The Man Booker Prize

Keeping With the Expectation of Not Keeping With Expectations

This entry is overdue but time has been in short supply lately. The Man Booker Prize is undoubtedly the biggest literary event of the year and the winner usually benefits from heavily increased sales. Not only does the book that is short-listed sell well, but perhaps more importantly, winning the Man Book Prize or even being short-listed, has the potential of shifting some backlist titles.

This year’s list is as follows:

Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss – Hamish Hamilton
Grenville, Kate The Secret River – Canongate
Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down – Canongate
Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men – Viking
St Aubyn, Edward Mother’s Milk – Picador
Waters, Sarah The Night Watch – Virago

The only title that I am familiar with is the latest Sarah Waters novel, although I have never read any of her books. I do, however, remember the strong advertising campaign that was run for her and she has now become the favourite to win the award.

Personally I am a bit disappointed that David Mitchell’s, Black Swan Green didn’t make the shortlist, but then again that was somehow expected—at least on my behalf. David Mitchell has been short-listed three times, which is an exceptional account considering that he has only written three books prior to Black Swan Green. His last book, Cloud Atlas should have won him the most coveted award in the UK publishing industry, but he was robbed by the seemingly dull John Banville. If Mitchell would have been short-listed this time round he probably would have won just because the judges wouldn’t have known what else to do. Give him the award and people say he received it because he has been nominated three times before, or don’t give it to him and risk creating a strong biased against him that would mean he won’t be nominated again and probably never win. Conisdering that he was once again the favourite to win the award – according to the bookies – it is a shame to not even see him on the short-list. My prediction though is that his next book will win it! (Remember, you read it here first.)

In regards to this year’s list there isn’t really much more to say. I am delighted that Canongate have two titles on the short-list and I hope that they win it, although neither of their two books have really grabbed my attention. The only one that sounds distinctively interesting—to me at least—is Mother’s Milk, of which The Guardian says, “St Aubyn's novel is a sequel to his 1990s trilogy, Some Hope, which follows the fluctuating fortunes of the privileged, dysfunctional Melrose family. Fans will be familiar with his wonderfully malicious prose, which is, if anything, even more dazzling here than in the previous three books.”

The winner will be announced October 10 and I promise to be on time to deliver the winner and some useless ramblings.