The best-written recent literary fiction: Back in the Day by Oliver Lovrenski
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Every week we identify the best-written works of fiction, speculative fiction, and nonfiction from recent releases and shortlists for major prizes. We also publish guides by their authors on prose technique.
BRUDDAS
fenelår and everyday racism
today i clocked why people go to war over the dumbest stuff, it all started when we got hungry, so aight, lets go get some munch, but like, what? normally its no problem cos we just eat kebab, share pizza, but now were making paper the opportunities opened up you know, more money more problems
so basically that little question what we gonna eat became the worlds biggest beef about whose country is best, cos first arjan said he wants indian, but marco just went, nah, bariis iyo moos, and then i shook my head, said, boys forget it, today we go croatian, and then the war of words breaks out in the middle of gunerius, and were about to start a new arab spring, when jonas calls out in this tiny little high voice, what about me yeah, i want to have f-f-fenalår, and were like, what you mean fenalår, and he crosses his arms and says, fenalår, its the n-national dish, dont be racist
the ladder 1
and in year ten before i became a proper fiend and still had normal friends we got some xannies, and if you know you know, when you take one, you take another, and then you might as well take them all, and in the end i was on my way through the second tray and fell asleep on the sofa and didnt wake up, and i was meant to be meeting a friend, and he knew i was messing with them things, so when i didnt answer he got a ladder to the window and was banging and saw me lying on the sofa all pale while he was on the phone to marco and was about to call 113
luckily he managed to open one of the windows and climbed in, then shook the life back in me
when i woke up, he was standing over me with tears on his cheeks, he said, ivor, i love you, but i cant take no more
candyflip
marco called in the middle of class like, bro did you hear arjan baxed two wasteman in the classroom, wallah the cops got him, so i asked what happened, and apparently arjan had woke up thought the suns grinning the earths spinning time for a candyflip, cos after first period he was in the pisser for forty minutes, and when he came back, he had no top on and was shouting about everyone being friends and love on earth, then two pakis started shouting fucking homo, and arjan was like, yeah, what if i am, and threw a table at one and dropped the other with a knuckleduster, and then the feds came, and i was facetiming arjan as he sat in the back of the wagon with white walls, airing out his nipples, face one big smirk, i asked, wagwan, but he just shook his head and said, bro, you ever think about how all lives are worth the same, tomorrow ima go vegan
happy families 1
we was in beirut on a lowkey diss battle, and first marco was like, hey jonas you look such a child all you can bang is paedos, and its actually kinda true cos a few times old men came up to him and started chatting, but you know jonas wasnt giving up so he was like, yeah, and your foreheads b-b-blacker and b-bigger than my tv when its t-turned off, and then all the boys shouted ohhhh burn, cos jonas has actually got the biggest tv of anyone, its a 65 inch samsung with built in netflix, so then marco took off his jacket and got fucking serious, but before he could say shit, arjan steps in and goes, yeah, but at least his forehead dont get slapped by his dad, and even then we said oooh burn, but a bit lower cos it was actually kinda harsh, and all the boys looked at jonas like, you gonna let him chat to you like that, so jonas gets up, like, yeah but at least my d-d-dad wanted to have me, and then even ali behind the counter shouted burn, cos everyone knows arjan lives in a home and maybe his dad didnt want him
More on the book»
Literary fiction titles considered this month
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann; translated by Ross Benjamin
The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen by Shokoofeh Azar
Twelve Post-War Tales by Graham Swift
All the Mothers by Domenica Ruta
The Names by Florence Knapp
Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis
Are You Happy? by Lori Ostlund
The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne
The Missing Kidney by Maxine Rosaler
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
That's All I Know by Elisa Levi; translated by Christina MacSweeney
Sing to Me by Jesse Browner
The Fate of Others by Richard Bausch
Autocorrect by Etgar Keret; translated by Jessica Cohen & Sondra Silverston
Ghost Wedding by David Park
The Boys by Leo Robson
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi
Gunk by Saba Sams
Dream State by Eric Puchner
The Pretender by Jo Harkin
The Propagandist by Cécile Desprairies
Lovers of Franz K by Burhan Sönmez
Back in the Day by Oliver Lovrenski
Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst
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