Category: Book Prizes

Two Literary Prizes

The 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize was announced this morning. I wasn’t surprised to see any of the books on the list, as all are strong enough to justify their place, but I was sad that the list consisted of so many well-known authors. Many of the longlisted books by lesser known authors were equally good, if not better, than those selected and it is a real shame that they don’t get a chance in the spotlight.

I was especially disappointed that The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber didn’t make the cut as her novel, written entirely in verse, is an amazing achievement that deserves more recognition.

Here are the six lucky books that made the shortlist:

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Five words from the blurb: genius, Microsoft, child, charismatic, comic

Wonderfully entertaining and quirky – I recommend this to anyone looking for something a little different.

NW by Zadie Smith

Five words from the blurb: Londoners, estate, moved, different, lives.
The writing in this book is fantastic, but its disjointed nature won’t be to everyone’s taste.

May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes

Five words from the blurb: quiet, life, family, strange, finding
Engaging book, packed with satire. Lots of people love this one, but I’m afraid the plot twists were a bit too unrealistic for me.

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Five words from the blurb: Thomas Cromwell, rise, destruction, Anne Boleyn, Catholic
Over the years I’ve come to realise that Mantel isn’t for me, but it is no surprise to see her on the shortlist.

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

Five words from the blurb: Appalachian Mountains, mother, discovers, nature, miracle
Global warming is an important subject and this book has many fantastic passages, but I’m afraid it was a little preachy for me.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Five words from the blurb: turbulent, events, chances, past, moments
This is the book that everyone is raving about. It didn’t work for me, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it win the big prize. I think this is Atkinson’s year.

What do you think of the shortlist?

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize

WINNER: The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

Five words from the blurb: North Korea, kidnapper, spy, glory, love

The first half of this book was outstanding, but unfortunately I found it became unrealistic and silly as it progressed. I’m surprised to see it winning the Pulitzer – especially since the prize is supposed to go to books dealing with American life. This ones seems far too rooted in North Korea to be eligible, but what do I know!?

FINALIST: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Five words from the blurb: Alaskan, wilderness, snow, girl, magical

I loved this book. It was like a modern day fairy tale and was gripping throughout. I’m surprised to see it on this prize list though. I found it hugely entertaining, but didn’t think it had the depth to justify a Pulitzer. Those judges are doing strange things this year!

FINALIST: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander

Five words from the blurb: comic, dark, vision, universe, questions

I’m not a fan of short stories so I haven’t tried this one, but I’ve heard lots of great things about it. Were the judges right to select it?

What do you think of the selection?

Orange Prize Other

Ranking the Women’s Fiction Prize Longlist

Post author By Jackie
Post date April 9, 2013
10 Comments on Ranking the Women’s Fiction Prize Longlist

I’ve now finished trying all the books on the longlist and thought it would be interesting to summarise my thoughts before the shortlist is announced on Tuesday 16th.

I haven’t posted about all the books yet, but rather than inundate the blog with lots of (mainly negative) reviews I thought it was best to focus on the positives and then move on to books that are more to my taste. So here are the books I most enjoyed reading:

The six books I most enjoyed reading:

Honour by Elif Shafak
Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam
Ignorance by Michèle Roberts
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany

As you can see I didn’t love many books from the longlist, but my taste isn’t everything. Many of the books were fantastic, just not for me. So here is the more important ranking:

The longlist by literary merit:

The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Ignorance by Michèle Roberts
NW by Zadie Smith
The Forrests by Emily Perkins
Honour by Elif Shafak
Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes
Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam

Who will make the shortlist?

That question is almost impossible to answer as it is all down to the personal taste of the judges on the day, but I suspect their discussions will mainly involve the ten books I’ve listed above. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gone Girl on the shortlist, but if I had to stick my neck out I’d predict these six books will make the cut:

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Ignorance by Michèle Roberts
NW by Zadie Smith
Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson
The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber

Who will win?

Hilary Mantel is the most likely contender, but I think there is a strong chance Kate Atkinson will pip her at the post on this one. Shame as all my fingers are crossed for The Marlowe Papers – it hasn’t received the attention it deserves.

Who do you think will make the shortlist?

Which books on the longlist did you enjoy reading?

