Reading All the Bookers!

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...

  Booker Prize:  Winner 2019 Plot Time and Place :  America in the future Opening sentence:   "Only dead people are allowed to have statues, but I have been given one while still alive." Plot summary:  Sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale" Review:   I thought this would be a disappointing read, as sequels usually are. But of course, The Literary Goddess (Atwood) does not disappoint! This is as brilliant as THT. Rating:   5/5

  Booker Prize:  Shortlisted 2003 Plot Time and Place :  In the future / North America Opening sentence:    "Snowman wakes before dawn". Plot summary :  Oryx is a mysterious woman, recognized by Jimmy and Crake as the girl from a child pornography site. Crake hires her for sexual services and as a teacher to the Crakers, but she secretly becomes Jimmy's lover as well. After the Catastrophe, her memory continues to haunt Snowman. Review:  The whole trilogy ( Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, Maddaddam)  is brilliant. This book makes us think about the future, the state of this planet, what it means to be human, personal responsibility, the dangers of tinkering with genetic engineering.  It's unforgettable and pretty disturbing, like most stuff from (The Literary Goddess) Atwood.  Rating:  5/5

  Booker Prize:  2002 Winner Plot Time and Place : 1960's and 70's, India, Mexico, Canada, Pacific Ocean. Opening sentence:   "My suffering left me sad and gloomy" Plot summary :  A young man survives a shipwreck and spends months in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Review:  Maybe I wasn't in the right state of mind when I read this, or maybe I didn't get what all the fuss was about, but I just couldn't enjoy this. I thought it was just childish, pointless, and a bit boring.  Rating:  2/5

Booker Prize:  Booker 2000 Winner Plot Time and Place : Canada 1998 Opening sentence:   "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge". Plot summary :   The novel explores the complex relationship between two sisters, Iris and Laura. The novel is structured as a nested narrative, with the main story of the sisters' lives framed by a science fiction story about a blind assassin that Laura wrote before her death. Review:  Amazing. A story inside a story inside a story. Keeps you really concentrated. Made me a lifelong Atwood fan.  Rating:  5 out of 5 

  Booker Prize:  Booker 1986 shortlisted Plot Time and Place : USA in the future Opening sentence: "We slept in what had once been the gymnasium" Plot summary : It's about a totalitarian state called Gilead which used to be the United States. Gilead is ruled by religious extremists. Review:  I read this more than 20 years ago, and it was brilliant and scary. Reading it now is even scarier. The interesting thing is the stuff that's shown in the book is happening right now in certain parts of the world. And some other stuff could very easily be implemented in the so called "Free World"... and we wouldn't even notice it before it was too late.  It's one of those books that you will never forget.   Rating:  5 out of 5