The Extinction of Irena Rey has an exciting premise: eight translators arrive at the remote home of world-renowned Polish writer Irena Rey to translate her latest masterpiece; when the author goes missing, the traditions and stability of the translators' worlds begin to veer off course. Based on that, I was excited to read this literary work, even though it's out of my usual genre (which should be kept in mind). The novel immediately sets itself up in a meta way. We are reading the English translation of a fictionalized recounting of the events by one of the other translators. This immediately sets up a House of Leaves-esque mind bend as readers must navigate the layers of storytelling at hand. I did struggle with some of the formatting in the Kindle version, but I feel like it will be more solid in print. Unfortunately, footnotes are better read closer to their referent. The initial premise seems rather straight forward, but, after Irena Rey goes missing, the novel descends into the absurd and surreal. The commentary on creation and translation, and the relationship between both is something I'm sure will be untangled and commented on over the years. The relationship between the translators, especially our Spanish narrator, and Irena Rey was one of my favorite parts, and their worship over her borders on a great fanaticism. The novel does seem to veer off course several times and it can be hard to keep track of all the various threads, but it's a book worth making it through. I did consider DNFing at about 50% because I wasn't engaging with the material as much as I wanted, but I kept going and found a rewarding if not satisfying end. I have a feeling this will end up on several Best Of lists at the end of 2024, but I also believe it to be a decisive, ambitious novel that isn't for everyone. It wasn't for me but I can't say I regret reading it and I'm sure I'll be unraveling those narrative levels for quite some time.

Delighted to include this title in the March edition of Novel Encounters, my column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

This book seemed like it was written by AI. Messy and droning on in the weirdest places. And yet, I couldn’t stop reading it. I was drawn into finding out what happened to Irena and what would happen to the translators. The ending was not really satisfying, so if you can live with that go ahead and give this a try.

The plot: eight translators from around the world gather to translate the newest novel—GREY EMINENCE- written by Irena Rey. Soon after their arrival in a remote Polish forest bordering Belarus, Rey disappears and the translators are left to themselves.
The main “ battle” if you will is between EMI-Argentinian-Spanish-and Alexis the American translator.
Over the course of several weeks they translate the novel, save the forest, and save an art piece,
There is a diversion about mushrooms , mycelia and fungi in the secluded forest. Thrown in are attempted murders and romanic relationships and sexual desires. It has been a most anticipated read of 2024 but it just didn’t work for me. There were so many confusing diversions that I frankly got lost and worse bored at times. It was probably too sophisticated and complex a read for me.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒂.

Grey Eminence, author Irena Rey’s masterpiece, is finally finished. Her eight loyal translators jump on a plane and head to her house in a primeval Polish forest on the border of Belarus. The home is as alive as the protected reserve Białowieża, in harmony with the forest, and off limits to the public. It is one of the best-preserved ecosystems that Irena feels is her mission to protect, as real to her as any human being. The one thing the translators have in common, despite coming from different countries around the world, is their belief that Irena’s words are sacred. Always worshipful, they are surprised to learn that she isn’t her usual regal self. With her husband absent, her fire appears to have gone out. They understood that the place is made up of unconnected events connecting, unpredictable, unstoppable, much like the group themselves. So begins the story about book people about to be swallowed by the earth.

They have dedicated their lives to understanding Irena, supplicants, but suddenly they cannot decode her behavior. As they venture into the reserve, she scares them a little with the strange gift she hands out without explanation, and someone gets hurt. The next day, she is more collected until she begins to speak about Białowieża and extinction, falling apart over the destruction of the trees, a network. On she goes about fungi and its purpose, leaving them all disoriented. She will not tell them what Grey Eminence is about but her impassioned speech, however disjointed, leads them to believe Białowieża is the heart of it all. Is she losing her mind? Is this the result of being isolated? Shame overwhelms them over their failure to comprehend Irena and the ecological horrors traumatizing her. Already sensitive to their beloved author’s state of mind, they are shocked by helplessness when they realize she has disappeared.

