Category: Other Prizes

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2011 Books in Translation Other Prizes

Visitation – Jenny Erpenbeck

 Translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky

Shortlisted for 2011 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

Five words from the blurb: house, inhabitants, country, ghosts, chilling

The Visitation is a short, but beautifully written book focusing on the occupants of a house in East Germany. The narrative moves forwards and backwards through time, showing snapshots of different residents throughout the 20th century.

The house, on the shore of a lake, is the scene of many shocking events. The rise of the Nazis, the disappearance of the Jews, and Russian rule are all covered; finishing with the destruction of the Berlin wall.

It sounded like the perfect book for me, but unfortunately the writing was so cold and clinical that I felt distanced from the events.

For two minutes she can feel the sand beneath her shoes along with a few pieces of flint and pebbles made of quartz or granite; then she takes off her shoes forever and goes to stand on the board to be shot.

There was no emotion in the text and I found this lack of sentimentality meant that I had no connection to the characters. This, along with the confusing jumps in time, meant that there was no motivation to turn the page. Reading became a chore. I frequently found myself having to re-read sections in order to work out who was narrating, or which time period was being covered.

I know a lot of people will love this book for the fantastic writing, but I’m afraid I need more than that – especially when I’ve read about the subject matter so many times before.

Recommended to those who appreciate good writing and don’t mind working to understand what is happening.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

 ….a stunning and brilliant piece of fiction. Lizzy’s Literary Life

The abruptness of of the prose makes some of the descriptions of objects and places quite haunting. My Book Year

there is a lot of joy to be gained in piecing it together and seeing the place enhance the feel of its people. The Mookse and the Gripes

Categories
1980s Booker Prize Classics Other Prizes

Empire of the Sun – JG Ballard

Empire Of The Sun :

Winner of 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Shortlisted for 1984 Booker Prize

Five words from the blurb: Shanghai, British, boy, lost, war

It is funny how we sometimes build up a picture of a book before we’ve read it, only to have all those expectations shattered once we begin. For some reason I expected Empire of the Sun to be a dense book, describing vicious fighting between the Chinese and Japanese in the Second World War. I expected it to be dark and tough going and so was therefore surprised to discover that it was actually very easy to read – the tone was quite light (at least initially) and the central character was not a soldier, but a small boy who finds himself alone on the streets of Shanghai during the Japanese occupation. In fact, the young protagonist and the simple prose could even result in this being classed as a young adult book if it were released today.

The central character, Jim, is a boy who has lived the life of luxury. His rich British parents paid for him to go to a good school and for servants to provide for his every need. But then war breaks out and Jim becomes separated from his parents. He learns to fend for himself in the abandoned mansions of Shanghai, but his situations deteriorates as the war progresses. The fact that the book is based on the author’s own experiences during WWII makes the story all the more poignant.

I loved the simple, but effective way that the surroundings were described:

Jim fidgeted in his seat as the sun pricked his skin. He could see the smallest detail of everything around him, the flakes of rust on the railway lines, the saw-teeth of the nettles beside the truck, the white soil bearing the imprint of its worn tyres. Jim counted the blue bristles around the lips of the Japanese soldier guarding them, and the globes of mucus which this bored sentry sucked in and out of his nostrils. He watched the damp stain spreading around the buttocks of one of the missionary women on the floor, and the flames that fingered the cooking pot on the station platform, reflected in the polished breeches of the stacked rifles.

My only problem with the book was the detached writing style. Jim let all the problems wash over him and failed to show any of the fear I’d expect from someone in his situation – in fact Jim seemed to enjoy seeing the planes and soldiers. This is probably a realistic way for a child to cope with war, but it meant that the book failed to have any emotional impact on me. Some people probably prefer this lighter writing style, but I like to have a strong emotional connection to the characters.

I haven’t read any other books set in China during WWII and so it was nice to learn a bit more about this lesser known piece of history. This is clearly a very important novel and there were times when I both loved and hated this book for its subtlety, but I think this is one of those books that grows on you after you’ve turned the last page. I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy the reading experience that much, but I am still thinking about Jim and I am sure that I will continue to do so for some time to come.

