I have a chequered relationship with recent Man Booker winners-slash-nominees. I loved the The Line of Beauty (2004), but hated Life of Pi (2002). Quite liked The White Tiger (2008). It has just taken me two different reviews and the best part of 10 minutes to work out if I've actually read The Inheritance of Loss (2006) or not. I have, as it turns out, and from memory I quite liked bits of that too. I certainly liked it a lot more than I liked The Secret River, which was on the short list that same year and is a book which irritated me beyond belief.
On the other hand, Cloud Atlas was on the short list the year The Line of Beauty won and is my favourite David Mitchell, assuming we're not counting the one off the telly. I adored Atonement (2001 short-list) but thought The Night Watch and The Children's Book (shortlisted in 2006 and 2009 respectively) were a bit over-rated (neither was terrible, just nowhere near as good as I had hoped*). The incredibly chilling Notes on a Scandal (2003 nominee) still gives me goosebumps every time I read it.
At the moment I'm reading Vernon God Little which won in 2003 and has been on my bookshelf for absolutely ages. I'm only about a third of the way in so far, but already I'm blown away. I can't remember the last time a character's voice fixed itself in my ear so quickly and firmly as Vernon's has; the pages almost crackle with his hostility and frustration. Author DBC Pierre has captured that univeral teenage attitude, somewhere between distain and permanent irritation, absoutely perfectly.
The one thing I can be sure of when it comes to a Booker-listed book is that I'll either love it or hate it. Or maybe find it just so-so. This one's going to be a keeper, I think.
* To be fair, I started reading the Night Watch thinking it was going to be The Little Stranger so maybe I only have myself to blame.
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