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Orange Prize 2005

 
 
Ariadne
11:40 / 08.06.05
Who's read any of the shortlist?

I've just bought the winner, Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin, and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka.

I started the Shriver one in the park at lunchtime and got hooked - it was hard to come back to work and I'm looking forward to reading it. As someone who has never wanted children, it's fairly affirming, after even a few pages! But that's not the reason I like it - it has a lovely structure and tone so far, and I hope that'll continue.

The shortlist also included:

Billie Morgan by Joolz Denby
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman
and Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy

Anyone read them?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
14:12 / 08.06.05
I've read the Joolz Denby one (surprise surprise)- it's excellent, if a little grim (again, surprise!) There's a great passage in it about "the tyranny of the weak" or some such which I've been meaning to dig out for the Commonplace thread.
 
 
Cat Chant
11:46 / 13.06.05
I've read We Need To Talk About Kevin, and it's one of the twenty or so worst books I have ever read. It's sort of like Ruth Rendell, in that it's a "psychological thriller" with completely implausible psychology and a completely incompetent handling of the thriller genre. I was genuinely amazed when it was shortlisted and I still can't believe it won. But probably there should be a separate thread on it.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
12:11 / 13.06.05
Deva: oh bugger... I have a copy and it's next on my "to read" list. Oh well. Maybe I'll love it and we can argue about it later.
 
 
The Strobe
12:35 / 13.06.05
I've skimmed some of the Shriver; it didn't seem great shakes, but maybe it deserves a fuller reading.
 
 
Ariadne
11:27 / 14.06.05
Wow, I'm interested that you disliked it that much, Deva. I really enjoyed it – and didn't see it as a 'thriller' at all, given that most of the events were made clear right from the beginning.

Okay, I can't write about this without talking about what happens, so ...

S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S

My first reaction to it was one of intense identification – I don't want children and the beginning of it, where she described her decision about whether to have one, and her reactions to pregnancy ... well, to be honest I over-identified at first, and was just looking to the book to confirm my own feelings!

As Kevin grew up and appeared to be the devil-incarnate, there was that shift back and forward – is he actually disturbed, or is it due to her reactions to her – what's the cause and effect? I'm aware that I'm reading it as a relatively selfish, un-maternal person and so I imagine my sympathy for Eva goes much further than other people's would.

Anyway, without going through the novel blow by blow, I thought it was well done – the drama, the relationship between Eva and her husband, Eva and Kevin, the family tensions and incomprehension. And yes, there was a bit of a twist – and not an entirely shocking one – at the end, but I thought that fitted well enough – it had been becoming more obvious that something was amiss with Franklyn.

So, yes, I'd recommend it, and be interested to see what other people think.
 
 
Cat Chant
13:03 / 14.06.05
Ariadne - I'm interested in talking about this (I love when people can explain why they like books I hate) but have put it in a new thread so as to be able to talk about it in more detail w/o committing spoilers in this thread...
 
  
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