Title:: [[This Should Be Written in the Present Tense]] Authors:: [[Helle Helle]] Tags:: #fiction #translatedfiction Read:: [[2025-06-08]] Instagram :: https://www.instagram.com/p/DKpYbWRObZv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MWs1eHB2dnlobWlwNQ== ## Editions - Edition:: [[Vintage Books]], 2014 - Original Copyright:: 2011 - Pages:: 186 ## Purchase * Bookshop.org:: https://bookshop.org/a/94437/9781593766337 ## Annotations A review in The Guardian, by John Self, describes Helle’s This Should Be Written in the Present Tense as “a book with all the bigness hidden away.” This was intended to be a compliment.  Those are words I would also use for this book, but less favorably. It’s true that Helle’s writing is sparse and subtle, and the style pairs well with the story’s driftless, young protagonist. It’s just that I didn’t feel any of the “bigness” under the surface. Maybe not fair to compare, but Fosse also writes with a similar style and is able, at least to me, to evoke a much greater sense of something bigger. Just didn’t get that from Helle here.  It’s likely another case of finding a book at the wrong time. Started reading this alongside Waist Deep, and the two could not be more different stylistically, and I think my mood this week is more midsummer bacchanalia than somber ennui 🫠.  Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken.