Book translations - how do they change the book?

[Caelli]

I'll preface this by saying that I understand everyone has different tastes in books and that everyone has different experiences and perspectives that colour their views of books.

What I'm curious about is whether translations of a book from one language to another adversely affect the book, either by changing the nuances, the plot or the writing style, and whether a good or bad translator can make the difference between a great reading experience or a terrible one.

I'm curious mostly because I scrolled through the Englsih-language reviews for 'The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair' and they were almost uniformally disgusted with the book, describing it as a poorly-written American cliche. I read the same book in the original French when it was first released in France and I absolutely loved it. (I have yet to read it in English, so I have no idea how different it is. I should also state that I'm Australian, so I likely subscribe to the same views the French hold which Americans consider to be cliches of the US).

Now, as I said earlier, this may be simply a difference in literary taste and opinion, but the French reviews were much more mixed (around half-and-half love/hate) while the Spanish and Portuguese reviews were generally quite positive.

Which leads me to the question - could this be a case of a bad translation? Might certain-language versions of this book (or any book) be better than others? Some people characterised the dialogue as being inaccurate for the setting of the book - could this be due to the French having different styles of writing which are jarring to a native English speaker, and which weren't compensated for in the translation? Might there be other cultural styles or conventions that don't sit well in other languages when transliterated rather than translated?

In short, might different linguistic renderings of the same story be so different as to be considered different books altogether?

[Richard]

I gave up in this book because the language was so jarring. I can appreciate that in its original language it was likely wonderful but translated so much rang as clumsy

The same was true of The Swarm - the story was absolutely scuppered by awful sentences that almost smacked of Google translate

[Lukrezia]

Interesting. I too wondered whether the original was better. The style of the translation was certainly poor.

[Chris]

I definitely think the book lost something in translation . I was disappointed with it (in English) but could see the gem of a story underneath .

[Kevin]

If the book had anything in the first place it was definitely lost in translation as far as I'm concerned. The writing in the English version was just appallingly bad, particularly the dialogue which was cringingly awful to the point where it became embarrassing. I joined goodreads to avoid this type of 'million-selling' dross, I must have let my guard slip. Won't happen again.

[Kath]

Reading books is a wonderful thing, I wouldn't be able to function if I wasn't reading. My friend and I both read extensively trying lots of differerent stuff. We both loved this book and did not find the writing bad and I have read some really bad stuff on kindle so do know the difference. But isn't it great that there is so much to read and we all like different things I am 70 now and the one thing I worry about is not having time to read all the books to be written. Sorry this really isn't about translations.

[Hugues]

I use to read books in Spanish as in French but never read the same one in both languages. But when some sentences call my attention, I always look for its translation and I have to admit that it often do not have the same impact.
I 've read this book in French and I gave it five stars

[Andrez]

The translation definitely affects the quality of the book. I'm portuguese, so I obviously read many translated books. Some of those I reread in English, some I don't. When I do reread the book in its original language, I tend to notice the differences, those nuances you were talking about, and they can make or break the reading experience. The most glaring case was with Twilight (please don't judge me, I was around 12 and didn't know any better). The portuguese translation is stunning, to the point I reread many passages to myself. The prose is beautiful, clear, absolutely fantastic. Then I decided I'd read it in English. I was not satisfied, it was almost as though I wasn't reading the same book. You could say the magic dissipated relatively quickly after that.
Ever since then, I have never doubted the importance of good translation.

[FM]

I agree that a good translation is very important--it's truly an art to know which words to select to convey just the right meanings. I don't think this book was helped at all by the clunky translation, especially the terrible dialog. But for me, this book was bad beyond the translation. The plot "twists" weren't so much twists as complete dislocations of the spine. The characters were more caricatures: stereotypes, cliches, and completely unbelievable. And the way the investigation of the murder is described would simply never happen. I couldn't get lost in the book the way I usually do because it was so distractingly awful. In every way.

[Amy]

Well, I absolutely loved this book and I didn't notice anything clunky about the style or writing, even though I am in a ton of writing/critique groups. Actually, that might have cemented my love for the book, because I could relate to the poor guy with writer's block.
Nola was never real and her parts always felt very old fashioned and melodramatic to me - even on the verge of creepy at times. But even that added a dimension to the story, as it was told by an older man who had lost the love of his life.

I have a few librarian friends who are reading it and enjoying it as well. So maybe it helps to have something to relate to? For us Americans, at least :)

[Sophia]

I really enjoyed this book, but gave it only 4 stars because of the dialogue between characters. It was horrible. It lacked depth. It was repetitive. And there were way too many exclamations.

You must finish this book, Harry! You simply must! If you don't finish, I'll simply die, Harry! Just think, when you finish this book, we can run away and love each other! We can love each other without the judgment of others! But you must finish this book, Harry! It's a masterpiece!"

OMG....SHUT UP NOLA
Anyway--I suspect the dialogue was better in the original French version of the book. I hope.