《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》2018 年度十大好書

The editors of The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year.

《紐約時(shí)報(bào)書評(píng)》的編輯們選出了今年的最佳小說和非虛構(gòu)類圖書。

1. Asymmetry

《不對(duì)稱》(Asymmetry)

By Lisa Halliday

麗莎 · 哈利迪 (Lisa Halliday)/ 著

In “Asymmetry,” two seemingly unrelated sections are connected by a shocking coda. The first, “Folly,” is the story of a love affair. It narrates the relationship between Alice, a book editor and aspiring writer in her mid-20s, and Ezra Blazer, a brilliant, geriatric novelist who is partly modeled on Philip Roth. The second section — “Madness” — belongs to Amar Jaafari, an Iraqi-American economist who is being detained at Heathrow. Halliday’s prose is clean and lean, almost reportorial in the style of W.G. Sebald. This is a first novel that reads like the work of an author who has published many books over many years, and it manages to be, all at once, a transgressive roman à clef, a novel of ideas and a politically engaged work of metafiction.

在《不對(duì)稱》中，兩個(gè)看似不相關(guān)的部分通過一個(gè)令人震驚的結(jié)尾產(chǎn)生了關(guān)聯(lián)。第一個(gè)部分《愚蠢》是一個(gè)愛情故事。講述了二十五六歲的圖書編輯、有志于成為作家的艾麗斯，與杰出的老作家埃茲拉 · 布萊澤（帶有一部分菲利普 · 羅斯 [Philip Roth] 的影子）之間的情事。第二個(gè)部分《瘋狂》的主人公是滯留在希思羅機(jī)場(chǎng)的伊拉克裔美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家阿馬爾 · 賈法里。哈利迪的文筆干凈、利落，近似澤巴爾德 (W.G. Sebald) 的紀(jì)實(shí)風(fēng)格。這是作者的處女作，讀起來卻像是一個(gè)出版過多部作品的文壇老手所寫，它既是一本逾界的影射小說，一部創(chuàng)意之作，也是一部帶有政治立場(chǎng)的后設(shè)小說。

Fiction | Simon & Schuster. $26. 

小說 | 西蒙與舒斯特出版社 (Simon & Schuste)，26 美元

2. The Great Believers

《了不起的信徒》(The Great Believers)

By Rebecca Makkai

麗貝卡 · 馬凱 (Rebecca Makkai)/ 著

Set in the Chicago of the mid-80s and Paris at the time of the 2015 terrorist attacks, Makkai’s deeply affecting novel uses the AIDS epidemic and a mother’s search for her estranged daughter to explore the effects of senseless loss and our efforts to overcome it. Her portrait of a group of friends, most of them gay men, conveys the terrors and tragedies of the epidemic’s early years and follows its repercussions over decades. Empathetic without being sentimental, her novel amply earned its place among the contenders for the Booker Prize and the National Book Award.

馬凱這部小說感人至深，背景設(shè)定在上世紀(jì) 80 年代中期的芝加哥和 2015 年發(fā)生恐怖襲擊時(shí)的巴黎，它借由艾滋病流行和一位母親尋找關(guān)系疏遠(yuǎn)的女兒，來探尋無謂失去親人所帶來的影響，以及我們?yōu)榭朔@種影響所付諸的努力。她對(duì)一群朋友的刻畫——其中大多數(shù)是男同性戀者，呈現(xiàn)出這一病癥開始流行肆虐之初所造成的恐怖與悲劇，以及之后數(shù)十年的持續(xù)影響。她的小說充滿同情卻不濫情，在布克獎(jiǎng) (Booker Prize) 和全國(guó)圖書獎(jiǎng) (National Book Award) 的角逐中，都占據(jù)了一席之地。

Fiction | Viking. $27.

小說 | 維京出版社 (Viking)，27 美元

3. The Perfect Nanny

《完美保姆》(The Perfect Nanny)

By Leila Slimani

萊拉 · 斯利馬尼 (Leila Slimani)/ 著

We know from the outset of this unnerving cautionary tale (winner of the Goncourt Prize) that a beloved nanny has murdered the two children in her care; but what’s even more remarkable about this unconventional domestic thriller is the author’s intimate analysis of the special relationship between a mother and the person she hires to care for her offspring. Slimani writes devastating character studies, and she also raises painful themes: the forbidden desires parents project onto their nannies, racial and class tensions. In this mesmerizingly twisted novel, only one thing is clear: Loneliness can drive you crazy.

