Thoughts on the Booker Shortlist and the Giller Longlist
by Sunita
Yes, it’s awards season again. Labor Day is over and my library holds are coming in with a vengeance, what with all the Big September Releases. The Booker shortlist and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist are coincidentally released on the same day. I woke up to the Booker news, which had been announced at 10am BST, and then waited for the Giller announcement to be delivered from St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador at 8:30am my time.
The Booker shortlist:
- The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
- Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
- An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
- Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
- 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
I’ve only read one of the six (the Obioma, which I reviewed here). That seems unusually low for me, but I do own three of them and have a fourth coming from the library in two weeks. And I’d read five of the seven longlisted books that didn’t make it. I will probably not read the Atwood any time soon. I read The Handmaid’s Tale back in the 1980s and still have my ancient mass-market paperback edition. It made a big impression on me then but I haven’t wanted to revisit it, and I had no interest in the TV adaptation. So I’ll wait for the reviews and word of mouth to see if I want to read the sequel. The Rushdie is getting mixed reviews, but I’m curious about it and I got in early on the library hold list so I can at least sample that before the winner is announced.
I was sorry not to see the Luiselli on the shortlist, especially after listening to her talk about it and read from it at the National Book Festival. My reading and reviewing of it was shaped by my knowledge of her personal life and Alvaro Enrigue’s work, but the panel I attended helped me separate that from the text, and the further away from it I get the more I think it is an excellent novel. But there are plenty of US awards coming up, and I’m sure it will be in consideration for at least some of those. Of the others, I don’t have strong feelings about their omissions from the shortlist. I enjoyed the Braithwaite and the Lanchester entries but they each had shortcomings and I don’t see them as Booker winners., I think the Barry, which I have finished and need to review, is stronger but a bit slight compared to some of the other entries. And I was the outlier on the Porter from the beginning.
On to the Giller longlist:
- Days of Moonlight by André Alexis
- The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
- Immigrant City by David Bezmozgis
- Greenwood by Michael Christie
- Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles
- The Innocents by Michael Crummey
- Dream Sequence by Adam Foulds
- Late Breaking by K. D. Miller
- Dual Citizens by Alex Ohlin
- Lampedusa by Steven Price
- Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
- Reproduction by Ian Williams
I love the Giller Prize. Canadian novels tend to fly under the radar in both the US and UK book coverage, so the Giller is key in introducing me to novels I wouldn’t otherwise come across. In both of the past two years I’ve found hidden-to-me authors and novels that I’m very grateful to learn about. Last year it was Éric Dupont (his Giller-shortlisted novel Songs for the Cold of Heart is finally getting a worldwide release in 2020), and in 2017 it was half the list. I still smile when I think about I Am A Truck, and Minds of Winter rekindled my interest in reading about Arctic exploration (which makes TheH happy because it leads to shared reading experiences).
As usual, I’m unfamiliar with most of these. I’m a bit surprised to see the Atwood listed, because I believe she regularly asks not to be nominated. But this is a Big Book in many ways, so maybe that’s the explanation. I’m more surprised to see no French-language entries; there’s usually at least one.
I am completely unsurprised to see that Penguin Random House is cleaning up again (as it has in the Booker short- and longlists), with nearly half of the list. But there are also some small presses, notably House of Anansi and Biblioasis. And there are three short story collections, which we don’t get to see included with novels in a lot of awards.
So there you have it. I will not be reading the entire Giller longlist, but I will definitely look at all the entries and read a handful.
ReaderWriterVille 
I am waiting for reviews and word of mouth on the Atwood as well. I read The Handmaid’s Tale in the 1990s and was impressed with it but I found it chilling. This was during the Bush II administration and I can only imagine how much more frightening a book like that would be today, when reproductive rights are being decimated. I’m not sure if I can take a sequel.
I understand that the TV show ranges far afield from the book, but I can’t bring myself to watch that either.