In this bizarre setting, the translators are lost, their minds in a frenzied state, searching the place for clues, hoping to excavate truths about Irena based on their surroundings but Białowieża is a hungry place, a beast on its own, impossible to make sense of, filled with threatening forces. Nothing in the rooms, her office, forest or the new book contain answers, they only serve to puzzle them more. Is her writing non-fiction disguised as fiction? She has maintained total authority over her work and her identity, and over the translators too. What are they to do now without her guidance, as the spell they have been under is breaking? Their languages, little worlds unto themselves, may alter Irene’s original work but too they effect how they understand their current circumstances.

This is a strange read; I am sure that I missed the meaning in many places. Translation changes a work, and each character is as clueless as me. Are they making more of her unraveling because of how they see her, as a god to them? As they dedicate themselves to discovering her whereabouts, their very lives are threatened, they are jealous of each other, who means more to her? Who understands her better? Could this be a big test, with the possibility of being replaced? As they get closer to solving the mystery, truth rears its ugly head. In cultlike fascination they have always believed they were special, a part of the magic that makes Irena unforgettable, enchanting. But how does Irena feel about them? Have they ever truly considered their purpose from her perspective, unclouded by hero worship?

This book is too clever for me by half, but I enjoyed the strange journey.

Publication Date: March 5, 2024

Bloomsbury USA

Thank you to the publisher for my arc.

I had really wanted to enjoy this, the writing style was interesting as well as the premise but I just grew bored as i was reading. It felt like the story started to take off, it would become stagnant until something else happened. almost like a rollercoaster and it just couldn't keep me interested.

<i>My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

The novel in a nutshell: a <s>coven</s> murder of translators gather on the outskirts of one of the few remaining stretches of primeval forests in Europe, Białowieża, to translate the latest novel by the author they idolize. Some weeks later, they leave the retreat after having misplaced their author, solved an historical art heist, saved the forest from loggers, discovered that it's more of a cult than a translation gig or a book club, and translated the manuscript, among other things. At some point afterwards, one of the translators writes a novel about these events, and another translates it while aggressively annotating it to hell and back. If that's not perplexing enough, lemme add that there's also a mystical marriage, more fungi than you can shake a stick at, reflections on violence inscribed in Eastern European landscapes, reflections about invasive species and what can be classified as such, a faked death and a duel at dawn, partly between the domesticating and the foreignizing approaches to translation, among other things.

With footnotes as a form of violence against the narrator by the annotator who attempts to impose their own narrative on top of the text they are given, this is possibly one of the most inventively constructed novels I've read in a while. The Chinese puzzle ball structure of embedded stories clack-clacking uneasily against one another remind me of Nabokov's <i>Pale Fire</i>, possibly the most (in)famous case of an unreliable annotator in literature. If you enjoyed <i>Pale Fire</i>, or, say, Olga Tokarczuk's <i>Dom Dzienny, Dom Nocny</i> (or a bunch of her other novels, but thematically and vibe-wise, DDDN probably comes closest), chances are you will enjoy <i>The Extinction of Irena Rey.</i> Ultimately, I enjoyed it far less than I expected to simply because this particular flavor of chaos and delirium is not my cuppa (I nodded emphatically when one of the characters asked <i>"Need I remind you that sanity has not exactly been the guiding principle since our arrival here?"</i>--I found it a bit too hard to suspend disbelief or find a structure in all this at points), but it might be yours. For me, it was not so much plot-driven or character-driven as driven by the architecture of the text and aphorisms about the nature of translation work. Like, there'd be an agglomeration of too many themes happening at once--borders linguistic and political, violence narrative and historical, and how translation pertains to our understanding of selfhood and otherness, smuggling in strangers and invasive species in familiar guises to crack open the stuffy haunted mansions of closed cultures--or something--(it's not the text, it's my attention span)--and right at the point when I was about to lose track and despair, there'd be some new shiny narrative trickery (footnotes doing their best to get into a fist fight with the text! comments on the uneasy interface between English and Polish grammar!), or a wonderful way of looking at translations, and that'd give me impetus to read on. Because how can you not enjoy something like this: <i>"Fungi are the epitome of evil, feasting on--rejoicing in--the death of everyone and everything around them [...] Yet they are a necessary evil because fungi consume death. Fungi make the forest possible. Without them, death would obliterate life, leading to far more extinctions"</i>? Or something like this: <i>"what we do is mycelial. What we do as translators is stitch the world into a united and communicating whole"</i>?

