星項目。他們要經(jīng)歷17個月的模擬訓(xùn)練，每個人都必須證明自己有毅力、足夠的理性以及自律經(jīng)受強制隔離的環(huán)境以及模擬團隊設(shè)置的一系列故障。每個人面臨的一個最重要的問題是：“跟真實場景感覺一樣嗎?”

Douglas Coupland, Bit Rot
道格拉斯•庫普蘭《數(shù)據(jù)退化》

Canadian writer, designer and artist Coupland names his new collection of stories and essays for a digital archiving term describing how files can spontaneously decompose. With characteristic wit, he extends that term to describe “the way my brain has been feeling since 2000, as I shed older and weaker neurons and connections and create and enhance new and unexpected ones.” Bit Rot offers priceless insights. Few people are better at explaining the ramifications of the digital era.
加拿大作家、設(shè)計師及藝術(shù)家?guī)炱仗m用一個數(shù)字存檔專業(yè)術(shù)語給自己最新的故事散文集命名。這個bit rot指存檔的文件會自行分解消融。他用自己獨有的智慧將這一概念進行了擴展，將其用來描述“自2000年以來我大腦的感覺，我拋棄老舊、疲弱的神經(jīng)元及其聯(lián)系，建立并加強了新的以及意外發(fā)現(xiàn)的神經(jīng)關(guān)聯(lián)。” 《數(shù)據(jù)退化》一書提供的深入見解非常寶貴。沒幾個人能比他更善于解讀數(shù)字時代產(chǎn)生的影響。

Jami Attenberg, All Grown Up
潔米?艾廷博格《長大成人》

Andrea Bern is turning 40 soon. She’s an independent woman: “I’m alone. I’m a drinker. I’m a former artist. I’m a shrieker in bed.” Still, despite eight years in therapy, she’s questioning what it means to be an adult. She left art school in Chicago to come back to New York (“Spiritually, it’s a reverse commute”). She left her art career for a full-time job, chose not to marry or have a child. She’s paid off her student loans, and furnished an apartment. Attenberg captures the kaleidoscopic flow of Andrea’s life in spare and witty vignettes that build to a surprising and moving conclusion.
安德莉亞?伯恩馬上就40歲了。她是位獨立女性：“我獨自一人，我愛喝酒，我以前是個藝術(shù)家，我床事的時候會尖叫。”可是，雖然經(jīng)過了八年的治療，她依然不明白作為一個成年人意味著什么。她離開芝加哥的藝術(shù)學(xué)校，回到紐約(“從精神上來說，這是一次倒退”)。她放棄藝術(shù)事業(yè)，選擇了一份全職的工作，她選擇不結(jié)婚、不生孩子。她還清了學(xué)生貸款，精心布置了自己的房間。艾廷博格用一些精巧布局的小花絮捕捉到了安德莉亞生活中的一些片段，而這些花絮最終構(gòu)成了一個令人意外又感人的結(jié)局。

Paul La Farge, The Night Ocean
保羅?拉?法基《夜之?！?/strong>