Booker Prize 2023 Shortlist Reaction
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- The shortlist for the 2023 #BookerPrize is here! Here are my thoughts about the books that made it (and the ones that didn’t). Expand for more information. 👇
Links 💻
The Booker Website: thebookerprize...
The Announcement Video: • The Booker Prize 2023 ...
Further Viewing 🎥
The Longlist Reaction: • Booker Prize Longlist ...
Last Year’s Winner Reaction: • Booker Prize Winner Re...
My Friday Reads Featuring If I Survive You: • Friday Reads: Ranting ...
My Friday Reads Featuring This Other Eden: • Friday Reads: Emotiona...
My Deep Dive on Tinkers: • How On Earth Did Tinke...
The Shortlist 📚
Study For Obedience, Sarah Bernstein
If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery
This Other Eden, Paul Harding
Prophet Song, Paul Lynch
Western Lane, Chetna Maroo
The Bee Sting, Paul Murray
The Longlist 📕
The House of Doors, Tan Twan Eng
In Ascension, Martin MacInnes
All the Little Bird-Hearts, Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Pearl, Siân Hughes
How to Build a Boat, Elaine Feeney
Old God’s Time, Sebastian Barry
A Spell of Good Things, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
My husband made a cookbook! Check it out here:
www.blurb.com/...
But wait, there's more!
Email: supposedlyfungreg-at-gmail.com
Storygraph: app.thestorygr...
Instagram: / supposedlyfun
Twitter: / supposedlyfun
Website: supposedlyfun....
I guessed 5 out of the 6 books! I've read all but one of the shortlist, and that one (Prophet Song) is on its way to me. I'm mostly happy about the list.
Well done predicting the list!
This is the first time I’ve read any book prize list - never thought I would (too many books, too little time). But I found it to be a valuable exercise - I guess I like being outside my comfort zone and challenging my opinions and gut reactions. (Many thanks to all the Bookrubers for their content.) I am not surprised by the shortlist - it includes 3 that I liked and 3 that I didn’t. Rooting for The Bee Sting!
That makes sense. I try to read outside of my comfort zone in general, so maybe it doesn't feel like a longlist is a tool for me to get there--even though I do love using them to find potential new reads.
@@SupposedlyFun Good for you! I now realize that I generally steer toward books/authors that I’m pretty sure I’m going to like. Will work on reading more widely in the future!
@@joangavrilik3009 To be fair, I definitely have a comfort zone--but I do try to actively remind myself to push outside of it. Instead of a longlist, I think my Pulitzer Project is an extension of that.
House of Doors was really lyrical and flowed well. Hope you will give it a chance.
Thanks for the feedback on it!
I agree. I finished it yesterday. It was layered and beautifully written. I'm sad it isn't on the shortlist.
I loved Study for Obedience. It seemed like a very "Booker" book to me so I'm glad it made the short list. Prophet Song is decent but I feel like the themes and the nature of the events happening in the book was the main reason for the emotional reactions and the lasting impression it has on me instead of the actual characters and the writing itself. The execution was not well-done enough for me so I was not that happy seeing it on the short list. I'm a bit sad that something that feels bigger in scope like In Ascension didn't make it. I feel like In Ascension is more of a Booker book than Western Lane or If I Survive You, but oh well, what do I know? I'm not exactly a Booker expert haha
A lot of people are mourning In Ascension. It is nice that it got such a big platform, I guess.
I only guessed three correctly. It's a pretty surprising list. This year I haven't had the wow factor that The Trees and Small Things Like these gave me last year. I'm almost finished with Prophet Song; it is very bleak and disturbing. So it will probably win! 😀
Last year definitely had more wow.
The two books on the shortlist that I’ve read and would recommend are
Prophets Song
The Bee Sting
Firstly, Prophets Song is NOT about the Troubles. It’s about complacency in the face of Fascism. We see situations escalate in other countries and think …” that could never happen here”. In the novel, the political situation gradually begins to encroach on the lives of ordinary people. Freedoms taken for granted are slowly stripped away. It’s not dystopian. The Conservative government in the U.K. are currently bringing in laws to make protests illegal. The trade unions have been stripped of power. Through out Europe there’s been a rise in right wing political movements that openly embrace fascist elements.
The Bee Sting is excellent. I defy anyone to read PJs story ( the 12 year old son) and not want to adopt him and protect him from harm. Cassie ( the teenager) is being influenced by a toxic friend and needs help. The family is falling apart but the adults need as much parenting as the kids. I read it via audio and loved it.
🍀👋☘️🇮🇪📖☕️📕📚
Thanks for all the feedback on Prophet Song! I think people have just generally been mentioning the Troubles because of the Irish connection so I assumed there was something there.
