A Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation
My Little Brother is a sequence of ten poems by Christel Wiinblad, which work both as a loving portrait and celebration of her younger sibling, and an unflinching, direct account of his battle with schizophrenia. The book's scope allows the author to recount and consider the events leading up to her brother's suicide attempt, from his birth and childhood up to the text message which gives the book its distinctive subtitle: "I’m hidden away near the college ... I don’t know if I’m dead and already in heaven, but I’m at least in green." Never sensationalising this event, or her experience of it, this is a beautiful, brutal and valuable document, both of a single life and the wider human condition.