So, the Man Booker Prize is going to be announced tomorrow and I don't think I've ever felt so invested in the result. Ordinarily I spend my yearly quotient of excitement during the Orange Prize (for which I have a well documented affection) and feel rather jaded by the time the Booker announcement comes around in October. But, given the predictability of this year's Orange result, the tension went unspent - I don't think I ever really doubted that Adichie would win. But this year's Booker? I've read all of the shortlisted books now and, honestly, I have no idea who will scoop it. Which isn't to say I don't have strong opinions on who should. In fact, I feel rather emotional about it. This is how I would rank the shortlist, in order of preference (links are to my posts):
2. Animal's People by Indra Sinha
3. The Gathering by Anne Enright
4. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
6. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Nicola Barker's Darkmans is the obvious winner for me and, although I have loved Animal's People and The Gathering, I didn't have to think very hard about ranking it first. It is an extroadinary novel, undefinably so, and if it doesn't win I shall want to know why. I imagine the booksellers are rather dreading the possibility, but I don't think they have anything to fear. Everyone I know who has read Barker's novel has loved it, unabashedly and without restraint, and has taken it to their hearts. I see no reason why thousands of other people shouldn't. If they market it right, the readers will come.
Having said that, I would be quite happy to see either Indra Sinha or Anne Enright carry the day. I haven't quite finished Animal's People yet and I won't have time to post about it before the announcement, but on the basis of what I have read so far I'm happy to rank it second. This might seem surprising coming so soon after my ecstatic post on The Gathering but I'm nothing if not frequently pleased by what I read. Indra Sinha's tragic story of Khaufpur told through the idiosyncratic voice of Animal, one of the many victims of a chemical disaster akin to that at Bhopal, is beautifully executed. It is one of those special novels that makes you dreadfully sad and incredibly happy at the same time. (How do they do that?) I especially admire how naturally Sinha has captured Animal's patois, and how he makes his scatological humour and potty mouth seem both innocent and canny. I've heard that it looses some of it's forward momentum towards the end but I remain confident in it's ranking. The Gathering comes a very close third, however, and it continues to impress me. This is in despite of its relatively uninspiring premise.
Why the low ranking for Ian McEwan? Quite simply, although I enjoyed On Chesil Beach and although I think it worthy of its place on the shortlist, I don't think it a winner. The other contenders are just too strong. And I have been reminded recently of what a great novel Atonement is, and how far the other McEwan novels I've read have fallen short of its genius. I think I shall be rather disappointed if it wins - I would hate to think the prize could be that unimaginative. As for Mister Pip, I've felt all my enthusiasm for it turn cold in the wake of its ending. I think it is possible for a novel to betray itself so utterly in its final moments that everything that has come before looses its appeal and turns sour. Such is Mister Pip for me.
Finally, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the only novel on the shortlist that I disliked from start to finish. Which probably means that it will win. I know this game too well now. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean it wasn't someone else's book of the year, no matter how hard I find this to imagine. Apparently a panel on this week's Culture Show voted for it to win... We shall see.
[*This post brought to you by the Rugby World Cup semi-final between England and France and the Early Music Show on Radio Three, two things that go suprisingly well together. You wouldn't think that Gothic Voices singing 'Tres gentil cuer' would be a suitable soundtrack to the scrum-tackle-run-tackle-scrum of rugby but you'd be surprised...]
~~Victoria~~