A Childâs-Eye View, Both Haunted and Quotidian
From âThe Lost Soulâ
By Hillary Chute
THE LOST SOUL (Seven Stories, $22.95)
, an experimental fable illustrated by Joanna Concejo and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, resonates with our current moment. In its carefully executed pages, a man who âslept, ate, worked, drove a car and even played tennisâ wakes up in a hotel room forgetting his purpose, location and name. He guesses Andrew or Matthew before checking his passport: Itâs John. He consults âa wise old doctor,â who repeats a phrase that appears, unanchored, in the bookâs otherwise wordless prologue, next to a drawing of a postage stamp: âIf someone could look down on us from above, theyâd see that the world is full of people running about in a hurry, sweating and very tired, and their lost souls.â