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This is my first experience of Ballard’s writing.

Do you think I’d enjoy his other books?

Categories
2010 Book Prizes Commonwealth Writer's Prize Other Prizes

Serious Men – Manu Joseph

 

Shortlisted for 2011 Commonwealth Prize South Asia & Europe Best First Book
Shortlisted for 2010 the Man Asian Literary Prize
Winner of 2010 Hindu Best Fiction Award

Five words from the blurb: Mumbai, slums, son, genius, comic

Serious Men had a controversial reception in India because it depicts a Dalit (someone of a lower caste) as being a victim of circumstance instead of having an inferior intelligence to the Brahmin (upper-caste people). This attitude offends many people in India who like to see that these social barriers remain unquestioned.

The book centres on Ayyan, a man so fed up of life in the slums that he decides to hatch a plan to elevate his position. He claims that his 10-year-old son is a mathematical genius, but whilst this gains the attention he was looking for, the lie quickly gets out of hand.

The book is quick and easy to read, but unfortunately the humour wasn’t to my taste and although I could spot the jokes they barely raised a smile in me.

Ayyan Mani’s thick black hair was combed sideways and parted by a careless broken line, like the borders the British used to draw between two hostile neighbours.

The book did a fantastic job of showing the differences between the Indian castes and the unjust way in which a person’s position at birth determines their outcome in life, but as a novel I found it unsatisfying. The story had little forward momentum and I was frequently bored by their trivial discussions.

Ayyan Mani surveyed the room with his back to the wall, as he had done many times, and tried to understand how it came to be that truth was now in the hands of these unreal men. They were in the middle of debating the perfect way to cut a cake and were concluding that carving triangular pieces, as everyone does, was inefficient. 

I also failed to connect with the characters on an emotional level.

I know that a lot of people will love this book and I did find a lot to like, but I’m afraid it just didn’t contain my kind of humour.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

It’s the kind of book that you yearn to discuss, debate, analyze and always remember. At Pemberley

Joseph, a former editor of The Times of India, tries to weave a funny and clever novel about the ridiculousness of academia, and for the most part, he succeeds. Mumbai Boss

….this is an amazing book and follows in the league of White Tiger in terms of satire by Indian authors on society. Sandeepinlife’s Weblog

Categories
Books in Translation Other Other Prizes

The Man Asian Literary Prize

The Man Asian Literary Prize is an annual award given to the best novel by an Asian writer. The book must be available in English, but it doesn’t matter if it was originally written in another language. The winning author is awarded USD 30,000 and the translator (if any) USD 5,000. Earlier this month the 2010 winner was revealed to be Three Sisters by Bi Feiyu

The prize was founded in 2007 and as I’ve read all of the winners I thought it might be interesting to give a brief summary of them.

You can view my full reviews by clicking on the book title.

2010 Winner: Three Sisters by Bi Feiyu 

 

Three Sisters gives an insight into the lives of Chinese women and is especially good at demonstrating the importance of birth order within a family. It is easy to read and packed with details of the Chinese culture. I highly recommend it as an introduction to Chinese literature.

2009 Winner: The Boat to Redemption by Su Tong 

The Boat to Redemption is a coming-of-age story focusing on a boy and his father. It has a slow pace, but the characters are captivating. This novel assumes a knowledge of Chinese culture and mythology and so I do not recommend it to those unfamiliar with the country.

2008 Winner: Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco

Illustrado is set in the Philippines and is a complex novel exposing corruption within the country. It is highly literary and often difficult to follow, but those with the patience to piece together all the clues love it.

2007 Winner: Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong

Wolf Totem is set on the Mongolian grasslands and describes the constant battle that the nomads have with the wolves that live there. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in wolves, but be prepared for some graphic fight scenes.

Note: Illustrado was originally written in English, but all the other winners were translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt.

