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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Man Booker Prize 2005

Loomis

10:23 / 16.08.05

Here is the longlist:

The Harmony Silk Factory, Aw Tash
The Sea, John Banville
Arthur & George, Julian Barnes
A Long Long Way, Sebastian Barry
Slow Man, JM Coetzee
In the Fold, Rachel Cusk
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
All for Love, Dan Jacobson
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka
Beyond Black, Hilary Mantel
Saturday, Ian McEwan
The People's Act of Love, James Meek
Shalimar the Clown, Salman Rushdie
The Accidental, Ali Smith
On Beauty, Zadie Smith
This Thing of Darkness, Harry Thompson
This is the Country, William Wall

Has anyone read any of these and what did you think? I haven't read any though I expect to get the new Zadie Smith, and also plan to read the novels of Ali Smith and Marina Lewycka which I have nabbed off Ariadne and are sitting in my to-read pile.

Ariadne

10:57 / 16.08.05

Of the three I've read - Ali Smith, Marina Lewycka and Ian McEwan, I wouldn't have said any of them were prize worthy. Not that they're bad, but they're just not great. I was disappointed in Smith because I usually love her writing.

matthew.

15:07 / 16.08.05

I hope Julian Barnes does not win.

Jack Vincennes

18:32 / 16.08.05

Matt, is that because of a particular dislike of Julian Barnes in general, or of Arthur & George in particular? And why, whichever the answer is? (sounded a bit interrogative there -not meaning to, just interested!)

Mourne Kransky

20:41 / 17.08.05

Only one I've read has been the McEwan and, though it was a damn good read, it wasn't Enduring Love. He won this a few years back, did he not, with Amsterdam? Doubt they'll give it to him then.

James Meek has had some extraordinarily enthusiastic reviews. I think I'll give his The People's Act of Love a whirl, if I ever finish what I'm reading at the moment.

astrojax69

03:39 / 28.08.05

coetzee's 'slow man' extract here. if it is all much more like this then it will be another sensational book by surely one of the best writers there is today...

saturday disappointed me - i have followed macewan since i read his third book and then the first two, and each from then. black dogs is perhaps nobel quality, but not much more is. this new book, while showing that macewan *can* write, he has overwritten and under-crafted this one. coetzee, even from this extract, would see my money of these two.

of the others, how many are like coetzee, not even published here in australia yet? i can't say i know many of the others, but this is not necessarily surprising here in the colonies...

must say, i am chuffed to hear coetzee has a new book imminent. and i hear michel houellebecq has one out soon, too! what fabulous times we live in

what are the criteria for the man booker, that it be a book published originally in english?

Jack Vincennes

10:27 / 28.08.05

According to the site, the prize aims to reward the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. There is also a Man Booker International prize, for which the only criteria is that the novel should be originally published in English.

matthew.

02:14 / 29.08.05

I just don't think Barnes is the ace that everybody thought he was. Flaubert's Parrot: examination of fiction and the lies we tell each other, or is just a pretentious biography? I'll go with the latter.

The Return Of Rothkoid

02:31 / 29.08.05

Barnes strikes me as someone who'd do better by addressing his abandonment issues in counselling, not print.

That said, I did like Flaubert's Parrot and Before She Met Me. I don't think I could read any of his stuff now, though. It seems a little... dodgy arts-studenty woe-is-me.

Although he did send me a nice postcard when I wrote to him, so I can't be too harsh, I suppose.

(Getting back to the thread, I expect these'll turn up in Australia with vastly inflated prices sometime soon.)

Loomis

07:43 / 29.08.05

Finished A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian last night, and I thought it was tip top.

What starts as a fairly casual tale about a daughter trying to protect her 85 year old father from marrying a 36 year old gold digger, gains depth as it proceeds to explore the family's history during the war. Family secrets are uncovered as the narrator examines her relationship with her estranged sister who is ten years older and lived through the war, whereas the narrator was born upon the family's arrival in England.

Well plotted and quite enjoyable. Maybe doesn't have quite enough depth to feel like a major prizewinner, but then if Vernon God Little can win (and that wasn't exactly deep and meaningful), why not this?

astrojax69

04:39 / 01.09.05

loomis, you didn't think dcb pierre a worthy winner? i though vgl was a fabulous book, full of poetry and pathos and rather along the salinger lines, with a bit of intermediate modernity thrown in 'cause time passes... he was a great main character and it was quite frankly a ripping yarn, which is sadly lacking in many modern authors...

Loomis

17:06 / 01.09.05

I thought Vernon God Little was a good yarn but not a great deal more than that. He's not the first writer to point out the evils of American media culture or satirise fast food eating Texans.

It was certainly far better than Catcher in the Rye, but then I wouldn't nominate that for any awards either!

Psych Safeling

14:01 / 08.09.05

Shortlist = Banville, Barnes, Barry, Ishiguro, Smith A, Smith Z.

Tryphena Absent

18:14 / 08.09.05

Wow, I'm always surprised that people aren't actively offended when they win the Booker, isn't it just proof that your book was a little bit tedious?

Loomis

19:28 / 08.09.05

I'm sure the cash softens the blow.

Mourne Kransky

21:05 / 08.09.05

I doubt the cash does the same to restore their spirits as the immediate hurtling up the bestseller charts. I've been just as guilty of that as anyone else, buying it because it was a Booker winner. Any of you old enough to remember The Bone People?

I wonder why the Booker is so suxccessfuil in the UK. None of the other prizes garner such media attention and yet they often offer more intetesting choices.

astrojax69

22:02 / 08.09.05

Shortlist = Banville, Barnes, Barry, Ishiguro, Smith A, Smith Z.

no coetzee?? i've some reading to do... [thanks for posting the s/list!]

as for winning the booker, i'm sure only those who don't win think it would be a sin and condemnation to win... i'd like to win it!

astrojax69

03:20 / 09.09.05

and to the extent that such things can matter - not much really - this from the guardian today:

Revised betting odds at William Hill - which until yesterday had rated McEwan second favourite - are Barnes at 5/4, Ishiguro 3/1, Zadie Smith 4/1, Sebastian Barry 8/1, John Banville 10/1 and Ali Smith at 12/1.

who is bill hill anyway?

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