Reading All the Bookers!

  Booker Prize :    WINNER INTERNATIONAL BOOKER 2017 Plot Time and Place :  Present day Israel Opening sentence :  "Good evening! Good evening! Good evening to the majestic city of Caesariyaaaaaah!" Plot summary : A stand-up comedian delivers a shockingly cruel routine about guilt and betrayal. (from thebookerprizes.com) Review :   I read it in one sitting, which is a good sign. Somehow, it was like staring at a car crash: you just couldn't look away. However, I kept waiting for something terrible to happen, storywise, and it just didn't, the ending was disappointing. But I enjoyed the portrait of a bullied, lonely boy, and also of the grief-stricken, guilty narrator. Rating :   3/5

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 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER 2019 Plot Time and Place :  A village in Oman, at various times during the 20th century. Opening sentence : "Mayya, forever immersed in her Singer sewing machine, seemed lost to the outside world". Plot summary :  In an Omani village, we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla, who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional society to its complex present. Review : I enjoyed the beautiful writing style, alternating between different characters' voices. I also liked getting to know such a different culture.  Rating :   3/5

  Booker Prize :  Shortlisted 2024 Plot Time and Place :  Present day France Opening sentence :  "Neanderthals were prone to depression, he said." Plot summary :  Sadie Smith - an American undercover agent of ruthless tactics, bold opinions and clean beauty - is sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France. Her mission: to infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists led by the charismatic svengali Bruno Lacombe. (from thebookerprizes.com) Review :   A great read, fast-paced, intelligent, thought-provoking and surprising. And a great female protagonist: cynical, strong and independent.  Rating :   4/5

Booker Prize :   Shortlisted 2024 Plot Time and Place :  The Netherlands, 1961 Opening sentence :  "Isabel found a broken piece of ceramic under the roots of a dead gourd." Plot summary : Two very different women meet and fall in love, but all is not what it seems... Review :  Wow. It's hard to imagine something better than this winning the Booker this year. (At the time of writing, the 2024 winner is not yet known). Really good writing, great story, makes you think about war, love, sibling relationships, historical injustices and repair, love between women, about loss, grief and obsession... Rating :  4/5

  Booker Prize : 2024 WINNER Plot Time and Place :  Present day, International Space Station Opening sentence :    "Rotating about the earth in their spacecraft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene." Plot summary :  .Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth, and they observe our silent blue planet. Review :   On reading the synopsis, you'd think this would be completely boring. But it manages not to be boring at all, although it is quite calm and contemplative. I liked it very much. The writing is beautiful, the descriptions of life in the space station are interesting, and the love for our planet that this story conveys is just touching.  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