$15.00 USD

“A unique story of a twin brother and sister, wryly funny and heartbreakingly sad. Her characters desperately try to make sense of our ever more complex world. This is a rare book. And Jente Posthuma is a treasure and a hell of a writer.”

Herman Koch, international bestselling author of The Dinner

What I’d Rather Not Think About:
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024

$15.00 USD

What I’d Rather Not Think About:
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024

Overview

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE

What happens when the person you’ve built your entire life on is suddenly gone?

This question lies 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: 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 gentle melancholy and surprising humor, 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.

Details

Format
Paperback
Size
5.1in x 7.8in
Extent
224 pages
ISBN
9781957363356
RRP
USD$15.00
Pub date
4 July 2023
Rights held
World English Language

Awards

  • Shortlisted for the 2024 The International Booker Prize
  • Shortlisted for the 2021 European Union Prize for Literature
  • Shortlisted for the 2025 New South Wales Literary Awards Translation Prize

Praise

“From the opening pages of this novel I had no idea where it was going, but I trusted Posthuma completely. Tender, offbeat. and deftly drawn — I loved it.”

Allee Richards, author of The Small Joys of Real Life

“Dutch novelist Posthuma returns with a sharp meditation on grief … The patchworked story of the twins’ bond and the brother’s fruitless search for meaning is woven with reflections … inventive and worthy.”

Publishers Weekly
more

About the Author

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.

more about the author 

Translator

Sarah Timmer Harvey is a translator and writer currently based in Woodstock, New York. She holds an MFA from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Southern Cross University. Reconstruction, their translation of stories written by the Dutch Surinamese writer Karin Amatmoekrim was published in 2020, and their translation of Thistle by Nadia de Vries was published in 2024. Sarah’s translations of Dutch-language poetry and prose have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Born in Australia, she lived and worked in the Netherlands for fourteen years before moving to New York City in 2013.

more about the translator