The release date for the English version of 'How to Pronounce Knife: Stories' by
Souvankham Thammavongsa is Apr 2020. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
A different version of the ISBN 9780316422130's cover.
In the opening tale of Souvankham Thammavongsa's debut collection, a little child asks her father to help her pronounce a difficult word when she takes a book home from school. It's a small conversation that has far-reaching effects. It is times like these, of exposure, dislocation, and untidy sensation that push us right up against the boundaries of language, and Thammavongsa is a master at picking them out.
How to Pronounce Knife is a collection of short stories that center on characters who are either navigating new terrain or juggling idioms, cultures, and morals. When a defeated boxer starts doing nails at his sister's salon, he learns the true meaning of what it takes to be a champion. A young lady works at a chicken processing plant, attempting to make sense of the unchangeable but unseen social hierarchies. A woman instructs her daughter in the difficult craft of harvesting worms.
Thammavongsa explores what it means to labor, to make a living, and to create meaning in a crisp, visceral literary style that makes her one of the most striking and confident voices of her time.
Pronunciation of knife: chick-a-chee, Paris, slingshot, Randy Travis, manicure, pedicure --
The edge of the world—the cosmos would be so awful
The driver of the school bus
You are really embarrassing yourself.
The service station—A faraway object—Picking worms