My first thought when I heard that Atwood was publishing a sequel was a cynical one: that she was cashing in on all the publicity around the show and around The Handmaid’s Tale in the wake of Trump’s rise to power. But then it occurred to me that it’s possible that viewing the TV show and/or Trump’s rise to power had sparked her own creativity and desire to return to that world. Certainly it’s a world that speaks to our current reality.
On another topic, I’ve been meaning to ask what the reviews and word of mouth on Frankissstein have been like. I’m curious about it and I’ve wanted to read Winterson for years.
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@Janine: My reaction to The Handmaid’s Tale is much the same as yours. I have no real wish to revisit it, and while I agree with you that she may have been creatively inspired to return to the world, I’m not sure I want to join her.
I wasn’t interested in the Winterson because for the most part I avoid retellings, but it’s received quite a bit of positive word of mouth. The UK critics have been overall very complimentary but some of the GR reviews, including by reviewers whose judgement I tend to trust, were critical of the way the trans character was depicted.
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I am determined to read the Lucy Ellman. Before the winner is announced? Maybe not. I just looked at how many days left I have on the Obioma, and realized it is not going to happen right now. The first week of school is too exhausting. I tried to start it twice and gave up because I couldn’t concentrate.
Did you read The Leopard? I can’t remember. I know a lot of people who enjoyed Steven Price’s first book and I’m curious about this one. And I know a lot of Michael Crummey fans. David Bezmozgis’ first book of short stories was great but I haven’t read him since. I should do some CanLit catch-up! (But I, too, have no desire to revisit this Atwood world).
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@Sunita: Yes. Also regarding Atwood’s book, I saw a comment on Goodreads suggesting that a sequel isn’t needed or warranted, and I agree with that, too. The Handmaid’s Tale had a perfect ending; gut wrenching, but just about as close to perfect as it possible to get. I don’t see what can be added that would enhance it. A sequel would almost certainly be gilding the lily, except that in this case the lily is a very spare flower, a white calla lily perhaps, and it’s this spareness that is the very thing that makes it so striking.
Thanks for the rundown on the Winterson. A shame about the depiction of the trans character.
@Liz: I’m interested in the Ellman as well and I can’t wait to hear what you and Sunita think. I was queried about reviewing it last month because of my review of Milkman, but it was short notice for a thousand-page book and I was intimidated by the length. I turned it down with a lot of regret, because the query was lovely and the book sounded excellent.
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I’ve been looking a Giller plot summaries over on The Big River. I may get sucked into Greenwood. I do have a thing for multi-generational sagas. BTW, was ‘Our Homesick Songs’ a Giller longlist book? I really loved that one.
Sunita, I am sure you have watched the video from ParksCanada that features the first interior shots of HMS Terror. Besides being totally fascinating, it made me want to re-read ‘Minds of Winter’.
For the curious among you, Ron Charles reviewed the new Atwood in today’s print edition of the Washington Post. He liked it, found it to be clever; I’m still not going to read it.
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@Liz: I want to read the Ellmann too, and I have the same beginning-of-term problem. But I am determined. I really liked Sehgal’s review of it in the NYT, and the little bit I’ve read is mesmerizing. I haven’t read any of the authors on the Giller longlist, although I’ve wanted to read Sweetland and I even had it checked out of the library.
@Janine: That’s a really good way to put it, about the sequel. The story is so complete in its own way, I don’t want to revisit it. I’m sure she’ll do an interesting job with it, and I’m sure many readers will enjoy it. But I’m sitting this one out. We will keep you posted on the Ellmann!
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@Barb: I have not seen that video but I will definitely look for it. I’ve had the same desire to reread Minds of Winter,, there’s so much going on that I didn’t fully grasp the first time. And yes on Our Homesick Songs, it made the shortlist but not the longlist, and I loved it too. And I agree on Greenwood.
I’ve updated my 2019 reading spreadsheet with a Giller page. Quite a few of them are available either in print or ebook form (aside from the ones that haven’t been released anywhere yet), six of them are small press books that can be purchased directly from the publisher or from Kobo. So I’m leaning toward reading those first.
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