What I’d Rather Not Think About

What I’d Rather Not Think AboutBy: Jente Posthuma SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE What if one half of a pair of twins no longer wants to live? What if the other cant live without them? This question lies at the heart of Jente Posthumas deceptively simple What Id Rather Not Think About. The narrator is a twin whose brother has recently taken his own life. She looks back on their childhood, and tells of their adult lives: how her brother tried to find happiness, but

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE

What if one half of a pair of twins no longer wants to live? What if the other can’t live without them?

This question lies at the heart of Jente Posthuma’s deceptively simple What I’d Rather Not Think About. The narrator is a twin whose brother has recently taken his own life. She looks back on their childhood, and tells of their adult lives: how her brother tried to find happiness, but lost himself in various men and the Bhagwan movement, though never completely.

In brief, precise vignettes, full of gentle melancholy and surprising humour, Posthuma tells the story of a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.

• Shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature, this is bound to get critical and awards attention.
• A dark literary novel about an unconventional childhood and the suicide of a twin: The Discomfort of Evening meets All My Puny Sorrows.