I saw this topic in last month's magazine and nothing came to mind immediately. Then just recently I bought The Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg and have put it down again. I'm just lost in the odd rhythm of Danish-translated-by-a-Dane into English. At least I think it might be a translation issue. Every chapter has too many things that I'm supposed to just be patient and wait to be told. Who's Daffy? Where did Kaspar know the little girl from, before the first chapter?

I may try it again sometime. I liked Smilla's Sense of Snow back in the 90's.

Hey, I like Ivan Doig's The Whistling Season too, and have twisted my book club's arm to read it in January 2010. I didn't think it was about a dysfunctional family though. They seemed pretty normal, compared to most fiction these days!