I love the diversity of this prize. All the books are very different to each other and to the majority of books published in this country. They are all very well written, but before starting you never know whether the book will be gripping and easy to read, or a complex narrative packed with references to myths you’ve never heard of. I look forward to following this prize each year and hope to read more of the books which were shortlisted in previous years.

Do you follow the Man Asian Literary Prize?

Are there any books from the shortlists that I should make a special effort to read?

Categories
2000 - 2007 Other Prizes

This Blinding Absence of Light – Tahar Ben Jelloun

Translated from the French by Linda Coverdale

Winner of the 2004 IMPAC Award

Five words from the blurb: prison, struggle, survive, darkest, terrible

This book is based on the real experiences of a survivor of Tazmamart – the secret prison in which sixty people were imprisoned for taking part in the 1971 failed coup to oust King Hassan II of Morocco. They were locked in appalling conditions –  with no light, little food and virtually no protection from the freezing cold winters or the stifling heat of summer. For twenty years the men battled against disease and boredom, before the survivors were finally released in 1991.

This book is a gripping, but harrowing account of an almost unimaginable suffering.

The cold interfered with my thinking. It made me hear friendly voices, like a mirage for a man lost in the desert. The freezing cold muddled everything. It was an electric drill piercing holes in the skin. No blood spurted out; it had frozen in the veins. It was vital to keep our eyes open, stay awake. Those so feeble they succumbed to sleep died within a few hours.

Very little actually happens in this short book, but the full range of human emotion leaps from the page.

It could never be described as an enjoyable read, but it is as an important book. It is a vivid account of the terrible things that humans are capable of doing to each other, but also proof that with the right frame of mind it is possible to survive in even the harshest of conditions.

Recommended to anyone interested in imprisonment and its affects upon the human mind.

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Thank you to JoV for sending this book to me!

Categories
2011 Other Prizes

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

 Shortlisted for the 2010 Giller Prize

Five words from the blurb: baby, secret, boy, girl, struggle

Annabel begins in 1968 with the birth of a baby in a remote part of north-west Canada. Everything about the infant is normal, apart from the fact it has both male and female sexual organs. In order to fit in the parents decide to bring their child up as a boy called Wayne, keeping the dual sex a secret from almost everyone – including Wayne. This book is a coming-of age story in which Wayne slowly learns the truth about his birth and battles against the inner female feelings he calls “Annabel”.

The writing was very crisp and precise, with many beautiful descriptions of life in this harsh, cold community. Unfortunately the distant, almost clinical writing style made it hard to connect with the characters on an emotional level. I longed to know what was going on inside Wayne’s head, but instead the reader is just an outside observer, witnessing only the major events in his life. I wanted to know his thoughts on a day-to-day level, but unfortunately I was only able to get brief glimpses of his inner turmoil. 

The child knew that a grim, matter-of-fact attitude was required of him by his father, and he learned how to exhibit such an attitude, and he did not mind it because it was the way things were, but it was not his authentic self. His authentic self loved to fold paper in half and cut out elaborate bilaterally symmetrical shapes: curlicues, geometrics, architectural planes that bore elaborate sills at the bottom and came to luxurious apexes.

Much of the book was written from the perspective of the parents and this raised some complex parenting issues. I initially enjoyed thinking about the pros and cons of letting a child be themselves versus the importance of fitting into society, but I quickly realised that I really wanted the book to concentrate on Wayne. Every time the narrative followed another character I became frustrated and longed for the focus to switch back to him. The last few chapters almost managed to satisfy my craving for knowledge of Wayne, but it was too little, too late.

Annabel was compelling enough to draw me through to the end, but I was left unsatisfied by the novel as a whole. In comparison to the wonderful Middlesex this book was lacking depth and emotion.

Recommended to those who like their fiction restrained, without any hint of melodrama.

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Opinions were mixed on this one:

The whole story was heartbreaking and beautiful. Amy Reads

To be honest, I had a hard time with the first half of this rather large book. The Mookse and the Gripes

I feel like I’m doing a lot of gushing lately, but I really, really loved this book. Reading Through Life