Well, not one whose cover screamed "read Me!!", and I confess I rather shied away from picking it up. I was aware of the story for many years, and saw a particularly harrowing programme on television a good few years ago. The case of the Scottsboro Boys is a true story of the arrest of 9 black youths (some really only boys) for the rape of 2 young white women on a train in Alabama in 1931- a crime of which they not only weren't guilty, but which never in fact happened. Their subsequent narrow escape from lynching leads on to a heart-breaking trail of mis-trial and injustice and the overwhelming feeling I had from the documentary was of the waste of so many years and lives, and the loathsome figures who wielded such power over others' lives. So - could I bear to go through it all again, knowing how it ends?
I'm glad I did. The story is told chiefly by Alice Whittier, a very modern young woman and a journalist.She reports on the outcry, both in other parts of the USA and abroad which kept the boys' story in the news and mitigated in some degree the vicious response from Alabama's law enforcers and residents. The other voice is that of Ruby Bates - worlds away from Alice in experiences and opportunities. Ruby as one of the "victims" is a chief witnes for the prosecution, until she dares to change her story and confess that the rape never happened.Other stories and personalities flesh out the story and the result is a powerful page-turner, well worth its place on the shortlist.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Monday, 27 April 2009
Burnt Shadows - a winner?
Several things recommended this book to me - a lovely cover, for one, in a line-up not noted for its jackets! In addition a couple of friends whose views I respect had spoken warmly of it, so - greater compliment has no librarian - I bought myself a copy (so as not to deprive Devon Library users of it, and half expecting I would want to re-read it).
The book begins in 2002 with a nameless prisoner, about to be taken to Guantanamo Bay. "How did it come to this?" he wonders. And that's the question Kamila Shamsie leads us through and around and towards. If I outline the main narrative events of the book -- Nagasaki 1945; Delhi 1947; New York 2001/2 -- it may sound obvious, perhaps rather clumsy....but the reality is very different. The sense of place is strong, and the beauty of the landscapes in which these terrible happenings occur is beautifully realised (including that of Afghanistan, which weaves in and out of the thread). It's a huge sweep of a book, but Shamsie never loses control of it - and within it the delicate details are beautifully drawn (and in my case at least, remembered).
I'm a gobbler of books that I like, but in this case I found myself, having thundered through the first 250 pages, slowing my pace - not because it was losing its grip, but because I could see that others, more ruthless than the characters I had come to "know" were driving us all towards a conclusion I wouldn't welcome. Highly recommended! A winner? Charlie Lee Potter, writing in the Independent just as Shadows was longlisted, certainly thought so.
The book begins in 2002 with a nameless prisoner, about to be taken to Guantanamo Bay. "How did it come to this?" he wonders. And that's the question Kamila Shamsie leads us through and around and towards. If I outline the main narrative events of the book -- Nagasaki 1945; Delhi 1947; New York 2001/2 -- it may sound obvious, perhaps rather clumsy....but the reality is very different. The sense of place is strong, and the beauty of the landscapes in which these terrible happenings occur is beautifully realised (including that of Afghanistan, which weaves in and out of the thread). It's a huge sweep of a book, but Shamsie never loses control of it - and within it the delicate details are beautifully drawn (and in my case at least, remembered).
I'm a gobbler of books that I like, but in this case I found myself, having thundered through the first 250 pages, slowing my pace - not because it was losing its grip, but because I could see that others, more ruthless than the characters I had come to "know" were driving us all towards a conclusion I wouldn't welcome. Highly recommended! A winner? Charlie Lee Potter, writing in the Independent just as Shadows was longlisted, certainly thought so.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Miriam Toews: The Flying Troutmans
I hadn't previously discovered Miriam Toews, but I'll certainly look out for her now - thanks, OPF!
The Troutman family is in trouble - Hattie is called back from Paris, where her own love affair is floundering, by a late-night call from her eleven year old neice, Thebes. Hattie's sister Min is sinking into another debilitating period of mental illness, and Thebes is worried about about her brother Logan, who's in trouble in school again. Hattie returns to Canada to care for them, but when Min is hospitalised and seems to want nothing to do with any members of her family, Hattie panics at the unasked-for responsibility of a fifteen year old boy who scarcely ever communicates and an eleven year old girl who never stops. She packs up and takes the children on a road-trip in search of their estranged father - a trip which takes them through the USA and into Mexico. Did I mention it was hilarious? Against the serious tableaux of the effects of long-term mental illness on a family, Toews brings the bohemian characters to life, dirt and all, and a joy they are. It may not be an Orange winner - but I recommend it!
