A Word About Awards

TIN MAN by Sarah Winman   Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2019, Dublin Longlist 2019   Date Read: May 25, 2023   Tin Man is such a small, unobtrusive little book, I had no idea of the beauty, sadness and aching lurking inside. Parts of this were so beautiful I found myself weeping. The love among these characters was almost too much to bare. And why was that? I can only conclude it’s because Winman is a freaking genius when it comes to conveying the nearly indescribable intensity when two souls find their counterpoint in another.    In broad strokes, Tin Man is about the friendship between Ellis and Michael. As children, they were inseparable, living in their own world where time seems to fly by. And as their own little world becomes more and more narrow, their relationship slowly becomes sexual as well. While Michael knows he is attracted to boys, Ellis is mostly straight except where it comes to Michael.    Although the two become estranged as adults, Michael considers Ellis the love

ALIF THE UNSEEN by G. Willow Wilson   Nominations: Center For Fiction Finalist 2012, Women’s Prize Longlist 2013   Date Read: May 22, 2023   Alif The Unseen is part technological thriller and fantasy mystery. Wilson takes from the past, present and future to combine this tale into a Harry Potter meets Hackers. A strange combo indeed. Although I’m not entirely sure it’s my cup of tea, I do appreciate the spell Wilson wove, the well-researched subject matter and her combination of technology and spirituality.   Alif is a hacker whose entire world is lived in zeros and ones. He rarely leaves his room and when he does, it’s to visit his friends at Radio Sheikh. Because of his online world, he becomes involved with a woman online that spills over into the real world. Intisar is wealthy and out of his league. The only way they can be together is in secret.   One day she sends him a book, the Alf Yeom, and so begins the running that upends Alif’s life for the next 4 months. He is chased to fi

THE FAR FIELD by Madhuri Vijay   Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2020, PEN/Hemingway Longlist 2020   Date Read: May 19, 2023   The Far Field is a timely dive into what happens when the good-intentioned privileged set out to reconnect with the past and leave only devastation in their wake. Shalini, the narrator of this novel, is privileged by every standard. College educated, a housekeeper since birth, a car and cell phone gifted to her. She has never known hunger or violence or war. The one tragedy she has to overcome is her mother’s suicide.   Shalini’s mother runs very hot and cold. She can be garrulous and fun, breaking social rules in a manner that leaves everyone laughing. But she can also display unsavory emotions publicly, causing everyone around her discomfort and alienation. Shalini both reveres and abhors her mother. When she goes to college and finds herself out of her depth, she looks down on everyone just like her mother would. “I suppose it was, like so many other things,

ON CHESIL BEACH by Ian McEwan   Nominations: Booker Finalist 2007, Dublin Longlist 2009   Date Read: May 16, 2023   On Chesil Beach explores what happens when so much pressure and fear builds up between virgin lovers who suddenly find themselves married. As virgins thrust into the expectations of their wedding night, the simplest of understandings and words can either avoid calamity or bring their relationship into blissful union. Unfortunately, for Florence and Edward, the love they have for each other isn’t able to survive the hurdles they face that one night.   Both Florence and Edward have bright futures and their love for each other is never in question. Florence knows from the get-go that she isn’t interested in the physical part of love, having strung Edward along their entire relationship, never even allowing him a kiss. On their wedding night, she is dreading what she knows is expected of her, loathing the very idea of what’s required of her. Edward also anticipates their unio

GET A LIFE by Nadine Gordimer   Award: Nobel Prize Winner 2006   Nominations: Booker Longlist 2006, Dublin Longlist 2007   Date Read: May 14, 2023   Get A Life is my first introduction to Nobel laureate Gordimer. This novel follows Paul Bannerman and his family as he navigates thyroid cancer and the irradiation treatment that causes him to be quarantined from his wife and child. Knowing the risks, his parents decide to host him during his convalescence.   Gordimer seems to want to address illness head-on and she makes some very insightful observations. What spoke to me more than illness, however, was the observation that life can change regardless of how old one is or how established their life. This point was driven home by Paul’s parents, Adrian and Lindsay. Both parents are accomplished in their own right. While Adrian is retired and hoping for Lindsay to join him, she is at an apex of her career as an attorney and nearing a promotion to a judgeship.   To entice Lindsay towards reti

