Booker Prize 2011

hatful

Who should win? Oops meant to post a poll with this... oh well the choices are:

1. Julian Barnes 'The Sense of an Ending'
2. Carol Birch 'Jamrach’s Menagerie'
3. Patrick deWitt 'The Sisters Brothers'
4. Esi Edugyan 'Half Blood Blues'
5. Stephen Kelman 'Pigeon English'
6. A D Miller 'Snowdrops'

The winner will be announced on October 18th.

Mr. Fancypants

Haven't read any but have The Sisters Brothers lined up to read shortly as it sounds right up my street.

chasmcb

mbroaders wrote: »

Haven't read any but have The Sisters Brothers lined up to read shortly as it sounds right up my street.

Same here! I only saw it reviewed this weekend and, having checked out a few other glowing notices, I now can't wait to get a copy.

KnifeWRENCH

I haven't heard of any of those novels and, apart from Julian Barnes, haven't heard of any of the authors before either. I'd say I've fairly good knowledge of literature but I'm dreadful at keeping up with modern stuff.

Having read a brief synopsis of each of the books, Jamrach's Menagerie and The Sisters Brothers look the most interesting. They'd be the two I'd read first, if I ever manage to get around to them.

Travel is good

I'm hoping to read all 6 titles over the next while as I've signed up for a book swap with Book Crossing. That means that all of us (6 participants) just have to buy one book each. It saves a lot of money!

I'm patiently awaiting the arrival of "Snowdrops" by A D Miller frrom TBD.

I haven't heard of any of the authors apart from Julian Barnes.

pog it

Am seriously disappointed with the shortlist this year. Not a book on it I'd want to read and I've looked through them all in Eason's.

Travel is good

I'm about half way through "Snow Drops" and it's OK. It is set in post-communist Russia. The story about Russian oligarchy is quite interesting. It's not exactly gripping me just yet.

I recently read "A Stranger's Child" by Alan Hollinghurst which didn't make the shortlist. I thought it was a worthy contender.

I can never understand these Booker prize choices. I have yet to read the other 5 titles, so I won't pass judgement yet.

Callan57

Travel is good wrote: »

I'm about half way through "Snow Drops" and it's OK. It is set in post-communist Russia. The story about Russian oligarchy is quite interesting. It's not exactly gripping me just yet.

I recently read "A Stranger's Child" by Alan Hollinghurst which didn't make the shortlist. I thought it was a worthy contender.

I can never understand these Booker prize choices. I have yet to read the other 5 titles, so I won't pass judgement yet.

I didn't like Snow Drops at all, just laboured stereotypes IMO. Can't understand how it made the short list.
The Sense of an Ending I really thought superb.
Hope to get to the rest of the list ... I'm almost finished On Canaan's Side after finding it slow & difficult to get into but enjoying it now. Definitely should have been on the short list ahead of Snow Drops IMHO.

delbertgrady

I'm not saying that I'd be happy if any of the books on the list were to win, but I do think that five of the six on the shortlist could win it, as they each tick many of the Booker boxes. The sole exception is Snowdrops, which is a bewildering inclusion, for the simple reason that it doesn't strike me as "Booker material". I think any of the other nominees should feel justifiably aggrieved if Snowdrops does win.

My (probable) order, listed first to sixth:

Pigeon English
The majority of the Booker site forum members seem to regard this as the weakest of the six, and undeserving of its nomination, but I loved it, and the narrative voice - an eleven year-old boy from Ghana, living in London - seems (to me) authentic and completely engaging.
The Sisters Brothers
Absolutely superb, blackly comic western about two hired killers. So many brilliantly-drawn characters and incidents crammed into a relatively short book. Excellent. Would be a deserving (and very popular) winner.
Half Blood Blues
This is admittedly flawed, and at times, very badly paced, as if the author is trying to clumsily match the story with the dates of historical events, but is arguably the best of the remaining four books. I'm rating it third for a couple of exceptionally well-written passages, and some very entertaining dialogue exchanges.
Jamrach's Menagerie
I just don't get this. It's not a bad book as such, but it's the only one I struggled through reading. If you get over the halfway point, you're kind of over the hump, as it were, but it's overlong and the characters (it's overpopulated with minor characters) aren't well-drawn enough.
The Sense of an Ending
Now, I really don't get the hype over this. Without spoiling it, but I'll put a spoiler on it anyway, the whole crux of the paper-thin plot is that

the narrator is somehow held responsible for something he had nothing to do with, and is embroiled in the eventual revelation by a woman he only met ONCE, about forty years earlier

. Bizarre.
Snowdrops
A very conventional, Moscow-based thriller that has little to elevate it above the average paperback page-turner. I clipped through it fairly quickly - despite the idiotic, shallow narrator - but I've no idea how it made the final six.