So my takeaway from the novel is, a translator is a mushroom. This is odd & wonderful & as a translator, I'm very happy with this discovery. Can't unthink it, won't unthink it.

This was so hotly anticipated for me and it did NOT disappoint. Weird and steamy and smart and funny. The Polish landscape itself is a character and I’m so excited to read more from this author.

This transfixing novel is about eight translators from around the world who have gathered in a small village in Poland nestled next to a forest where they will be tasked with living with and translating famous author, Irena Rey’s magnum opus. The translators are each referred to by their country of origin and, while this story is told from one translator’s point of view, sometimes the narration takes on a second person, Greek chorus feel, adding to the feeling that they are all in this together. These translators have professed their devotion to the author because in order to be her translator, they may not work for anyone else. When the author disappears, the real mystery begins and as they explore the abutting forest, secrets are revealed.
One of the most interesting parts of this engaging novel is the questions it posits about translation and art. Translators have to mute themselves, letting the author’s intended voice shine through, but it’s a fine balance. This is a suspenseful novel about the nuance of language and nature and it’s also surprisingly funny. Thank you to Bloomsbury and to NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

If you love books about authors and books, this is for you! In this novel we meet 8 translaters for a world famous author. They were last seen in a polish forrest. Let the literary chaos begin!

Though this book wasn't particularly for me, it's hard to deny how good the writing is in this. The concept alone is also creative and interesting - I've never personally read a book that highlights translation in this way, which makes sense given Croft's background. It feels like Agatha Christie meets Iain Reid in the best ways possible - I think this will be quite well received on release!

The book explores the disappearance of a prolific author named Irena Rey following the completion of her magnum opus. As with her previous releases, a set of 8 translators come to her property to translate the book into different languages but now are tasked with unraveling the mystery of her disappearance. How this unfolds is driven in large part by pre-existing allegiances, budding rivalries, and fanaticism among the translators towards the author. It has fun environmental and mycological underpinnings, too.

I'm not much of a mystery fan, but this premise intrigued me enough to give it a read. It felt a bit convoluted at times (there are a lot of relationships and background information to keep track of), but not overwhelmingly so. As someone who isn't an avid mystery reader, it is no surprise that I didn't love this (I'd probably rate my enjoyment 3/5 stars) - but that is certainly no fault of the author. It is well-paced, satisfying, and overall a well-constructed narrative that deserves praise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly, this was an utter slog for me, personally. I'm proud of myself for finishing it, but I just could not get on board with the story. I image the reviews for this one might be pretty mixed.

For me, the problem is there is little "story." Beloved Irena disappears early in the book. What follows is the play-by-play of her translators hanging around her house being confused, eating, sleeping, reminiscing, fighting, screwing, and most importantly pontificating "where IS she?"

It's not enough plot to constitute a mystery. In spite of their fear for Irena, the crew moves forward with the translations of her latest book. The rest of the time they go on outings to find Irena like going out to dinner or going to a village festival. There is allusions to the power of nature, but they don't spend much time in it.

So why the three stars if it sounds like I hated this book? Well, the writing is gorgeous and it does offer a payoff at the end where all of these threads come together. If you can stick around that long, it may give you interesting food for thought.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I first started this book. I enjoyed it tho! I loved the mystery and the unraveling of these characters. I would describe this as an intellectual mystery novel. It is brilliantly written.

The titular Irena Rey, a renowned and outspoken author, reassembles her trusted group of translators to begin work on her latest novel. Soon, she disappears and leaves the group without a purpose or guiding light. Speculations arise, relationships evolve, and truths unravel in haunting and brilliant ways. Croft's story is as alluring and eerie as the book's mythical and primeval forest backdrop and an excellent addition to her already stellar bibliography!

I’m a sucker for anything that explores the power of words, of language, of how this expression of symbolic thought creates, destroys, transforms. In addition, I have done translation work. So, when I came across this novel I was immediately intrigued. What is made clear, right from the beginning, is that words cannot be trusted. The format, the conceit, of this novel, is really smart. It is describing the events detailed in the book blurb/summary, but it is written as if it were a novel composed by one of the translation summit participants and then translated into English by a different participant. This means the entire text is an unreliable narrative, and indeed the translator interjects to repeatedly remind us this is fiction, not what really happened, regardless of how the story is written. Not only a meditation on the power of language, this novel on power itself, on celebrity and obsession, and catastrophe. This unusual format, with the translator’s voice coming across in footnotes scattered throughout, reminds us that power is not simply fleeting but illusory, something conjured.

