The Task of This Translator

Stylistically daring, morally perplexing, and outrageously funny, Todd Hasak-Lowy's The Task of This Translator marks the debut of a writer of extraordinary talent. In these seven stories, Hasak-Lowy captures the absurdity that often arises when very personal crises intersect with global issues such as ethnic violence, obesity, and the media.

A journalist sets out to write an investigative piece on a dieting company that uses bodyguards to protect overeaters from themselves but loses his bearings when he becomes a client and is paired up with a bodyguard of his own. In the coffee shop of Israel's Holocaust memorial museum, a stale pastry triggers a brawl between an American tourist and the Israeli cashier. A man misplaces his wallet shortly before a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan. An unwilling and mostly unqualified slacker finds himself cast into the role of translator for the bitter reunion of a family torn apart years earlier by unspecified brutality.

A standout story collection, The Task of This Translator is funny, intricate, and deeply human.


Author: Todd Hasak-Lowy
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Published: 06/01/2005
Pages: 252
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 8.10h x 6.28w x 0.65d
ISBN: 9780156031127

Review Citation(s):
Ingram Advance 06/01/2005 pg. 78
Booklist 05/01/2005 pg. 1569
Library Journal 06/15/2005 pg. 63
Vanity Fair 08/01/2005 pg. 70
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2005 pg. 138
Publishers Weekly 03/21/2005 pg. 34

About the Author
Hasak-Lowy, Todd: - TODD HASAK-LOWY was born in Detroit. He teaches Hebrew language and literature at the University of Florida and lives in Gainesville, Florida.