Western Lane is one I am very excited to (I have it out from the library to read) and Prophet Song and Bee String both intrigue me a lot.
It would take a lot to get me over my Paul Murray aversion but I could definitely be talked into the other two.
This is why you're one of the best Booktubers--I have 10 minutes to spare and watch the full 30 minutes. I think I'm pulling for Prophet Song with the absence of DC.
Thank you! It feels weird that we have two months to wait to see what happens.
I am really happy that both "If I Survive You" and "This Other Eden" made the shortlist. I am disappointed that "In Ascension" didn't. All in all I like this list.
That’s great! I’m glad you’re enjoying the list.
To be honest, I am feeling sadder than I expected by the fact that "In Ascension" didn't make the shortlist. Granted, the only book I have read on the shortlist is "This Other Eden", which I think was very well-written, and there was much I admired about it, but, like you, I didn't love it. I love "In Ascension". I was really hoping that it would make the shortlist and thus reach a wider reading audience. It will be on my personal best book list this year, maybe even at the top (and I've read some great books this year). I am hoping that its omission won't lead me to have negative feelings about the only book I have read on the list, though I would easily have chosen "In Ascension" over "This Other Eden". I'm worried that my disappointment will make me think of "This Other Eden" in more negative terms, but that wouldn't really be fair. it is a brilliantly written book, and it would be wrong to pretend it wasn't deserving. But I guess I know how the "Demon Copperhead" folks feel, now (except that "In Ascension" doesn't nearly have the attention DC had, or the book sales). But it's a rough disappointment when a book you love feels like it has been cheated.
But on a brighter note... If I were the one reading out the winner of the Booker Prize this year, I wouldn't be able to resist being a little cruel and saying, "And the winner of this year's Booker Prize is PAUL----" (pause, pause, pause) "--- that's right, the winner is none other than PAUL---" (more dramatic pause, until the three Pauls are all sweating in their seats)...
I'm assuming that guessing the winner will be a Paul is a pretty statistically safe bet right now.
I was thinking the same thing about how confusing the announcement could be and how easily you could mess with the Pauls. 🤣😂
It’s hard to be so invested in a book and not have it in the running anymore. I do think a lot more people have read In Ascension because it was on the Booker list-and will continue to read it. So hopefully that’s something!
At this point it must be between Prophet Song and The Bee Sting to take the prize. I agree with you, I don’t feel very motivated to read any of the books on the list
I agree that those two feel like the frontrunners at this point.
I think, like me and I’ve found others, I Will Survive You paled in comparison with your beloved Night of the Living Rez and Stories from the Tenants Downstairs that many of us in the US were reading in tandem at the end of the year. Survive was released later and this year in Europe and they didn’t have that situation, and it seems like the Europeans think more highly of it then Americans, not that it didn’t do quite well here, I recall it being on a few best of year 2022 lists. But I was shocked at it being on the longlist and I am aghast it’s on the shortlist.
I think there's something to the notion that Europeans are responding to If I Survive You more strongly than Americans are. It's a very interesting dynamic. I think it was on the longlist for the National Book Award last year but didn't make the shortlist. It's definitely not a book I would include in a longlist or shortlist.
I have read The Bee Sting, I Survive You and This Other Eden. I would like to read Prophet Song and Little Bird Hearts Everywhere. They will not be released here until December. Time to move on to the National Book Awards lists.
The National Book Award list grabbed my attention much stronger.
I have only just finished Old God's Time, and I think I have to sit with it for a while before I can properly evaluate it. It is heavy in content and bewildering in style. I didn't really get on with it for the first 25% or so. But then it grew on me. But man it is bleak and sad. It definitely felt like a Booker book though, so I am a bit surprised it didn't make the shortlist. But I haven't read any of the others (yet), so they might be even more Bookerish books. I'm not keen on the shortlist. I feel oddly drawn to the one about the girl who plays squash, just because people keep saying it's an unusual choice for the Booker list. But other than that I have a couple longlist books that I want to read much more than I want to read the shortlist.
It definitely doesn’t sound like Old God’s Time isn’t an easy book for a lot of reasons. I think that’s why I’m not rushing for it. Hopefully, next year will be better!
That ending though!!! I’ll admit I cried over his misfortunes, and found a lot of quotes in it that I adored.
I think If i survive you is the only one of the shortlist that it'll be published here before the award.
I loved Skippy dies so i'm waiting for The bee sting to be published here, hopefully i have not to wait as much as i waited for Skippy dies (which was published here almost a decade after their original release)
Demon Copperhead was not published here neither (Trust was, even before the Pulitzer), i'm waiting to read it but i'm not mad it was not longlisted. It won the Pulitzer and the Women's prize so it's ok for me.
