Reading All the Bookers!

  Booker Prize :   Shortlisted 2023 Plot Time and Place :   Ireland, present day Opening sentence :   "In the next town over, a man had killed his family". Plot summary : " Clocking in at more than 600 pages, it is the story of a well-to-do Irish family in financial, emotional and existential trouble: Dickie Barnes, who has taken over his father’s car showroom; his wife Imelda, a local beauty; daughter Cassie, preparing for university; and 12-year-old son PJ. The after-effects of the financial crash have crippled the motor business, and now that the money and the good times have run out, Dickie hides away in local woods, building a shelter against the collapse of civilisation while Imelda furiously eBays their possessions. Cassie fears for her future; PJ fears divorce. We see the same few months through the eyes of each in turn, during floods and drought, as slow‑building ecological disaster parallels the family’s own unfolding apocalypse." (by Justine Jordan in...

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 :   WINNER 2018 Plot Time and Place :  Northern Ireland, the 1970's Opening sentence : "The day Somebody McSomebody put a gun to my breast and called me a cat and threatened to shoot me was the same day the milkman died." Plot summary :  The story follows an 18-year-old girl who is harassed by an older married man, known as "Milkman". Review :  Negative aspects: the stream-of-consciousness narration gets tiring, and at points it just feels like the narrator is rambling on and on about nothing, and that nothing happens. Positive aspects: the humour; the feminist aspect; learning about life in a small town; learning about life during the Troubles. Rating :  3/5

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 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

  Booker Prize :   Shortlisted 1976 Plot Time and Place :  Belfast and Paris, the 1970's Opening sentence :    " "The plane from Belfast arrived on time, but when the passengers disembarked there was a long wait for baggage." Plot summary :   A surgeon's wife embarks on a passionate affair with a younger man, while on holiday in Paris. Review :   This author is very good at getting inside the characters' minds and showing the reader what they think and feel. I enjoyed how the book explores the themes of religion, guilt, and also the feminist angle of the whole story. However, the ending was disappointing. Rating :    3/5

Booker Prize :  Shortlisted 1987 Plot Time and Place :  Eastern Europe, before the fall of Communism. Opening sentence :    "The car taking him back to the Residence entered Proclamation Square sometime between nine and nine-fifteen." Plot summary :  It's a political thriller about Stephen Bem, a Cardinal who is in conflict with the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy and finds himself caught in the middle of an escalating revolution.  Review :   It is very engaging, well written, with a good pace and interesting characters.  Rating :   4/5

  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:  Shortlisted 2010 Plot Time and Place :  In the backyard of a kidnapper's house, inside a locked room, present time. Opening sentence:   "Today I'm five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I'm changed to five, abracadabra." Plot summary:  Jack's mom was kidnapped five years ago, and is being kept locked up in a tiny room. She got pregnant with Jack because she was raped by the kidnapper. She has lived with Jack inside the tiny room for the past 5 years (Jack's whole life). She tries to give Jack some kind of routine and a basic education. The novel is told from 5 year old Jack's perspective.  Review:  I am not one to tear up easily with a story in a book. But this one got to my heartstrings. The love a mother has for her child, the way the story is told through a child's eyes. It's beautiful. And the movie is great too. Rating:   4/5