從這個(gè)令人不安的警世故事（龔古爾獎(jiǎng) [Goncourt Prize] 得主）一開始，我們就知道一個(gè)招人喜歡的保姆，將她照顧的兩個(gè)孩子殺死；但這個(gè)不落窠臼的家庭驚悚小說更令人矚目的地方，是作者對(duì)一位母親和她請(qǐng)來照顧子女的保姆之間特殊關(guān)系的親密分析。斯利馬尼寫出了一些極精彩的性格研究，還提出了一些令人痛苦的主題：父母投射到保姆身上的禁忌欲望、種族和階層的緊張關(guān)系。在這部乖張迷人的作品里，只有一件事是明確的：孤獨(dú)會(huì)讓你失去理智。

Fiction | Translated by Sam Taylor | Penguin Books. Paper, $16. 

小說 | 薩姆 · 泰勒 (Sam Taylor)/ 翻譯 | 企鵝出版集團(tuán) (Penguin Books)，16 美元

4. There There

《好了，好了》(There There)

By Tommy Orange

湯米 · 奧蘭治 (Tommy Orange)/ 著

Orange’s debut is an ambitious meditation on identity and its broken alternatives, on myth filtered through the lens of time and poverty and urban life. Its many short chapters are told through a loosely connected group of Native Americans living in Oakland, Calif., as they travel to a powwow. They are all, as in Chaucer, pilgrims on their way to a shrine, or, as in Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying,” an extended family crossing the landscape. The novel is their picaresque journey, allowing for moments of pure soaring beauty to hit against the most mundane, for a sense of timelessness to be placed right beside a cleareyed version of the here and now.

奧蘭治的處女作是對(duì)身份認(rèn)同及其破碎的替代品，以及透過時(shí)間、貧困和都市生活的鏡頭過濾下的迷思所做的宏大思考。書中許多短小章節(jié)，是通過一群生活在加利福尼亞州奧克蘭市、彼此疏于走動(dòng)的印第安原住民在前往帕瓦儀式的路上講述的。如同喬叟 (Chaucer) 作品中的人物，他們也是前往圣地的朝圣者；或者又如同?？思{的《我彌留之際》(As I Lay Dying)，他們也是穿越這片土地的大家庭。這部小說記錄了他們的冒險(xiǎn)之旅，令純粹翱翔之美的瞬間與最塵世的平凡相碰撞，令永恒的感覺與當(dāng)下之現(xiàn)實(shí)毗鄰而居。

Fiction | Alfred A. Knopf. $25.95.

小說 | 克諾夫出版集團(tuán) (Alfred A. Knopf)，25.95 美元

5. Washington Black

《華盛頓 · 布萊克》(Washington Black)

By Esi Edugyan

埃茜 · 伊杜吉安 (Esi Edugyan)/ 著

This transcendent work of empathy and imagination, the 2018 winner of Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize, opens on a sugar plantation in British Barbados in the waning days of slavery and, against that backdrop of unconscionable brutality, quickly tips us into a new world of possibility: one in which men take to the skies in hot-air balloons, dive to mysterious ocean depths and cross the Arctic on foot. Most daringly, it is a world in which a white slave master’s brother and a young black slave can forge an indelible bond. With subtlety and eloquence, Edugyan unfolds a wondrous tale of exploration and discovery.

這部關(guān)于同理心與想像力的卓絕之作——作者是加拿大享有盛譽(yù)的吉勒文學(xué)獎(jiǎng) (Giller Prize) 的 2018 年得主——以奴隸制日漸衰落的時(shí)代開篇，地點(diǎn)位于英國(guó)殖民地巴巴多斯的一個(gè)糖料種植園，并且在恣意妄為的暴行背景下，它迅速讓我們進(jìn)入了一個(gè)新的可能性世界：在這個(gè)世界里，人們乘坐熱氣球飛向天空，潛入神秘的海洋深處，徒步穿越北極。最大膽的是，這是一個(gè)白人奴隸主的兄弟和年輕的黑奴可以建立起堅(jiān)固友情的世界。伊杜吉安以細(xì)膩的筆觸和雄辯的辭采，講述了一個(gè)關(guān)于探索和發(fā)現(xiàn)的奇妙故事。

Fiction | Alfred A. Knopf. $26.95.

