Category: Book Prizes

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Pulitzer Prize Recommended books

Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

Books Before Blogging Review

I finished reading this book about 8 months ago, and I remember it as an interesting, insightful book about life as a hermaphrodite.

The book spans eight decades, and three generations of a Greek family who migrate to America in the 1920s. The main plot is told by 41-year-old Cal, who was born with an indeterminate gender. Raised as a girl, Cal realises that this was the wrong decision, and reverts to being male at the age of 18.

The first half of this book was pretty average – the relationship between the grandparents didn’t seem very plausible. The second half of the book, however, was one of the best pieces of writing I have ever read. It was touching, clever and I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended – especially for reading groups.

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Booker Prize

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha – Roddy Doyle

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha won the Booker Prize in 1993. It is the first Roddy Doyle book I have read, so I didn’t really know what to expect. 

It follows Paddy Clarke, as he grows up in 1960’s Dublin, witnessing the break down of his parent’s marriage

He has a real talent for being able to describe the thoughts and feelings of a ten year old boy:

I prefer magnifying glasses to matches. We spent afternoons burning little piles of cut grass. I loved watching the grass change colour. I loved it when the flame began to race through the grass. You had more control with a magnifying glass. It was easier but it took more skill.

I found some scenes touching, and I managed to read the whole book fairly quickly, but the plot meandered about a bit too much for me, so I didn’t get drawn into it fully. His childhood had very little in common with mine, so this may be another reason I was not as enthralled with this book as others seem to be. I was only born in 1978, so have no nostalgia for the 60s, and I was never a little boy, who had fights and played jokes on my teachers!

It was OK, but I think I’d only recommend it to older people, who would be able to fully appreciate the nostalgia this book has to offer.

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2000 - 2007 Booker Prize

Darkmans – Nicola Barker

I was really looking forward to reading this book, as the cover makes it sound really interesting.

…..Elen, an enigmatic chiropodist, whose unstable husband, Dory, believes that their only son, Fleet, has been fathered by the deranged ghost of an evil, 500-year old court-jester…….a magical yet somehow instantly familiar world in which language crackles like static….. 

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The writing style was very annoying. I felt like I was being treated like an idiot, as obvious things were explained in brackets on a regular basis.

The character build up was OK at first, but failed to develop fully. They just didn’t come across as very believable. The dialogue between the characters wasn’t very natural, and their continual misunderstandings, resulting in large gaps and then:

WHAT?

EH?

really grated on me.

The plot was very sporadic, and had no forward momentum, so I found my thougths wandering off. This happened more frequently as the book went on, and so I finally gave up 250 pages in. This is the first Booker short listed book that I have failed to complete. I agonised over whether, or not, to finish it, so checked as many other reviews as possible. I discovered that people decide they either love or hate this book very quickly. Those that dislike the book, are left even more frustrated by the ending, so as I have nearly 500 pages left to read to reach this point I think I’ll leave it there.

I would, however, still love to read a book about a 500-year old court-jester fathering a child from Kent! If you’ve seen one – let me know!!

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Booker Prize

The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist was short listed for the Booker Prize in 2007. It follows Changez, a Muslim from a once wealthy family in Pakistan, as he moves to America to take up a place at Princeton, and then onto a high-flying finance job in New York.

Changez relates his story to an unknown American over a meal, back in his home town of Lahore. I found this writing style slightly irritating at first, and although I could never say that I liked it, by the end I realise how important it was for the book.

The story takes place over the events of September 11th, and we see how reactions to Pakistanis in America, change after this event. The book contains many challenging ideas about prejudice and racism. It is very relevant to the world today, and although I think the book will age fairly quickly, anyone wanting to know the feelings of the world at the beginning of this century should refer to this book. The delicate subject matter of the East – West divide is handled very sensitively, and although the writing is fairly simple, it is very powerful.

When I first finished the book I was very disappointed with the ending. After a few days of reflection, however, I came to realise how clever the ambiguous ending was. Without revealing what happens, I’ll just say that the way you view the events of the last page says a lot about your racial prejudices. A thought provoking, insightful novel.

Recommended.

 

Categories
Booker Prize

Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood

Great Granny Webster was short listed for the Booker Prize in 1977.  It is the semi-autobiographical tale of successive generations of an aristocratic family. The story is told through the eyes of a teenage girl who is forced to live in her Great Grandmother’s crumbling mansion for two months. Whilst she ekes out her joyless existtance with her Great Grandmother she discovers the truth about her extraordinary family.

Unfortunately I was very disappointed with this book. It reads more like someone jotting down their family history than a proper novel. The characters are introduced through long descriptions, and fail to come alive. There was no plot driving it forward, so I quickly became bored. Luckily, it was a very short book, so I managed to make it to the end.

The humour was too subtle for me, as I didn’t find it amusing at all. I have no idea why this was short listed for the Booker Prize, and I won’t be rushing out to read any other books by Caroline Blackwood.

Disappointing.

Categories
2000 - 2007 Booker Prize Orange Prize Recommended books

Fingersmith – Sarah Waters


This book was one of the oldest, unread residents of my book shelves. Although I wanted to read it, I kept putting it off as I had already seen the excellent BBC adaptation of it, and I don’t normally like reading books when I know the plot. So when the Orange Prize readers Yahoo group announced it was Sarah Waters month , I decided that this was the incentive I needed to finally take it off the shelf.

I’m really glad I did, as it is one of the best books I have ever read. It didn’t matter that I knew what was going to happen, as the writing was so vivid, that it took the story to a whole new level.

The pace was perfect, despite being 550 pages long, my interest was held throughout. I enjoyed reading this book so much that I was torn between the desire to read it, and not wanting it to come to an end.

It completely immerses you in Victorian England. I loved the way the story was told by the two orphan girls. Seeing everything from two different  perspectives was very clever, and added to the suspense.  The intricate details of the plot, and  all the twists and turns make this a very well constructed novel. It’s hard to describe the plot without giving some of it away, so I won’t try to. I just urge you to read it.

Highly recommended.

Winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Dagger for Historical Crime Fiction. Short listed for both the Orange and the Booker Prize.