A Word About Awards

THE SHIPPING NEWS by Annie Proulx   Awards: National Book Winner 1993, Pulitzer Winner 1994   Nomination: National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1993   Date Read: October 28, 2020   Following tragedy, newly single Quoyle moves himself and his children to the Newfoundland coast, where their ancestral home remains derelict and empty. Quoyle is uncertain what awaits him there or if this is the right move but this small and tight-knit community immediately embraces them and they find what they perhaps need the most - community.   As with all small towns, Killick-Claw is chock full of bizarre and interesting characters. Working at the local newspaper writing the shipping news (hence, the title), Quoyle carves out a life for himself and his daughters that allows them to heal from the loss of Petal, Quoyle’s unrequited love and the daughter of Sunshine and Bunny.   Not only does his heart heal, but he meets a woman named Wavey who he is drawn to but not in the same way he was drawn to Petal. W

LOST MEMORY OF SKIN by Russell Banks   Nominations: Carnegie Finalist 2012, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 2012   Date Read: October 23, 2020   Lost Memory Of Skin is an interesting meditation on how society handles sexual deviants. Frankly, society doesn’t’ so much handle it as relegates those who have been churned through the penal system into an ill-defined purgatory.    The Kid lives on the margins of society, having been convicted of soliciting sex from a minor. The Kid is socially awkward, has no real family to speak of and is, shockingly, still a virgin. After completing his 6 months in jail, he now has to navigate a path into society with impossible burdens – an ankle monitor he has to wear for 10 years, keeping his National Sex Offender Registry information up to date and staying 2500 feet away from any place where he might encounter minors.   I understand these requirements. I really do. Sex offenders are the worst of the worst but I only really believe that to be true for anyone who

THE FRIEND by Sigrid Nunez   Award: National Book Winner 2018 Nomination: Dublin Finalist 2020   Date Read: October 20, 2020   I had anticipated loving this novel much more than I did. Having come to the end, with the tables being turned unexpectedly, I was reminded of Trust Exercise by Susan Choi. I had predicted being completely moved about a woman falling in love with a dog since my heart’s desire for quite a while is to have a dog. I just wasn’t affected, although the heavy topics of death and suicide are handled with dexterity.   I found this more of an analysis of the art of writing itself – the pretentiousness, the questioning voice, the frustration of it all. Nunez spends a majority of this novel discussing what it means to be a writer, the jealousy among fellow writers and the academic competition for advantage and student affection. None of this resonated with me.   Nunez presents an interesting argument that writing is an elitist profession, often only a pursuit by the privi

NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH by Richard Flanagan   Award: Booker Winner 2014   Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2015, Dublin Finalist 2015   Date Read: October 19, 2020   I am not a fan of war novels and so was dreading this a bit. Now having read Narrow Road, I realize I had every right to. And yet. This is by far one of the best war novels I have ever read. Flanagan explores the nuances of what it means to go to war, the moral and personal complexities involved for those who are forced to participate, some willingly but most unwillingly.    This harrowing journey that I am so happy to have end largely takes place in a Japanese POW camp in the jungles of Thailand (Siam at the time). Australian officers are forced to build a railroad into Burma, a task the British deemed either impossible or requiring many years. At the expense of human lives, the Japanese push their “slaves” to complete it in mere months.   Through Flanagan’s intense prose, I felt as if I was in the POW camp with these

MANHATTAN BEACH by Jennifer Egan   Award: Carnegie Winner 2018   Nomination: Dublin Longlist 2019, National Book Longlist 2017, Women's Prize Longlist 2018   Date Read: October 13, 2020   Since I was completely blown away by A Visit From The Goon Squad, I think my expectations exceeded what was presented here. While Manhattan Beach is a fun story, that’s all I can really say about this novel. I know Egan’s talent is better than this.   Manhattan Beach is a noir thriller, centered around Anna, who is trying to find her way on her own in New York during WWII. She becomes one of the first female divers to repair battleships, which I found interesting. During her childhood, her father went missing and in a strange twist of events, Anna dates her father’s killer, Dexter Styles.    Dexter Styles is a typical New York mobster, with a finger in everything from union fixing to gambling to nightclubs. Although not the actual head of this empire, he is a top boss with all the power that beque

2666 by Robert Bolano Award: National Book Critics Circle Winner 2008, PEN/Translation Winner 2009 Nominations: New York Times Finalist 2008   Date Read: October 12, 2020   Written in the last few years of Bolano’s life, 2666 has been described as “sprawling” and “vast” and “a landmark in what’s possible for the novel as a form.” I, however, beg to differ. While indeed far-reaching and impressive in its scope, I feel the same as I did having just completed 1Q84 by Murakami, a writer that I love. This being my first introduction to Bolano, I can only surmise that he was either never able to fully complete his vision or it is being presented as he intended. Either way, I feel like his fingertips just grazed the bar of greatness, only to fall short.   Some critics have claimed that 2666’s themes are concerned with violence and death, of which there is plenty to go around here, however, other critics have argued that if the reader is searching for a theme or meaning, they have missed the p

NARCOPOLIS by Jeet Thayil   Nominations: Booker Finalist 2012, Dublin Longlist 2014   Date Read: October 11, 2020   Narcopolis is comprised of multiple vignettes that follow a set of characters through the underbelly of what once was Bombay. For me, this novel was more an exposition on the various ways to mentally escape poverty and to forget the one kernel of truth that eludes us all: that each of us is beloved and so much more precious than life would lead us to believe. This truth Dimple stumbled into at the end of her life.    Instead, the slums of Bombay operate upon much darker truths - women are to be fucked, drugs are to be smoked and rupees are to be counted and hoarded. Yet, amidst all this grime are moments of beauty, which make them all the more precious considering their circumstances.   I was of mixed minds when Dimple went to rehab. On the one hand, I was rooting for her to get clean, but so she could be more aware of what? I’m not sure I would want to be sober if I was