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Words Without Borders reviews THIS NUMBER DOES NOT EXIST

Words Without Borders recently reviewed Mangalesh Dabral's new Hindi translation This Number Does Not Exist, noting the author's "gift for sharing his inner life."

Reviewer Kate Prengel writes that Dabral uses "a spare, concrete language that lends itself beautifully to translation," while also noting the themes of his poems: "so simple they verge on being impersonal: childhood, sunshine, concerns about the future. Nothing here is developed enough to give it an individual character. It is up to the reader to supply the details. This poem, like many of Dabral’s works, escapes from impersonality only when the readers dip into their own memories and enrich the poem with their own associations."

The review concludes by citing the powerful emotion Dabral's work can evoke in his readers: "A few poems in This Number Does Not Exist are fiercely specific—notably 'The Missing,' which deals with India’s street children. 'The Missing' is the strongest, most gut-wrenching poem in the collection. It grabs you and doesn’t let you escape from the very specific pain it describes. But it also left me grateful for Dabral’s lightness of touch in the rest of the book, which leaves the reader free to experience this moving poetry on their own terms."

Click here to read the full Words Without Borders review.

This Number Does Not Exist is available now at the BOA Bookstore.
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