#the booker prize

[thefrsers]

Caitriona Balfe reads from "Prophet Song" | The Booker Prize

[brian-in-finance]

Video 📹 from Instagram

Remember… you can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. — CS Lewis

[bookbuffoon]

“Society made exceptions in matters of great beauty.”

Nathan Harris

The Sweetness of Water

[stefito0o]

A historical win for the Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov and his book Time Shelter translated in English by Angela Rodel 👏 🇧🇬

[literaturespeaks-blog]

Kairos is my new poison. So far, worth every drop.

[nandakhil]

Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka- Book Review!

book that was recommended by a friend, who was reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida A Booker Prize winner book by the author. The author of Chinaman too! The moment I heard about the title! The Australian bowler Brad Hogg came to my mind a bowler who is known as the chinaman bowler. The book was indeed the concept of the spin Balling and Bowler but in contemporary fiction writing. Chinaman…

[readingtostaysane]

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch - Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5)

Prophet song presents a dystopian Ireland, where the government turns into tyranny and the police force is allowed to abuse their power in violent ways on their citizens. 

We see our main character Eilish, mother of four, wife to a husband, daughter to a sick father, navigate the struggles that come with her homeland falling apart. Torn about leaving the home she’s always known or stay and wait for this “thing” as she calls it to pass, the reader can clearly see the love of a mother trying her hardest to keep her family from falling apart.

“This feeling now that something has come into the house, she wants to put the baby down, she wants to stand and think, seeing how it stood with the two men and came into the hallway of its own accord, something formless yet felt.”

The book opens with two men interrogating Eilish about her husband’s behavior. This creates an uneasy feeling on the reader and it sets the tone for the rest of the novel. We are made to distrust these men right away and the author makes it clear that something will be changing very quickly, very soon.

“your behaviour looks like the conduct of someone inciting hatred against the state, someone sowing discord and unrest”

When Larry, our main character’s husband is taken for interrogation the police make it clear that they think his behavior is against the state. We later find out that the behavior he is being accused of is protesting for better work conditions.

“the teachers in this country have a right to negotiate for better conditions and to engage in peaceful industrial action which has nothing to do with this so-called crisis facing the state”

Lynch has drawn clear lines in which themes we’ll be discussing throughout the novel. It is never mentioned again why the war began, but it is clear that the reader should remember that all of what’s to happen started because they wanted to prohibit the right to protest.

“if you change ownership of the institutions then you can change ownership of the facts, you can alter the structure of belief, what is agreed upon, that is what they are doing, Eilish, it is really quite simple, the NAP is trying to change what you and I call reality, they want to muddy it like water, if you say one thing is another thing and you say it enough times, then it must be so, and if you keep saying it over and over people accept it as true”

This book does great social commentary in how far the government can shape people’s way of thinking, in other words how propaganda works. They can control the information that gets in the country and distort the truth so that the population doesn’t rebel against them. If someone speaks against the government or questions their actions they get taken away and are imprisoned. It is almost like fate that a book with these themes is released in 2023. 

“Another decree is announced on the news, the listening to or reading of any foreign media has been prohibited, news channels from abroad will be blocked and an internet blackout starts from today.”

This book discusses propaganda in a very straightforward way and it’s written as a conduct to make the reader think about how and why it works, both in the novel and in the real world. We see a constant push and pull from the government and its citizens about real news, trying to discern what’s real or not while the government does the most to block all information.

“what is the world to a child when a father without word can be made to disappear?”

When Larry gets taken away we see Eilish trying to balance her children’s emotions with what is happening with their lives while also balancing what she herself thinks about the situation. 

Throughout this part of the novel we see her in denial when talking to her children, insisting that their father will return. The reader knows he won’t, the children know he won’t, but Eilish wants to keep this sense of normalcy in a world that is falling apart. 

I found very interesting that the author establishes that Larry and Eilish recently had a son, a newborn. When the war erupts he’s no more than two years old. This shows how quickly a scenario can change, the country had been stable enough for them to have a fourth child, until it wasn’t. Now a husband and a father has gone missing and Eilish is left alone with a newborn in her arms and three teenagers to take care of.

“sometimes not doing something is the best way to get what you want, sometimes you have to be quiet and keep your head down, sometimes when you get up in the morning you should spend more time choosing your colours.”

“I no longer have my freedom, you need to understand, there is no freedom to think or to do or to be when we give in to them, I cannot live my life like that, the only freedom left to me is to fight.”

In prophet song there are two main ideas that are discussed: running away or stay. Eilish and her children do not agree with running away, however they are still at odds. Eilish believes they should keep their heads low, her children think they should fight. The narrative clearly demonstrates the pros and cons of both sides and also deals with the battle of motherhood in wanting to keep the children safe in a place that tries its best to not let that happen.

conclusion: the book does what it was set to do. It paints a heartbreaking image of a family going through a tyrant regime that results in war and seeing them facing the consequences in real time. We see them struggling with making the tough decision of leaving the country. We see a mother’s struggle when the children she adores so much want to fight while she wants to keep them away from the conflict. The novel explores current themes about how people perceive conflict and it makes sense that it won the booker prize in the year of 2023.

