Reading All the Bookers!

  Booker Prize :  Shortlisted 2023 Plot Time and Place : Jamaica, Miami; the 1970's, Present time Opening sentence :  "It begins with "What are you?" hollered from the perimeter of your front yard when you're nine - younger, probably." Plot summary :  The story of Trelawney, the son of Jamaican immigrants to America, trying to find his place in the world, and his identity, while trying to overcome his rivalry with his brother, and issues with his father. Review :  I wasn't much into it in the beginning. The Jamaican accent in writing proved pretty hard to read, and the main character wasn't all that likable. But then it grew on me. It's funny, and sad at the same time. I liked the elements of sibling rivalry, and trying to get by in the U.S. I also found it interesting that people seem to be so obsessed about race (and putting people into boxes) in America. Rating :   3/5

  Booker Prize :  Shortlisted 2023 Plot Time and Place : Present-day UK Opening sentence : "I don't know if you have ever stood in the middle of a squash court - on the T - and listened to what is going on next door." Plot summary :  A young girl tries to navigate her grief, and the family's, after her mother's death. Review : I wasn't familiar with the squash stuff, nor with the Indian foods, and other Indian terminology, so that was a bit of a hindrance to my enjoyment of the book. However, I found it touching and I liked the fact that it was a first-person child narrator.  Rating :   3/5

  Booker Prize :   Shortlisted 2024 Plot Time and Place : 19th century Missouri, USA Opening sentence :  "Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass." Plot summary :  This book is a reimagining of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", by Mark Twain (published in 1884), but this time the story is told from the point of view of the enslaved Jim (the titular character). Review :  This book should be read after reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. I found it very easy to read, and very interesting to see things from Jim's perspective. However, I found some elements of the story, like the way that Jim talks, and the fact that he can read and write, totally unrealistic.  Rating :   4/5

  Booker Prize :     Shortlisted 2024 Plot Time and Place : Present day Australia Opening sentence : "Arrive finally at about three." Plot summary : Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place where she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community. She finds herself living a strange, reclusive existence almost by accident. (thebookerprizes.com) Review :   This book is hard to define. It´s written in a diary form, by an unnamed narrator, but it's not boring or repetitive. There isn't much of a plot, but I liked the writing, the themes of grief and guilt, and all the car-crash voyeuristic Catholic saints' lives stuff. Rating :   4/5

  Booker Prize :    WINNER INTERNATIONAL BOOKER 2017 Plot Time and Place :  Present day Israel Opening sentence :  "Good evening! Good evening! Good evening to the majestic city of Caesariyaaaaaah!" Plot summary : A stand-up comedian delivers a shockingly cruel routine about guilt and betrayal. (from thebookerprizes.com) Review :   I read it in one sitting, which is a good sign. Somehow, it was like staring at a car crash: you just couldn't look away. However, I kept waiting for something terrible to happen, storywise, and it just didn't, the ending was disappointing. But I enjoyed the portrait of a bullied, lonely boy, and also of the grief-stricken, guilty narrator. Rating :   3/5

Booker Prize :     Shortlisted 2024 Plot Time and Place :  1908/ 1910/ 1912/ 1917/ 1920/ 1951/ 1964/ 1980/ 1984/ 2010/ 2025; France, England, Estonia, Gulf of Finland Opening sentence :  "We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?" Plot summary : 1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory - a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night, his childhood on a faraway coast - as the snow falls.  1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river - alive, but not still whole. Reunited with Helena, he reopens his photography business and endeavours to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures. (from the bookerprizes.com) Review :   The writing is beautiful, but the kaleidoscopic dev...