WORDS: LOLA BOORMAN
Every year, critics and readers wait with anticipation for the announcement of the Man Booker Prize shortlist. When the long list is released, we dutifully note down the names of the novels, and the authors adding them to our respective reading lists, but it is the Booker shortlist which we bulk buy from Amazon (or if your social conscious is prickling, from your nearest independent bookseller).
It is almost impossible to read an article on the Prize without seeing the word “diversity” crop up a few times. Indeed, Chair of the judging panel, Robert McFarlane said it is “global in its reach, this exceptional shortlist demonstrates the vitality and range of the contemporary novel at its finest.” Undoubtedly, it seems this year that the shortlist is much bigger than usual. Not, of course, in number but in the vast scope of its entries. This is one of the few years in which the guidelines for qualification have been so completely filled, with novels representing and spanning over five continents. Within each of these novels, borders are being crossed, boundaries broken, and historical and cultural divides transcended.
The list features two men and four women, both men (Colm Tóibín and Jim Crace) having been shortlisted before while NoViolet Bulawayo, Eleanor Catton, Jhumpa Lahiri and Ruth Ozeki are all on their first nominations. Crace’s entry, Harvest, has been advertised as his last whilst NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names is her debut novel, also on the list for the Guardian First Book Award. Crace, at 67, is contrasted by frontrunner Eleanor Catton who, at 28, is the youngest person to be shortlisted for the Booker. Catton’s 800-or-so page The Luminaries, is counteracted by Tóibín entry, The Testament of Mary, weighing in at only 104 pages.
Notably, this year is very tough to call and difficult to categorize. There appears to be no theme running through the judges choices, no common attributes which may tip readers toward their favourites. In the run-up to the Prize announcement on October 15, TN2 will publish a series of reviews of the shortlisted entries beginning with Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary.
The Contenders
We Need New Names- NoViolent Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)
The Luminaries – Eleanor Catton (Granta) *Frontrunner*
The Harvest – Jim Crace (Picador) *Frontrunner*
The Lowland- Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)
A Tale for the Time Being – Ruth Ozkei (Canongate)
The Testament of Mary – Colm Tóibín (Viking)
