{"product_id":"seeing-people-off-isbn-9781937512590","title":"Seeing People Off","description":"There is a liveliness and effervescence to Jana Beňová’s prose that is magnetic. Whether addressing the loneliness of relationships or the effectiveness of rat poison, her voice and observations call to mind the verve and sophistication of Renata Adler or Rosalyn Drexler, while remaining utterly singular.\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeeing People Off\u003c\/i\u003e follows Elza and Ian, a young couple living in a humongous apartment complex outside Bratislava where the walls play music and talk, and time is immaterial.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on her memories, everyday interactions, observations of post-socialist realities, and Elza’s attraction to actor, Kalisto Tanzi, \u003ci\u003eSeeing People Off\u003c\/i\u003e is a kaleidoscopic, poetic, and deeply funny portrait of a relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\"Seeing People Off is a fascinating novel. Fans of inward-looking postmodernists like Clarice Lispector will find much to admire here.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Michael Schaub, NPR \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Stunning... [Beňová] has created that unique and uniquely satisfying phenomenon of a page-turner that must yet be read slowly and precisely.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Bronwyn Averett, Necessary Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The setting of Jana Beňová’s first book in English, translated by Janet Livingstone and published by Two Dollar Radio, is mirrored in how the novel itself is built. The bursts of narration — as short as a few words and rarely longer than a page — are recurring contained units, and they provide a stabilizing uniformity to an otherwise eccentric set of characters and scenes.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Nathan Scott McNamara, Electric Literature\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"These stories explore death and other kinds of leaving in wry, fresh ways. The end of childhood, the end of an affair, the end of sanity—when I arrived at the end of this book, I found myself returning to the beginning. This is a merry-go-round one can hold on to.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Paige Webb, Kenyon Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Beňová] is in the first generation of post-Soviet writers for whom scarcity and censorship is a recent memory, and the political is always lurking just behind the breezy Aimee Bender–like prose.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Beňová’s prose... bounces through a fragmented narrative in ways that are both unexpected and beautifully resonant. The many moments of profound sadness are wisely cut by a sardonic underbite that keeps the writing sharp, fresh, constantly renewed.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Elizabeth DeMeo, The Arkansas International\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Beňová’s short, fast novels are a revolution against normality. Unlike so many others, her novels not only claim to be a revolution but actually achieve this feat through their minimalist narratives that go against all conventions; in fact, Beňová manages to subtly and intelligently poke fun at conventional categorizations.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, ORF\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Seeing People Off] must be read for a long time. It will be receiving awards, translated and made into a film, it will be put into anthologies. They will declare it as one of the most important works of new Slovak prose.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—SME\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eJana Beňová\u003c\/b\u003e is one of the most acclaimed Slovak authors, and winner of the European Union Prize for Literature. She is a poet and novelist, author of the novels \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeeing People Off\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAway! Away!\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eParker\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eHoneymoon\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as three collections of poems. Though her work has been widely translated throughout Europe, \u003ci\u003eSeeing People Off\u003c\/i\u003e was her first book to be translated to English.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJanet Livingstone\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and ventured to Czechoslovakia just after the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Among her full-length book translations are \u003ci\u003eMaster your Stage Fright\u003c\/i\u003e by Slovak master violinist, Bohdan Warchal and \u003ci\u003ePiata loď\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eBoat Number Five\u003c\/i\u003e) by novelist Monika Kompaníková, which was one of three finalists for the EBRD Literature Prize 2022, one of the few international literature prizes which recognizes both author and translator equallly. In addition to Jana Beňová, her current translation projects include the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Best of All Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e by Slovak-Swiss author Irena Brežná and \u003ci\u003eThe Arab World—Another Planet?\u003c\/i\u003e by Emire Khidayer. Janet lives in Seattle with her two children.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Two Dollar Radio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233539076325,"sku":"NP9781937512590","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781937512590.jpg?v=1767736303","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/seeing-people-off-isbn-9781937512590","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}