Booker Prize 2006

The Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2006 to be announced on October 10th, 2006.

Judging Panels includes an author, two publishers, a librarian, a literary agent, a bookseller and a Chairperson appointed by the Booker Prize foundation.

The Nominees for this year's Booker Prize and their book reviews are as follows;

Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
This was a wonderful, lyrically written book full of pathos, heartbreak and the occassional act of tenderness.The novelist presented the human face of globalization and showed how individual lives in very different parts of the planet often intersect in surprising ways. A father's love for his son, that son's ambition to succeed, the bitterness of a lonely man living out his days on the edge of civilization, two sister's yearning for the past, all of these lives are presented by Desai as fully realized and ultimatly frail human beings in a recognizable search for love and happiness. This is a wonderful book.
Review by A. Franco

Hisham Matar, In the Country of Men

"Ultimately, this is a novel most concerned with relationships between people -- friends, spouses, comrades and, particularly, parents and their children. Matar movingly charts the ways in which love endures in situations of great repression, but also shows how repression threatens everything, even love, putting relationships under a strain that can be unendurable. And whatever his subject, Matar writes beautifully."
Review by Kamila Shamsie, The Guardian

Kate Grenville, The Secret River
"The most remarkable quality of Kate Grenville's new novel is the way it conveys the enormous tragedy of Australia's founding through the moral compromises of a single ordinary man....Grenville's powerful telling of this story is so moving, so exciting, that you're barely aware of how heavy and profound its meaning is until you reach the end in a moment of stunned sadness."
Review by Ron Charles, The Washington Post Book World

M J Hyland, Carry Me Down
This is the story of a normal childhood gone astray by a series of events. The kid, John loses his only friend and the family goes through a crisis due to which they move from a previous house to another one. Things get worse here. It shows how things can be difficult with children given excessive confidence from adults. Growing up in 1970s Ireland adds an additional complexity in already complicated story. The lack of opportunity in Ireland adds to the damage done by misunderstanding and lack of affection on the boy. This is an outstanding character study. Like other stories, this is narrative in first person.
Review by Thomas Keneally

Edward St Aubyn, Mother's Milk
This novel shows how pathetic and decadent a person can get. A doctor tries to avoid seeing patients by marrying a rich american woman. It shows a person who tortures his wife and child. He also treats his maid in pettiness. When not engaging in any such activity, he spends his time with addiction or with similar minded friends. Due to lack of good parenthood, his son grows up to be an addict with little happiness. The misery continues. After marrying, the son does not work. However, he is afraid of passing on the bad habits to his kid. His wife decides not to be similar to her mother and gives up on her husband to be a maid. The twist comes now. This is a sparkling novel with great prose and morality. It is surprising how well the author has treated such characters.
Review by Thomas Keneally

Sarah Waters, The Night Watch
This is a very well crafted piece of literature. I found the reverse order heightened my appreciation for what the characters were going through. This is a novel of betrayals and I found I cared as much for the betrayers as for the betrayed. Waters has revealed once again how often our lives are spent looking to get out of those relationships we worked so hard to get into in the first place. I can't think of a recent work of fiction I have enjoyed so much.
Review by Thomas S. Costello

Courtesy: Amazon.com