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You are here: Home / Blog / Now, about this Man Booker short list

Now, about this Man Booker short list

8th September 2014 By Antonia Honeywell 12 Comments

So tomorrow the Man Booker shortlist is announced. I’ve read every word of every novel on it (and am very grateful to the publicists and agents who let me have proof copies of the titles yet to be published). This year’s long list attracted a great deal of attention for its lack of diversity. But of course, as the website swiftly pointed out, the Man Booker prize is not obliged to represent writers from a range of backgrounds, or represent men and women equally – it exists solely to reward writing that is, in the opinion of the judges, the best of what’s been nominated. And one of those judges, Erica Wagner, wrote a persuasive piece in the Guardian Review asking readers to please just go and read the books. So I did.

This year, more than any other, I find myself desperate to know what was nominated. The long list is heavy on the angst of older men from privileged backgrounds who struggle to relate to women. Many of them are fine novels, but they carry a strange atmosphere of déjà vu – or rather, déjà lu. Joseph O’Neill’s The Dog, Joshua Ferris’ To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Richard Power’s Orfeo, David Nicholl’s Us, Paul Kingsnorth’s The Wake, Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Whether through the drive of genius, the historical settings, or their own upbringing, these male protagonists struggle to form and maintain relationships, and suffer as a result. There’s much to admire. The cod-Anglo Saxon Kingsnorth created for The Wake is mesmeric, and Flanagan creates a compelling picture of the horror and hopelessness of the Japanese prisoner of war camps. The ending of The Dog will remain with me for a long time. But the material feels oddly familiar. The trope of the capable, intelligent and generous woman who makes every allowance for the special emotional needs of the man she loves, but is driven away through no fault of her own, feels manufactured, and ripples through half the longlist. In the same vein, more nuance among the women of Mukherjee’s privileged family would have given more resonance to the relation of the effects of the Communist risings in India upon their lives.

The judges aren’t the only ones with opinions, and allowances must be made for purely personal responses – the twist in Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves didn’t work for me, although I loved the central character and the writing itself; a protagonist who refers to being in a relationship with a woman as being ‘cunt-gripped’ alienates me from the outset (sorry, Joshua). Howard Jacobson is a writer with a fearsome critical reputation and enviable pedigree (he’s the only former winner on the longlist), but I struggled to engage with J. Perhaps I need to move on from the interview in which Jacobson said that watching his wife laughing at another man’s writing is akin to witnessing her committing adultery. I’ll also admit (and to avoid spoilers, I won’t mention titles) to preferring a layered resolution over a simply happy or simply miserable one.

I was grateful for the anger and outrage of Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World, and for the dangerous games of her flawed, raw heroine; I loved the unapologetic energy and strength of Ali Smith’s How to Be Both. Both feature such fresh writing; vibrant and scintillating. David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks will satisfy all who love his other novels. His heroine lives and breathes, as does the whimsical heroine of Niall Williams’ History of the Rain, although I have some sympathy with readers who’ve found the faux-naïve responses of the young, seriously ill woman to the works of literature she devours on her sickbed grating; nevertheless, these two women stand out among the male-penned female characters of the long list.

What do we want from the Man Booker? Does the inclusion of Nicholls, Ferris, Williams and Fowler suggest a blurring of the popular/literary boundary? That would be good – after all, novels can be both – but if that’s the case, where’s Sarah Waters? She can’t be kept out of the major prizelists forever. And such omissions! Susan Barker’s The Incarnations is an explosive firework of a ride through Chinese cultural history. Kamila Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone, Monique Roffey’s House of Ashes – wonderful novels that would have given the long list more passion and more breadth (feel free to leave a comment and add to this list). In the opinion of the judges is the only way to run such a prize, but readers have opinions too, and a prize that looks too far backwards will run the risk of becoming irrelevant. And for the record, my heart’s with Ali Smith; my money’s on David Mitchell, though, and if I lost it, I wouldn’t mind.

David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

Siri Hustvedt, The Blazing World

Ali Smith, How to be both

Niall Williams, History of the Rain

Richard Powers, Orfeo

Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Man Booker Prize 2014, My Reading & Reviews

Comments

  1. fcmalby says

    9th September 2014 at 8:43 am

    I agree with much of this, although I certainly haven’t read them all. Well done! I struggled with We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves for the same reasons. And, yes, where is Shamsie’s, A God in Every Stone? A strange omission, but the choices show you how subjective it all is. I’ll be interested to see what has been shortlisted. Great blog!

    Reply
    • antoniahoneywell says

      9th September 2014 at 8:53 am

      I wonder whether a more transparent judging process would help? I’d certainly love to know what was nominated. No one argues with the subjectivity – it has to be that way – but it would make the discussions more informed. Thank you for reading x

      Reply
  2. Alex says

    9th September 2014 at 2:07 am

    Ferris’s book was completely underwhelming and I can’t help think it stole someone else’s place. Why did a British competition feel the need to include such whiny and dull writing?

    Reply
    • antoniahoneywell says

      9th September 2014 at 8:51 am

      There were certainly some brilliant books this year that didn’t feature on the long list. I hope a list of the nominated titles is released at some point – it would be interesting to know which novels were contenders, and it would make the process more transparent.

      Reply
  3. emmaclairesweeney says

    8th September 2014 at 9:16 pm

    I loved this post, Antonia. If the range of judges were more diverse then perhaps their opinions would be too. There was a great piece on this by Irenosen Okojie in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/27/booker-2014-longlist-diversity-black-women-writers

    Reply
    • antoniahoneywell says

      9th September 2014 at 8:50 am

      Yes, that’s a great piece – thank you for sending the link. Lovely to see Something Rhymed taking off – a lovely way to celebrate female writing friendships.

      Reply
  4. A Little Blog of Books and Other Stuff says

    8th September 2014 at 6:35 pm

    The only novel I have read so far from this year’s longlist is The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee. It’s a very well written book but overall, I’ve found this year’s list less inspiring compared with previous years.

    Reply
    • antoniahoneywell says

      9th September 2014 at 8:48 am

      Yes, I agree, although there are some gems in there – it’ll be so interesting to see what makes the short list.

      Reply
    • fcmalby says

      9th September 2014 at 10:58 am

      Chipping in, here. I agree. I feel less excited by this year’s list. It will be interesting to see which book wins in Oct.

      Reply
      • antoniahoneywell says

        9th September 2014 at 11:03 am

        Certainly will – I’m rooting for Ali Smith. Flanagan and Mukherjee’s novels are both Man Booker-ish in scope, but Smith does something that’s new and fresh, as well as wonderfully crafted.

        Reply
        • fcmalby says

          9th September 2014 at 11:08 am

          I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Ali Smith’s book.

          Reply

Trackbacks

  1. In the Media: 14th September 2014 | The Writes of Woman says:
    14th September 2014 at 6:31 pm

    […] female writers and this year’s Man Booker Prize but here’s Antonia Honeywell with her thoughts written just prior to the revealing of the shortlist. (Antonia’s blog which features a countdown to the publication of her debut novel, The […]

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