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PLAT DU JOUR |
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| Our regular feature Plat du Jour offers up an alternative Man Booker longlist. The Man Booker season is always a lively one. There is usually a good old ruck about something whether it’s bad language (How Late it Was, How Late, James Kellman, 1994 ), an unsatisfying joint winner pleasing no-one and annoying plenty (The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje and Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth, 1992), right author, wrong book (Amsterdam, Ian McEwan, 1998) or what the heck was that all about? (The Bone People, Keri Hulme, 1985). Happily, this year there was a great cheer when the longlist was announced and the judges were applauded for pulling together a high-quality collection of some of the finest books published in 2005. Less happy was the response to the shortlist that missed some of the favourites to take the prize, including Ian McEwan’s post 9/11 novel Saturday and Salman Rushdie’s mesmerising Shalimar the Clown. In the end it was John Banville with The Sea who was the lucky man on the night, although rumour has it that it was a close call between him and Kazuo Ishiguro with Never Let Me Go. Just to add our two pennies worth and to add to the confusion, we have compiled our own longlist – the ones that got away. As even if it was a pretty good longlist there’s always more to add to it. So, read on for more of the great and the good of 2005. Joanna Briscoe – Sleep With Me A good one for the Booker season, Sleep With Me is a useful guide to the preciousness of literary London life, as well as being a potent love story featuring a tormented triangle. Briscoe’s novel is seductive and passionate, powerful and compulsive. Carol Clewlow – Not Married, Not Bothered Almost worth including for the title alone, Not Married, Not Bothered is a refreshing antidote to the single-and-desperate novels favoured by some chick-lit authors. Examining different women at different stages of their romantic life, this is a refreshing story about life, love and celibacy. Louise Dean – This Human Season This Human Season confronts one of the most complex and difficult times in recent British history, Northern Ireland in the late 1970’s. Dean brings together two families caught up in the tragedy of a country torn by war. Diana Evans – 26a 26a tells the story of Neasdon born and bred twins who retreat into the attic of their family home to contemplate the failing marriage of their Nigerian born mother and Derbyshire born father. Smart, witty and wise, this is a unique story of an eccentric but loveable family. Bernardine Evaristo – Soul Tourist From the writer who brought Roman London to life in the energetic The Emperor’s Babe, Soul Tourist is a wondrous journey, reminiscent of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Vibrant and magical, Evaristo’s prose is stunning. Laurie Graham – Gone With the Windsors Laugh-out-loud books rarely feature on any list associated with the Man Booker, but if the judges ever did decide to pick on a funny writer, Laurie Graham would have to be a top choice. Her latest book is an effervescent novel based on the life of Mrs Simpson – caustically funny, vivid and original. P. D. James – The Lighthouse If a crime writer were ever to be shortlisted, P. D. James would be an extremely deserving winner. The classiest of crime writers, her novels are dark, evocative and gripping. The Lighthouse features her much-loved detective and part-time poet Adam Dalgliesh, this time tackling a bizarre murder set on a remote island. Tim Lott – The Seymour Tapes Lott’s tightly plotted novel is inventively structured and a rip-roaring read to boot. The story is told as a series of transcripts based around the death of Dr Alex Seymour and also features a neatly post-modern twist as the author himself is employed to sort out the mystery. Cunning and thrilling. Kevin MacNeil – The Stornoway Way Poet Kevin MacNeil has turned his poetic genius to fiction in this humorous account of life in the Outer Hebrides. Hilarious, inventive and readable, The Stornoway Way tells the story of an angry young man railing against the culture in which he is living as well as battling with the encroaching culture of globalisation. Stephanie Merritt – Real The harrowing tale of a love affair unravelling is bleak and desperate, yet retains a humour and warmth that makes this an absorbing and moving novel. Real is the story of yet another eternal triangle and the disullisionment and pain that is an inevitable part of that. Alice Munro – Runaway Yes, yes, we know – short stories aren’t permitted in Man Booker world, however Munro’s fabulous new collection does contain three interconnected short stories that perhaps could count as a very, very short novel – sort of. Anyway, she is a superb writer who deserves huge recognition for her delicate and multi-layered stories. Patrick Neate – City of Tiny Lights Neate is a great chronicler of contemporary London, and in City of Tiny Lights he brings together the multi-cultural melting pot of Chiswick, as seen through the eyes of an alcoholic Ugandan Asian private detective. Wise-cracking and slick City of Tiny Lights is also an intriguing examination of Britishness, prejudice and identity. Caryl Phillips – Dancing in the Dark The ever sharp new novel by Phillips is a haunting and melancholy account of a great performer battling with race politics at the turn of century America. Beautiful and gripping, this is Phillips on fine form. Rebecca Ray – Newfoundland Ray’s first novel presents a brilliantly gloomy picture of a drab town on the Welsh border. But don’t be put off, it is also a penetrating account of a complex family and community seen through the eyes of an incomer whose attempts to help go horribly wrong. Fiona Shaw – The Picture She Took Shaw’s second novel is a sophisticated historical romance that captures the damage and the pain caused by war. With exquisitely drawn observation combined with a rollicking adventure story, The Picture She Took is powerful and compulsive. Vikas Swarup – Q&A A lively and quirky story from a master storyteller, Q&A is the story of a poor Indian boy, Ram who finds a unique means of survival – winning the TV quiz show Who Will Win A Billion? We are taken on an amazing journey through Ram’s life and contemporary India as the story unfolds. Adam Thorpe – The Rules of Perspective Meticulously researched, tenderly written and rich in storyline, The Rules of Perspective offers an astonishing insight into the second world war as seen through the perspective of art, military strategy and the lives of ordinary people. |
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