Travel is good

delbertgrady wrote: »

The sole exception is Snowdrops, which is a bewildering inclusion, for the simple reason that it doesn't strike me as "Booker material".

Well done, on reading all 6 books!

I've just finished Snow Drops, and it was just ho hum. I've read better crime novels. I can't understand why it was included.

I'll report back when I finish reading the other 5 titles.

OakeyDokey

I haven't heard of any of them novels! I've been focusing more on older books than anything new that's out.

Mr. Fancypants

Halfway through The Sisters Brothers at the moment and am really enjoying it.

ThePinkCage

Reading the blurb on the books, most don't grab me, except Pigeon English and The Sense of An Ending. Read Arthur and George, thought it was excellent.

hatful

Just finished 'The Sense of an Ending’ - Julian Barnes, I think it could win that is if they'll let a novella take the prize.

Very surprised that Alan Hollinghurst and Sebastian Barry were left out but there has been some controversies revolving around the judges, choices etc. in recent years.

hatful

delbertgrady wrote: »

The Sense of an Ending
Now, I really don't get the hype over this.

Exactly, I get what you're saying. I think Barnes is very clever to leave the ending open for the reader to apportion responsibility.

In the history class they are discussing the importance of the individual in creating history i.e the importance of the murder of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand as a major event that led to the outbreak of world war I. Adrian asks in his diary 'if Tony....' (hadn't suggested he go speak to....), 'if the assassin of Franz Ferdinand hadn't...'

longshanks

Recently finished The Sisters Brothers. While it is good the book is finished just as you settle into it.
I've picked up and put back down the other titles, although I'll probably give Pigeon English a whirl at some stage.

Toby Take a Bow

The controversy surrounding the Booker seems to be getting ever more ridiculous each year, as are the numerous 'extra' Bookers (the Lost Booker! The International Booker! The Indian Subcontinent Booker!) which takes away from what should be a prize which highlights ... what, exactly? 'Literary' writing? New writing? Readable books? Even the Booker itself doesn't really seem to know.

I haven't yet picked up a book based on its inclusion on a prize (as far as I'm aware) and won't start now. I do like the Booker when it highlights books I wouldn't ordinarily hear of, or new authors (although, for the most part, these are the sorts of books that tend to be forgotten on the long list. I also liked it during my time as a bookseller, as it made for easy bookselling (every second person would want the shortlist or winner, which we would conveniently have beside the till) and also meant we'd normally make our budget for October (for the most part, unless someone unknown won).

Apparently Barnes won it.

delbertgrady

Yeah, Barnes won. Predictable, safe, the bookies' favourite and arguably the most "Booker-like" in a year where the shortlist was strongly criticised. I would have liked to see something else win. I don't think The Sense of an Ending is a bad book as such, but to have it be the favourite from the outset and then ultimately end up winning it made the whole thing kind of a non-event. Oh well.

Giruilla

How is 'The Sense of an Ending' not a novella? Seems awfully short

ThePinkCage

It is a novella really, I'd say.

Having seen the comment about the ending being open ended, I'm less inclined to read The Sense of an Ending. Life is ambiguous enough. I prefer my endings wrapped in a bow.

Giruilla

ThePinkCage wrote: »

It is a novella really, I'd say.

Having seen the comment about the ending being open ended, I'm less inclined to read The Sense of an Ending. Life is ambiguous enough. I prefer my endings wrapped in a bow.

Open ending? Hadn't heard that.. just started reading the book yesterday.

I hate open endings too.. I just see it as a cop-out.

Callan57

Giruilla wrote: »

Open ending? Hadn't heard that.. just started reading the book yesterday.

I hate open endings too.. I just see it as a cop-out.

Given the basis of the book I don't think you could have anything but an ambiguous ending. A neatly wrapped up ending would defeat the whole concept of the book IMHO.

Giruilla

Terrific book.

@ThePinkCage, the novel isn't open ended.. I don't know where anyone got that from.

hatful

Giruilla wrote: »

Terrific book.

@ThePinkCage, the novel isn't open ended.. I don't know where anyone got that from.

My comment has been misunderstood there is a very clear conclusion. Myself and delbertgrady disagree on the lead up to that conclusion, without giving it away the degree to which certain people are important in the creation of that ending. It's difficult to explain if you haven't read the book.