I wanted In memoriam and The new life to be longlisted because i want them to be published here (fortunately The new life already was)
I would have bet money on House of Doors winning. I don’t have a sense of urgency but I think I’ll read the short list eventually
I was convinced it was going to come down to Sebastian Barry and Tan Twan Eng. who knew?!
This video makes clear that Americans always have a conspiracy theory when things are not the way they want. The only thing I know is that my British friends are over the moon with the shortlist, but sometimes American readers forgets that the prize is British and cater to British tastes and sensibilities, not American.
I’ve watched a lot of videos from British BookTubers who haven’t been anywhere near over the moon with the Booker this year, but go off and do you, buddy.
I didn’t love This Other Eden and I expected to. I had one moment of emotional response in it, but I found myself for the most part disconnected from the characters…
I am reading Bee Sting now. I generally like it. I like a lot about it, but it does feel that it could be shorter and also that Paul Murray is experimenting with form a bit too much: different lengths of chapters, absence of punctuation, change from third person narration to second person narration. And you can see what he is doing but there is just a bit too much going on with that and a bit too obvious, like it is done for the sake of it. Someone said "Where was the editor?" and they have a point. It feels a bit raw, unpolished. Maybe it is its charm, as I am still loving the reading experience and the characters. What I also like is how the characters are reveling new aspects of themselves and you can see that things are not what they seem. It is very satisfying. I also heard about the divisive ending and am even more curious about it now. I am almost finished.
That is almost exactly how I felt about Skippy Dies, and why I feel pretty sure I wouldn’t get on with Bee Sting.
I only attempted to read "Prophet Song" this year, but I couldn't finish it; I gave up around page 170. It felt quite lackluster, especially considering the subject matter of fascism. The story might have benefited from a more disjointed structure, and it didn't offer anything new; it felt like a tired narrative.
It feels like all the books this year trend toward being divisive.
Opened an email from Waterstones that had the shortlist and was like WTH. Two shocks for me: Escoffery and Bernstein. WTH. Maroo surprised me based on content, but reviews I’ve heard were positive. I enjoyed Harding and I’m happy to see it there. Agreed that it won’t win. I will still be reading Lynch (and Barry). I have a feeling Murray will win and his book doesn’t interest me at all (and it’s TDL - too damn long). I think it’s an uninteresting shortlist, but it was an uninteresting longlist. Purely my opinions and again, I’m not a fan of the Booker prize in general. Not really sure how this can be viewed as a successful year for the Booker.
The criticisms I’ve seen of Western Lane have been pretty mild-just that it feels like a debut in some ways. That’s not a big deal, but would make it feel surprising if it wins. I have a definite aversion to Paul Murray based on my dislike of Skippy Dies, and the fact that the criticisms that The Bee Sting is too long echo how I felt about that book.
@@SupposedlyFun The fact that I had no concerns about books being missing from the shortlist kind of reveals my complete lack of interest in it. Yeah, I’d have been surprised if Prophet Song hadn’t been there, but I’m going to read it either way and I have no strong attachment to it unread.
Bring on the next prize. Nobel doesn’t hold any attraction for me. My reaction is always just, oh that’s nice, well deserved, if I know who they are. The National Book Award… I will need to review the fiction and translated lists again, but I was surprisingly lukewarm about them at first glance.
But I still have quite a list already for London book shopping, plus all the books that I’ll find there that aren’t on my list. Who needs a book prize list. 😉 (I heard your gasp, Greg. 🤣)
😱😱😱 (😂🤣)
I've only read Western Lane and it was very meh for me. I may read This Other Eden but I'm not in a rush to get to it.
There's always next year!
The only one on the shortlist I've read is Study For Obedience, and I......did not like it. But it felt exactly like the kind of thing literary award judges go nuts for. For some reason, replacing 75% of the periods in a book with commas makes people think the story is deep and profound. And I had some issues with the subject matter, too.
It definitely feels like one of the most divisive books on the shortlist-and that’s saying something!
Nothing on the short list is interesting to me at all. While I DNFed Demon Copperhead, I feel for ya!
Maybe we'll both have better luck next year!
I think Sebastian Barry should be there.
It still feels shocking that he isn’t.
For me, House of Doors is far superior to anything on the list. I don't understand the appeal of I Survive You. I also found The Bee Sting to fall into stereotypes about gay men. I read the longlist and the shortlist was disappointing but I know I am in the minority.
Maybe we’ll have better luck next year!
I think this is a bland and conservative list in general. I'm yet to read If I Survive You but after that I'm not that invested.
Maybe next year will be better!
Bitter Booker year 😂 that’s T
trademark material. I am basically with ya on that . 📖🪱💚
I should make myself a t-shirt for sure!