"Chen Xiwo’s worldview mimics various types of pain, both fierce jabs and slow throbbing. ... “The Book of Sins” is Mr. Chen’s first full collection of stories to be translated into English. Nicky Harman, a former translator-in-residence at the Free Word Center in London, does this with aplomb, allowing Mr. Chen’s delight in the intricacies of his language to shine through. At one point Mr. Chen writes that the character for “smile” (笑 ) looks “like a radiant grin,” “cry” (哭 ) “like a sad face” and, most pertinently, “death” (死 ) “like someone meeting the end fearlessly, head on.”

"The Books of Sins" by Chen Xiwo, tr Nicky Harman, reviewed by Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore in the Wall Street Journal.