小說 | 克諾夫出版集團(tuán)，26.95 美元

6. American Prison

《美國(guó)監(jiān)獄》(American Prison)

By Shane Bauer

沙恩 · 鮑爾 (Shane Bauer)/ 著

Bauer moved to rural Louisiana in 2014 to work undercover as a guard at the Winn Correctional Center, a privately run prison. He lasted four months before his deception was discovered, but that turned out to be more than sufficient to write a searing exposé for Mother Jones, which earned him a National Magazine Award and an invitation to speak to officials in Washington about problems in for-profit prisons. With this book, Bauer has expanded his article into a comprehensive analysis impossible to ignore. His book is a meticulous catalog of horrors, from the historical precursors — the practice of convict-leasing at Southern prisons after the Civil War, in which inmates were rented out to companies as a captive work force — to the rampant violence, neglect and incompetence that pervade a multibillion-dollar industry.

鮑爾于 2014 年搬到路易斯安那州鄉(xiāng)村，在私人監(jiān)獄韋恩懲教中心臥底，擔(dān)任獄警。他的偽裝持續(xù)了四個(gè)月后被發(fā)現(xiàn)，但得到的素材足夠?yàn)?Mother Jones 寫一篇尖銳的黑幕揭露報(bào)道了，這篇文章為他贏得了全國(guó)雜志獎(jiǎng) (National Magazine Award)，并受華盛頓官員之邀講述營(yíng)利性監(jiān)獄所存在的問題。借這本書，鮑爾對(duì)那篇文章進(jìn)行了擴(kuò)充，把它變成了一份讓你無法忽視的綜合分析。他的書是恐怖行為的詳細(xì)目錄，從那些歷史先例——內(nèi)戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后南方監(jiān)獄里的囚犯租賃，也就是把囚犯作為失去自由的勞動(dòng)力出租給企業(yè)——到一個(gè)規(guī)模達(dá)數(shù)十億美元的產(chǎn)業(yè)里司空見慣的猖獗暴力、瀆職與無能。

Nonfiction | Penguin Press. $28. 

非虛構(gòu)類 | 企鵝出版社 (Penguin Press)，28 美元

7. Educated

《我的求學(xué)路》(Educated)

By Tara Westover

塔拉 · 韋斯托弗 (Tara Westover)/ 著

Westover’s extraordinary memoir is an act of courage and self-invention. The youngest of seven children, she grew up in Idaho, in a survivalist family who lived so far off the grid that she lacked even a birth certificate and did not attend school until she went to college. Getting in wasn’t obvious: At home, reading meant studying the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and much of her childhood was spent helping her mother, an unlicensed midwife, and her father, a paranoid man who maintained a scrap-metal junkyard. In recounting her upbringing and her triumph over it — she would earn a Ph.D. in history at Cambridge — Westover took great risks and alienated family members. The reward is a book that testifies to an irrepressible thirst to learn.

韋斯托弗這本出色的回憶錄，是勇氣和自我創(chuàng)造的體現(xiàn)。她在愛達(dá)荷州一個(gè)信奉生存主義的人家長(zhǎng)大，是七個(gè)孩子中的老幺，因?yàn)榕c社會(huì)完全脫節(jié)，她甚至連出生證明都沒有，上大學(xué)之前沒進(jìn)過學(xué)校。能進(jìn)大學(xué)，對(duì)她來說并不容易：在家里，閱讀就意味著研讀《圣經(jīng)》和《摩門經(jīng)》，她童年的大部分時(shí)間都是在給父母打下手——母親是一個(gè)沒有執(zhí)照的助產(chǎn)士，而父親是一個(gè)經(jīng)營(yíng)廢金屬垃圾場(chǎng)的偏執(zhí)狂。在講述成長(zhǎng)經(jīng)歷和一路取得的成功時(shí)（她將拿到劍橋大學(xué)的歷史學(xué)博士學(xué)位），韋斯托弗冒了很大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)并與家人疏遠(yuǎn)。但換來的是一本書，它證明了難以抑制的學(xué)習(xí)欲望。

Nonfiction | Random House. $28.

非虛構(gòu)類 | 蘭登書屋 (Random House)，28 美元

8. Frederick Douglass

《弗雷德里克 · 道格拉斯》(Frederick Douglass)

By David W. Blight

戴維 · 布萊特 (David W. Blight)/ 著

A monumental work about a monumental figure. The charismatic Douglass was Abraham Lincoln’s conscience, so to speak, and Blight’s detailed, cinematic biography is the result of a lifetime of engagement with his subject. Douglass wrote three autobiographies himself, describing his rise from slavery to a role as one of the greatest figures of the 19th century, but Blight’s work is fuller than any of those, relating both the public and private life in a way that Douglass either could not or would not undertake. The result is a portrait that is likely to stand as the definitive account for years to come.

