Reading All the Bookers!

  Booker Prize :    WINNER 1999 Plot Time and Place :   South Africa, late 1990's Opening sentence :   "For a man of his age, fifty-two, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well." Plot summary :  The story follows  David Lurie, a disgraced 52-year-old professor in post-apartheid Cape Town whose life collapses after an illicit affair with a student, leading him to confront profound personal and societal violence at his daughter's rural farm.  Review :   It's a sad story, in a bleak world, with depressed and depressing characters. I enjoyed the author's intelligent exploration of the following ideas:  South Africa's painful transition out of apartheid, historical guilt, racial tensions, remorse, guilt, shame, retribution, sex as power, sex as domination, the parallels between male violence against women and colonialism. However, the writing style didn't strike me as special, and I couldn't really relate to any of the...

  Booker Prize :    WINNER 1998 Plot Time and Place :   90's, London, Lake District, Amsterdam Opening sentence :     "Two former lovers of Molly Lane stood waiting outside the crematorium chapel with their backs to the February chill." Plot summary :  Horrified by how their late friend Molly lost her mental independence before dying, Clive and Vernon make a suicide/ euthanasia pact. They vow that if either ever begins to lose their mental faculties, the other will arrange a legal mercy killing for them. Soon after, both men face crucial moral dilemmas that pit their professional ambitions against their ethics. Review :   I enjoyed the characters, the writer is really good at showing each character's inner lives and thoughts. The book is humorous and at the same time exploring some dark themes, like jealousy, moral dilemmas and revenge. Rating :  4/5

  Booker Prize :   Winner 1995 Plot Time and Place :   During World War I, in France, Britain and a remote island in Melanesia. Opening sentence :     "In deck-chairs all along the front the bald pink knees of Bradford businessmen nuzzled the sun." Plot summary :  Officer Billy Prior has recovered from shell shock and chooses to return to the Western Front in 1918. Army psychiatrist William Rivers remains in England treating severely traumatized men. He remembers his past anthropological fieldwork on Eddystone Island. Review :   I enjoyed the depiction of what it was like in the battlefield. The characters felt very real, like real people. However, I didn't really get what was the author's purpose in throwing the Eddystone Island part into the mix. I felt it didn't have anything to do with the rest of the story. Overall, a very human book against war. Rating :   3/5

Booker Prize :   Shortlisted 1999 Plot Time and Place :  India and USA, present day Opening sentence :   "On the veranda overlooking the garden, the drive and the gate, they sit together on the creaking sofa-swing, suspended from its iron frame, dangling their legs so that the slippers on their feet hang loose." Plot summary :  This book is about three siblings in a typical middle-class Indian family, and how they navigate their overbearing parents, sibling jealousy and rivalry, and societal and parental expectations. Review :   Really enjoyed this. The writing is really fluid and the dialogues are realistic. I enjoyed the comparison between the two cultures (Indian and American), but especially the main character, Uma. The way she longs to escape, but doesn't dare, the overbearing parents, the jealousy she feels of her sister, the sadness and resignation of the character and the latent misogyny are all interesting themes. 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 :    Shortlisted 1990 Plot Time and Place :  Northern Ireland, during the Troubles Opening sentence :    " At a quarter to nine, just before going off work, Dillon went down to reception to check the staff roster for tomorrow". Plot summary :  An ordinary man trying to get on with his life, Michael Dillon now finds himself suddenly on the edge, faced with a moral choice which leaves him nowhere to turn, in a nightmare maze of dead ends. Review :   Very interesting premise to start with (would you choose to save your wife's life or avert a tragedy causing many deaths?) and a good glimpse of life in Northern Ireland. Although not much really happens, you can't stop reading, it's very gripping.  Rating :  4/5

Booker Prize : Winner 1997 Plot Time and Place :  Kerala, India, in the 1960s. Opening sentence :    "The days are long and humid." Plot summary :  Set in Kerala in the 1960s, the novel paints a vivid picture of life in a rural Indian town, the thoughts and feelings of two small children, and the complexity and hypocrisy of the adults in their world. It is also a poignant lesson in the destructive power of the caste system and moral and political bigotry in general. Review :  This book gave me mixed feelings. The story is sad and depressing, it leaves no room for hope. Sometimes it drags on for too long (though I didn't find it boring).  On the other hand, this author writes beautifully, crafting the sentences in an almost poetic way, and her sentences have a particular rhythm. (They "sound" nice in your head). I also enjoyed the social criticism and the tragic love story.  Rating :   3 and 1/2