Quynh Tran

När andra njuter (When others enjoy, not translated into English) is a subdued yet but razor-sharp novel about desire, power, and belonging in contemporary Sweden, specifically Skåne.

Lana is the sixteen-year-old daughter of Maggie, who is from Vietnam and who works at a Japanese beauty salon. Though mother and daughter live together, they barely communicate. Yet they both think about Lana’s love life, which is currently on hold. Lana has a rarely mentioned violent streak, which can make her do unexpected things. Maggie remembers her past life in Vietnam, the men who have come and gone, and is busy with the day-to-day life of the salon. Though both long for love, they’ve learned to be wary of the world around them. Which dreams does Lana have, and which does Maggie have? 

Quynh Tran makes the reader a co-creator in the novel by following the threads that are laid out. It is a story about class, gender, ethnicity, and desire, where the author is as careful as his characters – no explicit psychology, nothing explained in detail. The book is instead supported by restrained humour and a unique aesthetic vision, where the student city of Lund is portrayed as vibrant, teeming with people going about their lives, while the author holds up a lens directed at two lives that we would have otherwise been oblivious to. 

Mother and daughter are excellent subjects for Tran to explore, demonstrating that a person’s integrity can come at a high price, and that a certain view of the world can subconsciously be passed down from generation to generation. What does it mean to see others enjoy, be involved, or be left out? How can the world be so preoccupied with trivial things when you yourself carry a darkness within? And is there any escape from oneself? Tran asks all this in a novel that is both an entertaining page-turner and a sometimes difficult read.

Quynh Tran (b. 1989) is a Finnish-Swedish writer who grew up in Jakobstad and lives in Malmö. He is a qualified psychologist and works as a writer in Sweden and Finland. He made his debut in 2021 with the novel Skugga och svalka, which was awarded the Runeberg Prize, Svenska Yle’s literature prize, and Borås Tidning’s debutant prize, and has been translated into several languages.