Orange Prize

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Post author By Jackie
Post date April 8, 2013
30 Comments on Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Longlisted for 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize

Five words from the blurb: born, lives, change, chances, destiny

Life After Life is getting rave reviews everywhere. I’ve seen more people declare it as their “book of the year (so far)” than any other title. I loved the concept and with all the buzz I was expecting to enjoy it. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I found it repetitive and I couldn’t engage with the central character, Ursula, at all.

The book begins well, with Ursula shooting Hitler. It then jumps back in time to Ursula’s birth, but Ursula doesn’t survive. In a strange twist of events Ursula is born again and this time survives. Ursula continues to die at regular intervals, each time being reborn, living slightly longer, and learning from past events.

Staircases were very dangerous places, according to Sylvie. People died on them. Sylvie always told them not to play at the top of the stairs. Ursula crept along the carpet runner. Took a quiet breath and then, both hands out in front of her, as if trying to stop a train, she threw herself at the small of Bridget’s back. Bridget whipped her head round, mouth and eyes wide in horror at the sight of Ursula. Bridget went flying, toppling down the stairs in a great flurry of arms and legs. Ursula only just managed to stop herself from following in her wake. Practice makes perfect.

Unfortunately I couldn’t connect with the the format. Every time Ursula died I groaned inside. I found the repetition of each scene irritating and even though new details were added each time there was more to annoy me than entertain. It could be down to the fact I’ve never had much success with this type of structure – The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver also annoyed me.

Another problem was that the fragmented nature of the plot meant I struggled to become emotionally attached to Ursula. The fact she kept being reborn also meant each tragedy had an increasingly small impact on me.

On a positive note, the writing quality was good – a big improvement from When Will There Be Good News?, the only other book by Kate Atkinson that I’ve read.

Due to the volume of glowing reviews I persevered with this book for longer than I normally would, giving up after 175 pages. I seem to be the only one who didn’t fall in love with Life After Life so please don’t take my word for it. Give it a try!

DNF

The thoughts of other bloggers:

Every little detail has a purpose, every single decision was made for a reason and carried a particular consequence. The Pretty Good Gatsby

…the structure, rather than create difficulties or disjointedness in the reader’s understanding, brings us to a deeper knowledge of Ursula and her motives. The Writes of Woman

…one of the most extraordinary books you’ll read this year. Alex in Leeds

Orange Prize

Honour by Elif Shafak

Longlisted for the 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize

Five words from the blurb: Turkey, London, traditions, mistakes, families

Honour is the story of a Turkish family who are haunted by their mistakes. Pembe and Adem Toprak move to London in order to start a new life, but Turkish traditions are never far from their mind. Maintaining the family’s “honour” is vitally important, but this book questions how far a person should go to protect it.

The book started really well with the introduction of some fantastic characters. I was instantly engaged in their story, keen to work out what was happening. It was a little confusing at first because the book jumped forwards and backwards in time, but each chapter was so vivid that I didn’t mind this.

The most impressive thing about Honour is the way it portrays both Eastern and Western cultures with sensitivity and respect. I didn’t know much about Turkish tradition, but this book introduced their beliefs in a way that was easy to comprehend. I understood the dilemmas they faced in maintaining their public image and found the way this impacted on their life in London fascinating.

In England things were topsy-turvy. The word couscous, though ordinary, was treated with reverence. Yet the word shame, though substantial, was taken quite lightly.

Unfortunately I lost interest in the story towards the middle of the book. Everything came together and I felt as though I knew where the story was heading. Luckily I was wrong, but I still felt this middle section was overly long and lacked the sparkle of the rest of the novel.

I ended the book with mixed feelings, expecting to award it 4 stars. But this is one of those rare books that improves with time. On reflection it kept getting better – an impressive number of issues were raised and it is only with hindsight that I realised how clever some of the earlier scenes were. I’m sure that even more would be revealed on a re-read, making this a strong contender for the shortlist.

It is one of my favourite books of the year so far and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys character driven novels that investigate how culture impacts on our lives.

The thoughts of other bloggers:

Note: I couldn’t find a bad review for this one!