這是關(guān)于一個(gè)非凡人物的非凡之作。具有感召力的道格拉斯，是亞伯拉罕 · 林肯的良心，可以說，布萊特這部詳盡的、頗有電影畫面感的傳記，是他畢生致力于這個(gè)題目的結(jié)果。道格拉斯自己寫了三本自傳，講述了他如何從一名奴隸成長(zhǎng)為 19 世紀(jì)最偉大的人物之一；但布萊特的作品比其中任何一部都更充實(shí)，以一種道格拉斯不可能也不愿意采行的方式，把他公私兩面的生活聯(lián)系到一起。結(jié)果就是，這個(gè)版本在未來數(shù)年都將是蓋棺定論之作。

Nonfiction | Simon & Schuster. $37.50.

非虛構(gòu)類 | 西蒙與舒斯特出版社，37.5 美元

9. How to Change Your Mind

《如何改變你的意識(shí)》(How to Change Your Mind)

By Michael Pollan

邁克爾 · 波倫 (Michael Pollan)/ 著

Best known for his work on the ethics of eating, Pollan delivers his most personal book yet, one that demanded he drop acid in full view of the reader. Exploring the history and science of psychedelics, he tells of the rise and fall and rise again of our societal interest in these drugs, which are now thought to have many benefits, from helping with addiction to easing the terror of the terminally ill. The book hits its high point when he examines the mysticism and spirituality of the psychedelic experience. What can we learn about ourselves when the part of our mind controlling the ego drops away? What is this older, more primitive part of the brain, which connects us to how a child sees the world? It’s a trip that leads him to wonder about how, ultimately, we can get the most out of our existences as conscious beings in the world.

波倫以飲食倫理方面的著作而聞名，他出版了迄今為止最具個(gè)人色彩的一本書，書中他在所有讀者的眾目睽睽之下嗑藥。他探索了迷幻藥的歷史和科學(xué)，講述了我們的社會(huì)對(duì)這些藥物的興趣，以及它的從興盛到衰落到再度興起——這些藥物現(xiàn)在被認(rèn)為有很多好處，從幫助戒癮到減輕絕癥患者的恐懼。隨著他對(duì)迷幻體驗(yàn)的神秘性與靈性的研究，這本書達(dá)到了高潮。當(dāng)我們控制自我的那部分意識(shí)消失后，我們能從中學(xué)到什么？大腦中這個(gè)將我們與孩子看待世界聯(lián)系到一起的更古老、更原始的部分是什么？那個(gè)給他帶來幻覺的體驗(yàn)令他思考，我們最終要如何才能充分利用我們作為世界上有意識(shí)的存在。

Nonfiction | Penguin Press. $28.

非虛構(gòu)類 | 企鵝出版社 (Penguin Press)，28 美元

10. Small Fry

《小魚小蝦》(Small Fry)

By Lisa Brennan-Jobs

麗莎 · 布倫南 - 喬布斯 (Lisa Brennan-Jobs)

Brennan-Jobs grew up shuttling between two starkly different worlds: the bohemian, peripatetic world of her mother, an unstable and impoverished artist, and the luxurious world of her cruel and increasingly wealthy father, Steve Jobs. She provides indelible portraits of both parents, recreating the fraught landscape of her childhood in Palo Alto through the careful accretion of exquisitely granular detail. Her memoir is a work of uncanny intimacy, the debut of a singular literary sensibility. Ultimately, though, it is her portrayal of Jobs as a man prone to mind-boggling acts of emotional negligence and abuse that gives this book its overlay of devastation.

布倫南 - 喬布斯在兩個(gè)截然不同的世界間穿梭長(zhǎng)大：她的母親是一個(gè)情緒不穩(wěn)定且貧窮的藝術(shù)家，她的世界是波西米亞式的，漂泊不定；而她的父親史蒂夫 · 喬布斯冷酷、越來越有錢，他的世界豪華舒適。她提供了對(duì)父母難以忘懷的刻畫，通過細(xì)致入微的細(xì)節(jié)，重現(xiàn)了她在帕洛阿爾托度過的憂傷童年。她的回憶錄是一部異乎尋常的親密之作，是一種獨(dú)特文學(xué)感受力的初次亮相。不過，她對(duì)喬布斯的描繪——一個(gè)常有令人難以置信的情感疏忽和虐待之舉的人——最終讓本書有了一種毀滅性的震撼。

Nonfiction | Grove Press. $26. | Read the review

非虛構(gòu)類 | 格羅夫出版社 (Grove Press)，26 美元

本文轉(zhuǎn)載自公眾號(hào)：NYT 教育頻道