There is a lot to chew on, in terms of characters. The main character, our narrator supposedly composing this novel, was endlessly interesting. The other characters are interesting enough, but with a cast this large it is hard to know too much about them, (especially when they are written as from the point of view of the narrator). That said, they felt unique and live-in, even if we only got surface details about many of them. Using the voice of the translator through the footnotes Croft managed to give a lot more depth to the characters, with just short little asides here and there, and I marveled at how the characters and the novel opened up because of these interludes.

The writing is dense and lush, paralleling this forest they are sequestered in. It captivates you and pulls you in, without feeling pretentious. The story itself, even disregarding the meta-story aspect, follows how obsession can spiral into madness. It also manages to interrogate art, asking what it means for art to be interpreted or translated, transformed, both in terms of making it available to wider audiences but also in the consumption of it. How does participating in the artistic endeavor transform the artist, along with the audience? None of this is didactic or preachy, but instead seeps through the slow unraveling of our characters and their situation. Parts of the story feel a little slow, it drags its feet a little, but in some ways this forces us into the position of the characters, lost in this mystery and trying to choose which of their bad options is the best decision to move forward. I respect that artistic disposition, but I think some of the opening and central acts could have been a little tighter. Still, this was a forest I was happily lost in. It was entertaining and thought-provoking, and I look forward to seeing what else Jennifer Croft creates.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was a fascinating read that had me looking up fungi, polish history, gods and so much more just so I could keep up. But I loved loved to do it!! The conversation and debate about the relation between translators and authors was fascinating to read and see play out. It was slyly funny with the translator’s notes providing perscpetive from another character. While slower paced, I was still hooked

"The Extinction of Irena Rey" by Jennifer Croft is a meta book in the best way possible - this spellbinding story explores the art and mystery of translating while creating a locked room murder mystery. It's not always an easy read, but the best and most interesting stories are work aren't they?

In Extinction, our narrator for the most part is the original Translator (called "Spanish" but her name is Emi) - she provides comic relief, sharp insight and extra detail. At the start of the novel the main translator and the translators from other countries have come together in Warsaw to Irena Ray's home to read and translate her work, her magnum opus. It is expected that this work will win the Nobel and they are all incredibly excited. Irena takes them to the forest and they gladly follow as they revere her. But they quickly confused when she disappears. There is plenty of comic relief as Serbian, Sweden, English, French, German, Slovenian, Spanish and Ukrainian argue about what to do. Because of course that's how Emi would relay them, only by their translating language.

What happens next is a true work of art ! The account continues as Emi (Spanish), details their investigation. As time passes, the translators are quite surprised of Irena Rey's secrets. In addition there is a mysterious poster https://jenniferlcroft.com/amadou-2#/emilia-ambrogis-secret-instagram-account/ that Jennifer Croft has included on her own webpage.
Emil and Alexis(English) bicker in the footnotes As they delve deeper into the forest and Irena's mysterious past, they uncover secrets and deceptions that challenge their reverence for the author and the plot thickens as October, The Nobel Announcement time comes closer.
Since I started reviewing books I have taken the time to read about the authors - whether they include it in the book or if other have reported upon them. Jennifer Croft is a pretty famous translator : https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/books/literary-translation-translators-jennifer-croft.html. and has translated for a Nobel Prize winner herself!
Croft knows what she is talking about and she has done it in unique and irrepressibly charming way!
#bloomsbury #jennifercroft #theextinctionofirenadelrey

Fascinating look at the world of words, translation, and writing, with bonus hilarious footnotes. I'll be recommending this to everyone.

Utterly unique, utterly odd, utterly surreal. I was immediately enamored as they discussed all sorts of weird formats and lichenX and everything kept on getting better and better. Thanks for the arcZ

It's such a pleasure to read a book where the author pays exquisite attention to every word. This is a book I'll be reading again, many times.