The Troutman family is in trouble - Hattie is called back from Paris, where her own love affair is floundering, by a late-night call from her eleven year old neice, Thebes. Hattie's sister Min is sinking into another debilitating period of mental illness, and Thebes is worried about about her brother Logan, who's in trouble in school again. Hattie returns to Canada to care for them, but when Min is hospitalised and seems to want nothing to do with any members of her family, Hattie panics at the unasked-for responsibility of a fifteen year old boy who scarcely ever communicates and an eleven year old girl who never stops. She packs up and takes the children on a road-trip in search of their estranged father - a trip which takes them through the USA and into Mexico. Did I mention it was hilarious? Against the serious tableaux of the effects of long-term mental illness on a family, Toews brings the bohemian characters to life, dirt and all, and a joy they are. It may not be an Orange winner - but I recommend it!
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED!
If you'd like to see what they are, have a look at the OPF website - www.orangeprize.co.uk
This is the downside of shadowing a literary prize - the moment at which the shortlist overtakes your reading and you're looking at the next book in the to-read pile and thinking - but isn't that one a bit of a loser? Yet if I look back on previous Orange prizes I can find ones that didn't make it from the longlist, but which still gave me pleasure - The Lovely Bones in 2003; Niagara Falls all over again and The Secret Life of Bees in 2002; and what about 1999, when Mantel's The Giant O'Brien didn't get onto the shortlist, and Kingsolver's masterly and still-loved Poisonwood Bible didn't win?
So - I'll still add my comments on the books I've enjoyed but which haven't got to the last 6 ... and try to get my hands on the remaining 3 which I haven't yet read!
This is the downside of shadowing a literary prize - the moment at which the shortlist overtakes your reading and you're looking at the next book in the to-read pile and thinking - but isn't that one a bit of a loser? Yet if I look back on previous Orange prizes I can find ones that didn't make it from the longlist, but which still gave me pleasure - The Lovely Bones in 2003; Niagara Falls all over again and The Secret Life of Bees in 2002; and what about 1999, when Mantel's The Giant O'Brien didn't get onto the shortlist, and Kingsolver's masterly and still-loved Poisonwood Bible didn't win?
So - I'll still add my comments on the books I've enjoyed but which haven't got to the last 6 ... and try to get my hands on the remaining 3 which I haven't yet read!
Marilynne Robinson - HOME
Marilynne Robinson has emerged as one of the most respected of contemporary American novelists. Her first novel, Housekeeping, was well-received, but it was a further 20 years before she published, in 2004, her Pulitzer Prize winning Gilead. HOME takes place in the same period as Gilead. This time we hear Jack's story - the prodigal son of the family has come home after 20 years, seeking refuge from his present troubles and trying to make peace with his past. He find his father frail and elderly, yet still holding fiercely to his beliefs and values, and now being minded by Jack's sister Glory, herself a refugee from personal troubles and pain.
The narrative unwinds slowly, the writing is tender, and the simplest of acts and conversations are revealed as tortuous. I enjoyed it hugely, felt moved by the struggles of the family members to communicate with each other, and saddened when they failed to do so, when they judged and misunderstood each other. Readers of Gilead have the advantage over the characters in Home, and know things the characters can only speculate about. It stands alone a a novel - but for a real treat, read both books.
The narrative unwinds slowly, the writing is tender, and the simplest of acts and conversations are revealed as tortuous. I enjoyed it hugely, felt moved by the struggles of the family members to communicate with each other, and saddened when they failed to do so, when they judged and misunderstood each other. Readers of Gilead have the advantage over the characters in Home, and know things the characters can only speculate about. It stands alone a a novel - but for a real treat, read both books.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
They're in!
All the longlisted titles have now arrived and are already flying off the shelves in the participating libraries. We'll learn on April 21st who's made it to the shortlist - but readers will continue to enjoy the titles which didn't make it, and debate among themselves how the judges could get it so wrong!
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Lissa Evans: Their Finest Hour and a Half
Chosen – well, because it was there on the shelf. It’s a story set in 1940. France has fallen, bombs are falling on London, and the call goes out for a morale-boosting film (preferably one which will appeal to the American market). As in so many areas, it’s the ones left behind after all the talents have gone onto greater things who have to do their best to answer the call. Lissa Evans comes with good comic credentials, having been producer/director on classic TV comedy including Room 101, Father Ted and The Kumars before turning to fiction (this is her third book).
