A review by libraryoflanelle
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft

adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 ‘The Extinction of Irena Rey’ is Jennifer Croft's second novel, following her success as a well known translator. We follow a group of translators who meet at the house of their enigmatic ‘Author’ to translate her latest novel. Very soon things start to take a weird turn, culminating into the apparent disappearance of the ‘Author’. 

Possibly my favorite aspect of this book was the narrative style. It takes a unique approach, presenting the story as a non-fictional account from the perspective of one of the translators within the novel. Not only that but the version of this account that we as readers are privy to is translated by another translator, who adds footnotes throughout. 

I enjoyed this one enough to see it through to the end as the slight weirdness and the unnerving and confusing mystery surrounding the 'Author' kept me intrigued.

The premise of this one sounded so good, but the execution fell a little flat for me personally. Despite being a fairly short book, the pacing felt a little too slow and drawn out for my liking, which hugely impacted on my enjoyment and motivation to pick this one up. 

If you enjoy slow literary mysteries, books exploring translation and fiction written as if it’s non-fiction, then I’d recommend you give this one a go!

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribe UK for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.