Reading All the Bookers!

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  International Booker 2022 Plot Time and Place :  India and Pakistan, present day. Opening sentence :    "A tale tells itself." Plot summary :  In northern India, an 80-year-old woman slips into a deep depression at the death of her husband, then resurfaces to gain a new lease of life. Review :   I appreciate what the author was trying to do (reinventing language, playing with words and sounds), but this was just too long. 739 pages of wordplay and soundplay, and the story is not so interesting. However, I persevered, and by the end it gets more like a "normal" story and the ending is quite beautiful. But altogether, it just didn't work for me. Rating :   2/5

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

  Booker Prize:  Winner 2008 Plot Time and Place :  Present day India Opening sentence:    "Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English." Plot summary:  The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India's class struggle in a globalized world, as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. Review:   This one grew on me. At first, I wondered why such an apparently light, funny read had won the Booker. But as I went on reading, I really liked the social critique embedded in the story. It's easy to have moral scruples when you've never been hungry... Lots of food for thought and very funny at the same time. A nice surprise.  Rating:   3/5