The Man Booker Prize shortlist is announced next week. I have now read 9 of the 13 on the longlist. And no, I wont have read the others by Wednesday - not least because one of the nominated titles isnt even published yet! Heres my Amazon review of the 9th: The Lives of Others is an impressive, but ultimately not entirely satisfactory book. Impressive in its scale and scope, as it follows the interwoven lives of one upper middle class family in West Bengal throughout the twentieth century, but with particular focus on the 1960s. Not entirely satisfactory as it feels too long, and is sometimes difficult to follow in terms of chronology, and particularly the various names of the characters involved. A helpful appendix provides a note on names and relations, but as I read on the Kindle I didnt encounter this until it was far too late to be of help or interest. Probably the most engaging elements of The Lives of Others come in the diary written by one of the characters as he becomes a Maoist activist in remote villages. The description of the hunger and poverty, hopelessness and helplessness of many of the exploited villagers in the face of corrupt landowners and money lenders was convincing. But there were other storylines which seemed less well developed and lacked focus. Whilst I was in no way looking for a happy ending, it was disappointing to realise that my overriding feeling on finishing this book was relief. Neel Mukherjee is clearly a good writer, and I may well be interested in reading other books by him, but I dont expect I will revisit The Lives of Others, and I cant imagine enthusiastically recommending it to others. As such, I would be surprised if it progressed from the Booker Prize longlist to the shortlist.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 20:56:32 +0000