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2021 Booker Prize Shortlist Discussion
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Karen Michele
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Nov 02, 2021 01:34PM
I have finished all 6 books and I think this is the first time I've ever managed to do that. I enjoyed all of the books on their own merit and/or because of personal connections. I loved a lot of things about Great Circle. I've always been fascinated by female aviators and love Montana where my husband grew up. The politics now have made it feel as if this beautiful country has been taken away from us for the time being, so reading in the Montana settings was a joy. That said, though, it still rests at the end of my Booker list as it just wasn't the sophisticated work that I expect for the prize. I vacillate between Bewilderment and The Promise for the winner. I loved the second half of the Lockwood and that put it high in my ratings and I agree that The Fortune Men has the potential to sneak through and take it. I loved parts of A Journey North, but felt some parts were over done and too lengthy. I'm excited for the announcement!
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Before I read any of the books, (I’ve now stalled and not read A Passage North or Bewilderment) I predicted Bewilderment because of the topic and because I think that Powers has slightly more name recognition among the general reading public, although I could be wrong about his name recognition. I would be happy to see any of them win. I don’t have a favorite at this point. I enjoyed The Fortune Men, but now realize it hasn’t had staying power with me. None of them did. If given a pop quiz I don’t know that I could name every book on the shortlist, much less the longlist at this point (and I don’t think that’s because I turned 60 on the 31st and am getting forgetful.)
Wow - belated happy returns.
Happy birthday Wendy. Hope you celebrated the milestone event.
Thank you. Wow because 60? I have to say that number is surreal. I don’t feel any different than when I turned 40. I’ve been told I don’t look 60, not that I look great, just that I look younger than 60. I was in a more contemplative state all last week because I have a clear memory of being 10 years old, sitting on our fence looking at the Sandia mountains in Albuquerque thinking that this is one of the most beautiful places we’ve lived so I need to appreciate it because we won’t be here long (my dad was in the Air Force,) that memory is 50 years old. Time goes so, so fast. We blink and we’ve been out of school for 10 years, blink again and we’re 40, blink again and your child is 40! It’s not upsetting to be this age, especially because I have a had a blessed life, but I just can’t comprehend how 60 years passed this fast.The one thought I would impress on everyone is that time goes faster the older one gets so do the thing you want to do now, appreciate every moment with loved ones, and definitely do not postpone joy.
And abandon books with no guilt? Joking! Happy birthday Wendy! Words to live by. :-)
I’ve been abandoning books guilt-free for years, but yes, life is too short to read books you aren’t enjoying! Unless you need them for statistics of course.Thanks, Emily.
One of the judges (Horatia Harrod) has confirmed judges have picked their winner and "I can confirm there is only one winner this year"I think we can take the Promise in that Passage as Great news. It's Fortune-ate that we won't be Talking About a split winner after the Bewilderment of 2019.
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "One of the judges (Horatia Harrod) has confirmed judges have picked their winner and "I can confirm there is only one winner this year"I think we can take the Promise in that Passage as Great new..."
Love the spirit.
That's a shame. With retrospect the two winners thing is one of the highlights in the prize's history and significantly increased the attention that Evaristo's book received.
Could be right - suspect only one judge remembers people like Trevor Huddlestone.
I am finding it interesting that The Promise is being so highly touted in the UK. I find it a bit of a wishful choice rather than reflective of the literary quality and that puzzles me a bit. Earlier I thought Mohamed would benefit from issues with or shortcoming of other novels but that time seems past though I still think it would be a safe choice. I feel if one was going to snub the Americans, they needed to do it with Rachel Cusk; otherwise it looks exactly like a snub, given the relative strength of the American novels to the rest of the shortlist. I wouldn't want to be a judge stuck with this choice unless I felt completely comfortable with awarding an American.
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "One of the judges (Horatia Harrod) has confirmed judges have picked their winner and "I can confirm there is only one winner this year"I think we can take the Promise in that Passage as Great new..."
Well done GY!
Can I ask where the confidence that The Promise is the frontrunner is actually coming from? Is it because Galgut has been shortlisted before? Powers has too. Or is it just the sense that The Promise is the most Booker-esque of the shortlisted titles?
When I think Bookeresque I think of the British empire, the colonial countries living under British occupation, yet when I look at past shortlists and winners that isn’t the majority of books, so I don’t know why that’s what comes up for me. I’m not even sure what Bookeresque was or is for me now.
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "One of the judges (Horatia Harrod) has confirmed judges have picked their winner and "I can confirm there is only one winner this year"I think we can take the Promise in that Passage as Great new..."
Very clever, GY.
