The Man Booker Prize: the highs and lows of the books in contention

What a to-do there has been about this year's Man Booker Prize. First, it was the shortcomings of the longlist, which, according to Britain's Telegraph, had "overlooked some of the year's most exciting releases". Then, of course, it was all about the shortlist, which had too many Americans on it (three) and two worryingly young women, one of whom was analysed almost to death after saying she wrote her book on her phone and who both wrote about nature in a lyrical way and were inevitably accused of "overwriting". The biggest conundrum, however, was the way the big names evaporated. The longlist had been a mix of newcomers and heavy-hitters, with the latter expected to sail through to the next round: Arundhati Roy, Zadie Smith, Sebastian Barry. Of the lions from the pre-American era on the longlist, only Mohsin Hamid and Ali Smith – three times nominated, thoroughly deserving – made the cut. Paul Auster is a big name in po-mo circles, of course, but American and thus a newcomer in Booker terms. They couldn't say their books weren't good enough. This shortlist was simply perverse. Thus spake the pundits. Continue reading at 'Stuff'

[ Stuff | 2017-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]

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