2017 MBI Shortlist: Mirror, Shoulder, Signal

[Trevor]

TK

[Paul]

Eileen Battersby's take (bit of an odd one - not compelling and odd but charming?)

Far from compelling and in ways the oddest book on the list, Danish writer Dorthe Nors’ sympathetic and familiar Mirror, Shoulder, Signal (translated by Misha Hoekstra) will nevertheless charm. A childless, single woman of a certain age knows all about becoming invisible, so she learns to drive. Most readers will like this book.

[Paul]

Bit disappointed with this one.

Nors' short fiction is regarded as innovative.

But this novel depended too much for me on clunky metaphors for the protagonist, an invisible middle-aged woman's, life: her driving lessons which give the novel its title, in particular her inability to select the correct gear, and difficulty in checking her blind spot, Jodie Foster movies (Contact and The Accused), her job as a translator, her fixation with migratory birds particularly whooper swans and also with helicopters (which speak to her of "yearnings and buoyancy").

Not one for the shortlist.

[Neil]

Third in a row - I also was disappointed by this one.