The
Booker
at the Bookies
The
UK’s premier literary award ceremony, the Man Booker Prize, came
upon us again: high times and champagne beckoned for the literary glitterati.
The rest of us had reasons to be excited, as long as we’d got
money riding on the occasion.
Jane Buffham examined the short list before she shuffled down to William
Hills to punt a fiver.
Carry Me Down
MJ Hyland
The Plot: John Egan is an eleven year old boy teetering
between childhood and the awakenings of adolescence. As relations within
his dysfunctional family break down, and his parents are forced to move
into a poverty ridden Dublin high-rise, John begins to shoulder more
responsibility than he can bear, pushing him further to the brink of
insanity.
Why should it be first past the post?: Along the lines
of the much lauded Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha, Hyland has produced
a sympathetic work touched with beautiful flourishes of writing; John’s
driving desire to get himself a mention in the Guinness Book of
Records, with his supposed ability to detect lies, is utterly compelling.
What might prove its stumbling block?: Hyland struggles
to find a convincing voice for her child narrator, veering from the
stilted simplicity that worked so well for Mark Haddon in A Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (though his protagonist has
Asperger’s) to phrases that wax so lyrical they are simply implausible
from a pre-teen child. Parallels with Paddy Clark serve as
a reminder that it’s simply not as good.
Canongate £9.99
William Hill odds 5/1 Ladbrokes odds 9/1
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Mother’s
Milk
Edward St Aubyn
The Plot: The members of the Melrose family each give
their perspective when the grandmother disinherits them from the last
of the family assets - a medium sized house in the south of France -
in favour of a New Age Commune.
The sins of the parents, or at least a determination to avoid repeating
the sins of the parents, leads to mum and dad developing a brand new
set of parenting fuck-ups for the next generation to endure.
First Past the Post?: Enlivened by St Aubyn’s
acerbic wit, and there are many laugh-out-loud moments in the stylish
prose, the droll observations and shifting focus on each family member
give this book a really strong distinctive voice that sets it apart
from the other books: it is usually distinctiveness that has marked
out previous Booker winners.
Stumbling Block?: It might be that it’s too funny:
the caricatures who resemble Private Eye’s Polly Filler,
and the perpetual rambunctious dialogue competes with, rather than complements,
the well observed dissection of complex relations, rendering it a bit
impotent.
Picador £12.99
William Hill odds 3/1 Ladbrokes odds 7/1
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The
Secret River
Kate Grenville
The Plot: William Thornhill works hard as a waterman
on the Thames, supporting his beloved family against the harsh backdrop
of working class life in London at the dawn of the 19th century. A small
mistake costs him dearly, the consequent of which results in the entire
family’s deportation to New South Wales. The new world offers
opportunities to raise their status in ways they could never have dreamt
of back in London, but first there’s the problem of the indigenous
people.
First Past the Post?: This book is written with such
compassion and sensitivity, it is among the most moving in the short
list - at a couple of junctions during reading this I had to pause for
a sniffle break. Grenville paints the book with such vivid images it
feels almost tangible, and the exploration of imperialist exploitation,
especially after gaining the reader’s empathy for London’s
poor, makes for an uncomfortable read.
Stumbling Block?: Historical novels can have difficulty
in getting the balance right between the story and the historical detailing.
Ideally the novel should stand alone as a work of literature using the
factual details to lift the story. The Secret River does in
the main do this, but there are too many passages that feel like blatant
exposition. As an exploration of the brutality of racism and imperialism
it does a solid job, but offers no new insight.
Canongate £7.99
William Hill odds 4/1 Ladbrokes odds 11/2
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In
the Country of Men
Hisham Matar
The Plot: It’s the hot Libyan summer of 1979
and with his father gone so long on a business trip, nine-year-old Suleiman
begins to fear he will never come home. As his mother falls apart becoming
increasingly ill and erratic, and frantically begins to burn his father’s
books, his best friend’s father is arrested and interrogated on
state television and a whispering campaign intensifies around the family.
First Past the Post?: The book is written in simple,
elegant prose and is immensely powerful for that. Irresistible from
start to finish, In the Country of Men gives an insight into
life within an oppressive, unforgiving regime under Colonel Gaddafi.
The ‘white-hot’ blinding summer sun forms a contrast with
the darkening shadows of suspicion as neighbour tells on neighbour,
and friends are taken away. Ultimately, the horror and fear that course
through the story are superseded in the end by a new found confidence
and hope.
Stumbling Block?: I’m betting a fiver on it to
win, so that’s as good as sealing its ‘also ran’ status.
Penguin Viking £12.99
William Hill odds 6/1 Ladbrokes odds 4/1
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The
Night Watch
Sarah Waters
The Plot: Starting at the end of the Second World War,
the book revisits the war years to chronicle the surprising blossoming
and development of relationships between four very different Londoners.
Kay, Helen, Vivian and Duncan may have survived the war, but their lives
are in ruins.
First Past the Post?: It is a more ambitious departure
away from the Victoriana Water’s has become widely known and well-loved
for but her usual assured tone and master story telling is fully in
evidence here. This is the bookies favourite.
Stumbling Block?: Sarah Water’s is a very popular
writer already; she already sells shit-loads of books and two of her
previous novels have been adapted for the telly (Fingersmith
and Tipping the Velvet). It’s not that Water’s
doesn’t deserve to win the Booker Prize because, like all her
previous work, The Night Watch is immensely page turning, intelligent
and engaging, but it feels as if she doesn’t need to win: if she
does, it’ll feel like the Booker people are denying an equally
deserving but lesser known writer the opportunity - what with the media
attention and the boost to book sales - to become a household name,
arguably being the point of the award.
Virago Press £16.99
William Hill odds 2/1 Favourite Ladbrokes odds
6/4 Favourite
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The
Inheritance of Loss - WINNER
Kiran Desai
The Plot: Sai is an orphan when she is sent to live
with her grandfather - an aging, cantankerous judge - in the foothills
of the Himalayas. Disposed to being romantic, Sai falls in love with
her tutor, Gyan, an activist in a group of independence-seeking rebels
who loot the judge’s dilapidated mansion. In a parallel subplot,
Biju, the son of the judge’s cook, dreams of America as a land
of opportunity. His illusion is shattered when he discovers, for the
likes of him, life there is precarious and exploitable.
First Past the Post?: If I wasn’t plumping for
In the Country of Men, I’d be willing this one to the
winner’s enclosure. Exploring the tensions in an East meets West
melting pot, this cautionary tale of globalisation and its effects on
the small community is arguably the most relevant to contemporary readers
than any other title on the short-list.
Stumbling Block?: The book comes to an abrupt and slightly
unsatisfying end and, with its split focus between events in India and
in the US, leaving too many threads hanging.
Hamish Hamilton £16.99
William Hill odds 7/1 Ladbrokes odds 4/1
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Bookies odds and prices correct at time of writing.
Jane Buffham is a Publishing MSc student at Napier University. |
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