Aravind Adiga The White Tiger (Atlantic)
Sebastian Barry (left) The Secret Scripture (Faber and Faber)
Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies (John Murray)
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs (Virago)
Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency (Fourth Estate)
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole (Hamish Hamilton)
Two first-time novelists, Aravind Adiga and Steve Toltz, survived the cull of the longlist of thirteen novels. Previous winner of the Booker Prize, Sebastian Barry, is the only novelist previously shortlisted (in 2005) and Linda Grant the only woman on the list.
Sad to see the gorgeously named A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif miss the cut. Something of a surprise to see Joseph O' Neill's American success, Nederland, also miss out.
The only two works that Book Award Tragic has read on the long list, The Lost Dog, by Michelle de Kretser and Tom Robb Smith's engaging crime novel, Child 44, also missed out. In truth, neither were strong enough to win the Booker but have been justly rewarded in other spheres. Child 44 would have been nice to see on the list, if only for the fact that it had already rattled the cages of the SnobberLiterati by being longlisted. (See video review of book below).
No-one has sent Tragic fellow Australian Steve Tolz's short listed, A Fraction of the Whole, to review as yet, and, for a moment over the weekend, $35 dollars nearly spilled from a diminished wallet to buy a copy. Yet, with it's daunting size, and many books in the pile, wisdom prevailed and the money was preserved for the simple things in life, such as food and school fees . No surprise to see Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies on the list as the judges seek to prove their 'street cred' by cutting down the tall ones...
Booker Losing It's Allure?
Who is Book Award Tragic willing to tip? Struggling to finish last years winner, The Gathering, by Anne Enright, plus still recovering from the shock that John Banville's dirge The Sea, won in 2005, he's not that bothered. A degree of Booker 'burn-out' has also set in with the Booker PR generating machine going in for a bit of over-kill. Whilst staying in the public eye is a no doubt a pre -condition of satisfying sponsor desires, it is also important to maintain an element of mystery to stay at the top of the pile. Whatever were they thinking with the only recently concluded and totally futile, 40th Best of Booker?
A wily public is also, at least in the circles the Tragic moves in, increasingly less interested in the long-list stage- at least outside of the UK. Not an issue for those of us who love the unfolding drama, but a point to ponder nonetheless.
Dinner table discussions have also unveiled those a little peeved by evidence of pretensions of 'literary supremacy' from those involved with the award: far better to be known by our actions and choices than moralising to others about maintaining standards etc. All grist to the mill for the Tragic, but still.
In truth, the prize has lost a bit of allure for this addict. Other prizes, such as the John Llewellyn Rhys (UK) or the National Book Critics Circle Awards and Pen/Faulkner (USA), carry a bit more gravitas these days. Subjective, of course. (Wife of Tragic and he both loved the subversive Llewellyn Rhys winner, The Carhullan Army, by Sarah Hall- published as Daughters of the North in the USA and salivating to get at the Pen winner, The Great Man)
The Booker winners are to be announced on October 14th. Whilst everyone is no-doubt pushing aside their current reading and dashing out to buy the entire short list at this very moment, Book Award Tragic will have to play catch-up this year - although Hensher's The Northern Clemency and Tolz's A Fraction of the Whole may yet suck him in.........
Full details of the books can be found at my Literary Awards UK
or Book Awards Online in the USA
Review of Child 44, by Tom Robb Smith- it didn't make the Booker shorts but it did win the Ian Flemming Steel Dagger
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment