Evelio Rosero’s Stranger to the Moon is a likely timeless allegory of classism and the abuse these divisions allow. The narrow world of the story is divided into two groups: the clothed and the unclothed. The naked are hidden away and forced to work as slaves for the clothed, who revel in their power and mock the underclass. I found this concise, taut story to be equal parts disturbing and thought-provoking; a testament to the strength a novella can yield.
Like the Croatian writer Dubravka Ugrešić, Saša Stanišić writes about the experience of growing up in a country that no longer exists, the former Yugoslavia. I couldn't name another work of literature that fuses Dungeons & Dragons lore, choose-your-own-adventure antics, multigenerational conflict, biting witticisms against fascists, and a stunning account of what it's like to witness a person you love vanish within the specter of dementia. Stanišić could find no better translator than Damion Searls, whose gifted shaping of Stanišić's prose into English makes Where You Come From one of the best books I've read this year.