Sam wrote: "I feel if one was going to snub the Americans, they needed to do it with Rachel Cusk; otherwise it looks exactly like a snub, given the relative strength of the American novels to the rest of the shortlist. ."I'm confused. The two books that are bottom of our collective dynamic rankings are by American authors. Of the four books that are serious contenders for the prize, 3 are non-US authors unless I have nationalities wrong.
Happy birthday Wendy. Its my birthday today. So kind of the Booker organisation to arrange the award tonight. I'll be enjoying food and wine with family and will watch the announcement on iplayer later.
Paul wrote: "Sam wrote: "I feel if one was going to snub the Americans, they needed to do it with Rachel Cusk; otherwise it looks exactly like a snub, given the relative strength of the American novels to the r..."Ha! I am using my own ratings of course.
Did the event started or not yet? I am already on BBC iPlayer na I am not getting anything
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Live text coverage herehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/events/epb5q9/l..."
Will it change to live video coverage at 7.15pm GMT?
The page has links at the top to both the radio and to coverage which both start at 715.
Happy birthday, fellow Scorpio!It is 2:55pm here which makes it 7:55pm there. Are they delayed? I’m on BBC and it says Starting soon at 7:15?
Wendy, clocks went back in UK last weekend - it is 7.00pm now - 15 mins to go
You have your time zones muddled up Wendy - we moved our clocks back last weekend, you do it the weekend coming up so we are only 4 hours apart for this week. I guess when you spend your work days on calls with people in the US you get very sensitive to those oddities.
The time change disconnect has made my BBC Radio 4 listening muddled. Glad we will be back to five hours as of Sunday.
I was due to be in Canada/US Sunday/Monday - travelling and scheduling meetings when the time changes are out of sync (but go back in sync as you travel) is always particularly complex.
I am glad I am in the States. I would have put in a large bet on Lockwood.
Because you think she will win? Of because it’s your favourite. Paul normally and I think sensibly bets against things he wants to happen so as to have an emotional hedge if they do.
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Because you think she will win? Of because it’s your favourite. Paul normally and I think sensibly bets against things he wants to happen so as to have an emotional hedge if they do."
Does that mean that Paul put his money on Great Circle? See Bookstagram humour post on Great Circle winning, which the Booker Prize shared:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CV0cK55Lg81/
The BBC put that in their website as well. No re Paul - the odds are very poor this year (big margin for the Bookies). The real book that has attractive odds is Passage North which is (a) one of his favourites on the full longlist and (b) an outsider for a reason in his view.
Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Because you think she will win? Of because it’s your favourite. Paul normally and I think sensibly bets against things he wants to happen so as to have an emotional hedge if they do."
Because of the odds. : )
Mod
I thought Ben Okri was excellent
The selections chosen for the Booker ceremony are quite interesting so far.I thought the Lockwood selection was very unflattering.
But_i_thought_ wrote: "Does that mean that Paul put his money on Great Circle? S.."I'd be reasonably happy if Great Circle won - I quite enjoyed it.
The emotional hedge would be Lockwood - so Sam and I are aligned in that
I should have bet based on the dog whistle tweet this afternoonGood book but I can't say I'm particularly comfortable with the author winning I'm afraid
The "only one winner" won- I whatsapped GY and Neil and said that meant Galgut. Not sure I want to explain though!
Not sure I want to rake over 2019 again
OK, I certainly don't want to revisit the misery of the "tie" in 2019. But there being only one winner is the way it's supposed to be, of course, so I'm just curious why that tweet suggested that Galgut was the winner.
My condolences, GY. I know you had real problems with the book. It’s disappointing when a title one wants to win doesn’t, but it’s worse when a title one really opposes wins.I was hoping when he talked about books coming out of Africa he would say, pointedly, by black authors that should be read.
Paul, you can’t be cryptic then clam up. It’s impolite. Those who don’t want to revisit 2019 can skim past.
I’m not disappointed nor overly excited.
Wendy, I'm also not disappointed nor overly excited. But I've been thinking about this year's shortlist over the past few days and am a bit stunned that these six were viewed as this year's finest fiction. It just felt lackluster.
WndyJW wrote: "I’m not disappointed nor overly excited. ..."
Same
I 100% expected it to win I have to say given the choices the judges made through the processI was never really in sync with their views (at longlist or shortlist stage so I was not expecting to agree their winner).
To be fair to him - it clearly meant a great deal and to be shortlisted but not win three times would have been difficult.
The Mookse and the Gripes
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The Promise (other topics)
The Promise (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Anuk Arudpragasam (other topics)Damon Galgut (other topics)
Patricia Lockwood (other topics)
Nadifa Mohamed (other topics)
Richard Powers (other topics)
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