Reading All the Bookers!

  Booker Prize :  Shortlisted 2004 Plot Time and Place :  19th century, 1931, 1975, early 21st century, 22nd century, distant future; Chatham Islands, Belgium, California, Britain, Korea, Hawaii Opening sentence :   "Beyond the Indian hamlet, upon a forlorn strand, I happened on a trail of recent footprints." Plot summary :   An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution. The book consists of 6 nested stories; each is read or observed by the protagonist of the next, progressing in time through the central sixth story. Review :   I don't understand how this didn't win the Booker. It's absolutely brilliant, mind-bending, exhilarating, and thought-provoking. Rating :   5/5

Booker Prize:  Shortlisted 2002 Plot Time and Place :   Ireland, Italy, 20th century (from 1921 to the present time) Opening sentence :    "Captain Everard Gault wounded the boy in the right shoulder on the night of June the twenty-first, 1921". Plot summary :   It follows Lucy, the protagonist, through childhood, middle age and later years. Review :   Beautiful and lyrical writing. I loved this author. Wonderful, moving story. Quite sad. Rating :   4/5

  Booker Prize :  WINNER 1990 Plot Time and Place :   Present day / Victorian era, England Opening sentence :    "The book was thick and black and covered with dust." Plot summary :   Maud Bailey is a scholar researching the life and work of her distant relative, a little-known 19th-century poet named Christabel LaMotte. Roland Michell is looking into an obscure moment in the life of another Victorian poet, the celebrated Randolph Henry Ash. Together, the two uncover a dark secret in Ash's life: though apparently happily married, he conducted a torrid affair with LaMotte.  As Maud and Roland dig deeper, they too find themselves falling in love. Review :   A very smart book, not an easy read, but very satisfying. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the characters' emotional depth, the "story within a story" structure, and the symmetries between the two stories.  Rating :   5/5

  Booker Prize :  WINNER INTERNATIONAL BOOKER 2023 Plot Time and Place :   It's complicated. Opening sentence :    "At one point they tried to calculate when time began, when exactly the earth had been created." Plot summary :   A "clinic for the past" run by an enigmatic therapist offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time to a familiar, safer, happier moment. Review :    What a great book. As soon as I read the synopsis, I knew I was in for a ride. And what a ride! I was hooked from the beginning. The premise is very interesting, and it raises questions about personal and national identity, about time, about nostalgia.  It also made me think about the stories, or narratives, that people and nations tell themselves (which may or may not be true). The writing style has echoes of Borges, Mann, and Kafka. This book makes you think. If you were aroun...

  Booker Prize :  WINNER 2020 Plot Time and Place :  Glasgow, Scotland, 1980's, 1990's Opening sentence :    "The day was flat". Plot summary :   1981, Glasgow. The city is dying. Poverty is on the rise. When her husband walks out, leaving her with three children, Agnes (Shuggie's mom) turns to alcohol for comfort. The children try their best to save her. Review :   It's a very sad book. You really feel for Shuggie, a child growing up with an alcoholic mother, and having to take care of her and of himself. I thought it was a bit too long, but I enjoyed it. Although, it's so sad, it's hard to say you enjoyed this. Also I struggled to finish it, the middle section is way too long. I felt like it could have been half the size. Rating :    3/5

  Booker Prize :  WINNER 2007 Plot Time and Place :  Dublin, present day Opening sentence :    "I would like to write down what happened in my grandmother's house the summer I was eight or nine, but I am not sure if it really did happen." Plot summary :  The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house, in the winter of 1968. Review :   I liked it. It's very easy to read. I enjoyed the themes of sadness, grief, family, memory, sibling relationships. Rating :   4/5