Translator's Choice 2020 1
29 Translator’s choice Why does this book deserve
to be translated? The goal of quality literature for young adults is to sincerely portray the process of growing up, with all its charm but also its difficulties. Swedish literature has become known for crime writing that’s characterised by a sense of social engagement. Mats Strandberg’s novel The End successfully combines the best of these genres in the story of two teenagers who decide to solve the mystery surrounding the death of a girl they were very close with. The youths and their families are at the same time faced with the most extraordinary situation that could befall humanity: the literal end of the world, as a comet is on collision course with the Earth. With an emotionally loaded realism (neither cynical, banal nor sentimental) Strandberg manages to engage the reader and forces them to pose the same questions as the novel’s characters – who are we? What is really important in life? The text both touches and transforms us, as transcendental novels often do. This is an experience that I believe should be shared, without being limited by language barriers. “The text both touches and transforms us” Óscar A. Unzueta Ledesma Óscar A. Unzueta Ledesma translates into Spanish, lives in Mexico City, Mexico Oscar is a former tax lawyer whose new profession, being a literary translator, feels more like an adventure than a job!