[nkeshyy]

It occurs to you that people like you—people who burn themselves up in pursuit of survival—rarely survive anyone or anything.

—Jonathan Escoffery, from "If I Survive You."

[mysharona1987]

[waugh-bao]

“I met him [Leonard Cohen] once, when I presented an award to him on behalf of PEN. He was such a sweet man. I even have a photograph of myself being kissed by him. One of my most prized possessions.”-Salman Rushdie (Montreal Gazette, 2017)

"Leonard Cohen kissed me. Actually, this may be the most remarkable photograph I’ve ever been in."-Salman Rushdie (2021)

[kvothes]

Hello! Do you have any recommendations of books to cry to? Not necessarily sad books, anything emotional. I just need to cry about something that’s not ny actual life!!

golly, tall order without knowing what you like or what makes you cry! but i’ll give it a shot. the vaster wilds by lauren groff, which is historical; the naming song by jedediah berry, which is fantasy; be holding by ross gay, which is poetry. all published within the last few years and deeply felt.

the one book i’ve never finished because it stirs up too much emotion in me even though i love it is the shell collector by anthony doerr, which is a book of short stories.

if you tend more YA-ish i like code name verity by elizabeth wein and a tree grows in brooklyn by betty smith.

i feel like this is a deeply random grouping but i tried to cast a wide net. i hope something here looks interesting!

[thefrsers]

Caitriona Balfe | The Booker Prize Awards 2023

[brian-in-finance]

Caitríona in conversation at the 2023 Booker Prize presentation

Caitríona’s conversation starts at 21:41

Video 📹 clip from YouTube (link above clip)

Remember… ever since I remember, my mum brought us to the library; that was our weekly thing. We went in and picked four or five books. I grew up in a very small village and it was just having this window into so many places in in the world. — Caitríona Balfe

Brian’s Post from Sunday

[ijustkindalikebooks]

“There are words and words and none mean anything. And then one sentence means everything.” ― Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

[wordshaveteeth]

It was easy to understand why women feared men with their physical strength and lust and social powers, but women, with their canny intuitions, were so much deeper: they could predict what was to come long before it came, dream it overnight, and read your mind.

- Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These

[gregor-samsung]

" Bailey manda giù un sorso di latte e chiede se il paese è ormai in guerra ed Eilish osserva i baffi bianchi sopra le labbra e l’interrogativo nei suoi occhi. Nei notiziari internazionali la definiscono una rivolta, dice Molly, ma se vogliamo dare alla guerra il nome giusto, dobbiamo chiamarla intrattenimento, ormai siamo spettacolo televisivo per il resto del mondo. Samantha posa forchetta e coltello accanto al piatto. Mio padre lo definisce terrorismo, secondo lui questi tizi non sono altro che terroristi e avranno quello che si meritano, lo sbraita sempre quando vede il telegiornale. Eilish guarda da un’altra parte e Molly resta in silenzio a fissare il proprio piatto. Questo agnello è venuto proprio bene, non ti pare?, dice Eilish, che peccato che Mark non sia qui. Muove il coltello sulla carne senza tagliarla, poi si alza e accende la luce, Bailey la guarda mentre si risiede. Insomma è là che è andato Mark, chiede, ad arruolarsi nell’esercito dei ribelli? Un’espressione di cupa angoscia attraversa il volto di Samantha, mentre Eilish finge di aggiungere sale e Bailey si pulisce la bocca con la manica. Non so di cosa stai parlando, dice la madre, t’ho già spiegato che Mark è andato su nel Nord a studiare. E allora come mai non ci posso parlare? Credi che sono stupido? Perché dici sempre stronzate?

Trafigge la carne con il coltello e poi se la porta alla bocca. Ho sentito dire che l’altro giorno tre disertori sono stati giustiziati per strada, un colpo alla nuca, bang, bang, bang, dice, mimando una pistola con il dito. Eilish mette giù forchetta e coltello e spinge indietro la propria sedia. Non voglio sentire un linguaggio simile, lo rimprovera, Bailey, tu riempi la lavastoviglie, Samantha, ti fermi per il dolce? Possiamo guardarci un film tutti insieme. Molly e Samantha si trasferiscono in soggiorno ed Eilish le segue, poi Molly sale di sopra per andare in bagno e Samantha guarda le foto appese. Non era mia intenzione… sa, dice, con voce vaga, è solo che mio padre non mi sta molto simpatico, secondo me è uno di quei complottisti matti. "

Paul Lynch, Il canto del profeta, traduzione di Riccardo Duranti, 66thand2nd (collana Bookclub n° 75), 2024¹; pp. 147-148.

[Edizione originale: Prophet Song, Oneworld Publications, London, UK, 2023]