THE COLOUR by Rose Tremain   Nomination: Dublin Longlist 2005, Women’s Prize Finalist 2004   Date Read: May 12, 2023   The Colour is almost an epic in mini form. Joseph Blackwell, leaving behind a shady past and the death of a woman he had ravished, marries Harriet Salt in England and they immediately set sail to New Zealand. There, both Joseph and Harriet are determined to begin their lives again on cheap land and rich dreams. Arriving with them is Lillian, Joseph’s mother.    Harriet is a unique woman in that she has an adventurous spirit and is just as excited as her husband to begin this new life. After their temporary home is built and they have all settled into its meager confines, Harriet slowly begins to realize that she does not love Joseph nor will she ever. The same is true for Joseph. Nevertheless they persevere on their farm.   While Joseph is fishing one day, he observes the “colour,” gold on the banks of the stream that crosses their land. He knows there’s a gold rush sw

MINOR DETAIL by Adania Shibli   Nominations: Booker Longlist 2021, National Book Finalist 2020   Date Read: May 8, 2023   I cannot imagine living in a country where violence and war were an everyday part of life. Where the legacy of my country was one of violence. I can’t imagine not being able to travel to certain areas because of my ethnicity. I cannot imagine having land stolen from me or becoming accustomed to the sight of armed military. Yet, this is exactly what the narrator of Minor Detail experiences on the daily.   This novella opens with the final patrols of Israelis searching for hideouts from the waning war between Israel and Palestine. Israeli soldiers happen upon a Bedouin settlement and kill all the soldiers, but taking one teenage Palestinian girl captive. While the captain initially tries to keep her safe, he finally ends up raping her and tossing him to the other soldiers for their amusement. She is ultimately used for as long as possible and then killed. This event d

BECOMING STRANGERS by Louise Dean   Nominations: Booker Longlist 2004, Dublin Longlist 2006   Date Read: May 7, 2023   I had picked up Becoming Strangers with the assumption this would be a fun frolic but found depth and heart in addition to a frolic. Some of Dean’s observations about love, marriage, religion and desire are spot on. An engaging read for sure.   The De Groot’s have been gifted a holiday in the Caribbean by their kids, since Jan is in the final stages of cancer. His wife Annemicke understands this is their last holiday together but this does nothing to bring her closer to her husband. Their marriage has been a mess for as long as they can remember. Yet, Jan still holds out hope that this trip can bring the two of them closer.   They are fortunate to meet another couple, Henry and Dorothy, with whom they get on quite well. The two men form an especially close bond, although Henry is quite a bit older. They are able to enjoy libations and good discussion throughout their t

READING IN THE DARK by Seamus Deane   Nominations: Booker Finalist 1996, Dublin Longlist 1998, LA Times Finalist 1997   Date Read: May 4, 2023   Childhood is challenging enough without violence erupting outside your window, being beaten by your teacher or having family betray you. In Reading In The Dark, Deane contrasts the innocence of childhood with the need to grow up all too quick in a politically unstable country, such as Ireland in the 1940s and 50s.   Like all kids, our unnamed narrator wants to know his family’s history and secrets but once he does know, he wished he didn’t. What’s worse is, knowing all the betrayal that occurred within their family forces a wedge between him and his mother because she’s terrified he will tell.   In a village like Derry, where everyone pretty much knows everyone else, some family are informers, some are trying to save their own skin, some are trying to save their family’s skin and others are out for their own gain. All of these motives collide

CRAWLING AT NIGHT by Nani Power   Nominations: LA Times Finalist 2001, Women’s Prize Longlist 2002   Date Read: May 1, 2023   Crawling At Night is allegedly an exploration of the anonymity of urban living. I, however, found it be a search for connection and inner truth. All of these characters know who they are in their core, they often aren’t able to accept themselves and find some way to escape from it. As we all do at one time or another.   At the heart of this novel are Ito, Mariane. While other characters circle in their orbit, Ito and Mariane capture the spotlight as two unlikely and mismatched people who almost instantly begin to need each other to return to the truths they have been avoiding. Ito has come to New York looking for a new beginning. His wife in Japan has died a painful death from cancer, his son has been sent to live with relatives and his mistress, a prostitute named Xiu-Xiu is missing. New York provides the loneliness that almost seems Ito’s penance.   Only after