Personally, Elif Shafak looks set to be my favourite author. JoV’s Book Pyramid

I love Shafak’s style of writing – it is lush and hints at magic realism. Winstonsdad’s Blog

It continues to make you read it even after you have closed the last page. Just a Word

Tags Turkey

2012 Orange Prize Uncategorized

Ignorance by Michèle Roberts

Post author By Jackie
Post date March 28, 2013
12 Comments on Ignorance by Michèle Roberts

Longlisted for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction

Five words from the blurb: village, Jew, war, society, truth

I have to be honest. When I saw this book on the WPF longlist I groaned. Did the world really need another book about hiding Jewish people during WWII? The subject has been covered so many times, often by people who actually experienced it first hand, that I failed to see how another book could add anything new to the subject. Luckily I was wrong. This book looks at the situation from an interesting new angle and I’m pleased that the WFP brought it to my attention.

Ignorance follows two girls from different backgrounds as they grow up in the French village of Ste Madeleine. Marie-Angèle’s father is a grocer, so when WWII breaks out she is one of the lucky ones. She has access to food and when she becomes involved with a man who does deals on the black-market her position in society becomes even more inflated. On the other hand, Jeanne’s mother was born a Jew and her family are desperately poor. Jeanne must deal with all the issues that involve being at the bottom of the social pile, problems compounded when Jews become persecuted.

This book was easy to read and engaging, but I also loved the way it worked on multiple levels. Themes of ignorance ran through the book, questioning whether or not it is better to know the truth or live in blissful ignorance of it.

I also liked the way the book looked at the structure of society. It didn’t concentrate on the horrors of war (in fact these were barely mentioned) instead the book examined how different groups of people were affected by the social changes brought on by war.

Some of the peripheral characters were a bit vague, but the two girls were well drawn and I thought the way different chapters were written from their opposing view points worked very well. The writing was particularly evocative and I especially loved the strong use of smells throughout the book:

Behind me the bakery door opened, letting out gold light, the smell of warm yeast. Soon, people would start arriving to buy their morning loaves. Take them home to their families. Eat breakfast with their mothers, just as they did every day. I wanted to dive into that yeasty scent, that shop full of loaves warm as mothers.

I’d be happy to see this book on the WFP shortlist and recommend it to anyone who’d like to read an interesting story with literary depth.

Tags WWII

2012 Orange Prize

Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany

Post author By Jackie
Post date March 22, 2013
13 Comments on Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany

Longlisted for 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize

Five words from the blurb: farmer, observes, birds, teach, sex

Mateship with Birds was one of the books on the 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize Longlist that didn’t really appeal to me. Luckily the writing quality was fantastic; it’s just a shame that the plot was so simple.

Mateship with Birds is set on an Australian farm. Harry is a lonely farmer who decides to teach his neighbour’s son about sex. Very little happens in this book, but the writing is vivid and the animals on the farm are particularly well described:

The wings of a moth opening and closing over the cape weed catch the sun in a silvery flash. One grazing cow startles forwards slightly, her hind legs make clumsy haste, almost overtaking the rest of her. She settles quickly enough but the plug of fear is transferred to her sister, and then the next cow and the next, until the whole herd has felt a diluted fraction of her fear. The herd, together in the paddock, is a sponge. Feelings run like liquid in the irregular, porous spaces between each animal.

If there were awards for the best sex in literature then this book would be a strong contender. The tenderness of the writing was beautiful and the relationship between each character felt realistic. I felt a little distanced from events, but this style worked well given the sexual nature of the text. I should warn sensitive readers that this book contains scenes of slaughter, beastiality, and lots of sexual content.

My main problem with the book was that the plot was too simple. It was so short I read it in a single sitting, but it lacked the power and insight required to make such a quick read memorable. The individual passages were fantastic, but they failed to come together to form a compelling novel.

Overall the writing quality was enough to justify a place on the WFP longlist, but I can’t see it progressing any further.

The thoughts of other bloggers:

…if writing style can be true to the Australian agricultural landscape, this is it – sparse, brittle, obvious. Books are My Favourite and Best

…it felt as though there were the beginnings of a great novel here, but one that isn’t given space to develop. Crikey

Carrie’s writing style is unique, and incredibly readable. That Book You Like

Tags Australia