Six words

Descending order of merit, and reading:

Patrick White, Riders in the Chariot: Misfits versus philistines. Guess the winner.
Álvaro Mutis, The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll (trans Edith Grossman): Tangled Up in Blue in print.
Dubravka Ugrešić, The Ministry of Pain (trans Michael Henry Heim): Exile from superseded to undersea depatriation.
Thomas Bernhard, The Loser (trans Jack Dawson): Not quite as good as Gould.
Tatyana Tolstaya, On the Golden Porch (trans Antonina W. Bouis): Expecting more, protagonists disappointed. Me too.

19.6 updated Mutis link to Updike's NYer review, via SPLALit

27.6 appending three more:
Marguerite Yourcenar, Coup de Grâce (Grace Frick): Modern romantic tragedy, end of nobility.
César Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (Chris Andrews): Humboldt's physiognomy naturally rearranged, gone awry.
Ryū Murakami, Almost Transparent Blue (Nancy Andrew): Burroughs does Japan, or vice versa.