I didn’t like the title – sounded rather like a Robert Rankin – but warmed to the Acknowledgements (surely everybody reads those first?) which included not only librarians (always a plus point) but also the author of “How We Lived Then” which she claims awoke in her 13 year old self an abiding interest in the Home Front. On reading that, I immediately saw in my mind’s eye that series of books, crammed with line drawings – to be inspired by such modest works marks her out as Someone Worth Reading.
I wasn’t disappointed. Puzzled, perhaps. That made me think about reading for literary prizes, and how I sometimes find myself reading things a little differently from the way I read other books. It’s as if I’m responding on 2 levels – “am I enjoying/being moved/being challenged by this book?” but also “am I seeing what the judges saw in this book?”
But casting those inhibitions aside, what an enjoyable read. Lissa Evans has created a wonderful set of characters, from the cunning and self-delusional Ambrose Hilliard (imagine a slightly less louche Chuffer Dandridge) to Arthur, Special Military Advisor, and all too aware of his lack of credentials for the role. She somehow manages to pull off that very difficult trick of leading her readers to change their minds and alter their judgement about some characters – without making us feel manipulated.
Her filmic experience gives a real feeling of accuracy to the story of the making of Just an Ordinary Wednesday – and behind and around all the minor power struggles and irritations is the Blitz, dealt with in a matter of fact way which somehow makes it seem all the more real and chilling.
So – great characters, fine plotting, humour and pathos, and an ending worth waiting for.
Recommended!
I didn’t like the title – sounded rather like a Robert Rankin – but warmed to the Acknowledgements (surely everybody reads those first?) which included not only librarians (always a plus point) but also the author of “How We Lived Then” which she claims awoke in her 13 year old self an abiding interest in the Home Front. On reading that, I immediately saw in my mind’s eye that series of books, crammed with line drawings – to be inspired by such modest works marks her out as Someone Worth Reading.
I wasn’t disappointed. Puzzled, perhaps. That made me think about reading for literary prizes, and how I sometimes find myself reading things a little differently from the way I read other books. It’s as if I’m responding on 2 levels – “am I enjoying/being moved/being challenged by this book?” but also “am I seeing what the judges saw in this book?”
But casting those inhibitions aside, what an enjoyable read. Lissa Evans has created a wonderful set of characters, from the cunning and self-delusional Ambrose Hilliard (imagine a slightly less louche Chuffer Dandridge) to Arthur, Special Military Advisor, and all too aware of his lack of credentials for the role. She somehow manages to pull off that very difficult trick of leading her readers to change their minds and alter their judgement about some characters – without making us feel manipulated.
Her filmic experience gives a real feeling of accuracy to the story of the making of Just an Ordinary Wednesday – and behind and around all the minor power struggles and irritations is the Blitz, dealt with in a matter of fact way which somehow makes it seem all the more real and chilling.
So – great characters, fine plotting, humour and pathos, and an ending worth waiting for.
Recommended!
The struggle....
The struggle with all literary prizes is to get the books to the reader. A title longlisted for OPF can be published any time from last April to - well, a couple of weeks ago - so examination of the list the day after the announcement can reveal some books no longer available in hardback (and not yet published in paperback) ... or some whose publication has been delayed... or some that we just didn't buy for stock in the first place. Last year was truly horribilis, with several titles never becoming available to us at all.
This year I'm feeling more optimistic - and as if to reward me for this unaccountable break with my true nature, the books are beginning to arrive! Not all 20 titles, but enough to be going on with. The staff at HQ who can turn promotions on a sixpence when asked, had the books unpacked in a flash - invoiced, prepared for use, formed into collections for the participating libraries and packed up and on the van heading for Exeter, Buckfastleigh, Ilfracombe and Kingsbridge.
This year I'm feeling more optimistic - and as if to reward me for this unaccountable break with my true nature, the books are beginning to arrive! Not all 20 titles, but enough to be going on with. The staff at HQ who can turn promotions on a sixpence when asked, had the books unpacked in a flash - invoiced, prepared for use, formed into collections for the participating libraries and packed up and on the van heading for Exeter, Buckfastleigh, Ilfracombe and Kingsbridge.
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