Reading All the Bookers!

Booker Prize :   Shortlisted 2022 Plot Time and Place : Ireland 1985 Opening sentence :   "In October there were yellow trees." Plot summary : In Catholic Ireland, a man named Bill Furlong discovers the truth about what goes on inside one of the Magdalene "laundries". Review :   A short book, but very powerful. A meditation on what it means to do the right thing, or to look away. Delivers a pretty strong punch. Rating : 4/5

  Booker Prize :   Shortlisted 2007 Plot Time and Place : USA, Pakistan, around 2001 Opening sentence :   "Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you." Plot summary : A Pakistani immigrant who since 9/11 has become alienated with the USA tells his story to an American stranger. (from thebookerprizes.com) Review : It was i nteresting to get to know the point of view of an immigrant in America. I also really enjoyed the writing: the unreliable narrator, the leaving some aspects open to the reader's interpretation or imagination, the stream of consciousness writing. Also it is a critique of American prejudices, sense of superiority, and out of control capitalism. Rating : 4/5