This week we are venturing into the literary fiction side of things with four of the six novels up for the International Booker Prize. And friends, I have been blown away by every single one so far. I’m glad I’m not the one choosing because I would pick them all (so far).
We get to go to a nunnery, see a different perspective of HUCKLEBERRY FINN, dual timeline with generations of family, and finally we visit outer space. Get those TBRs ready and the tissues close because these are sob-inducing stories.
STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL
By Charlotte Woods
Our narrator is nameless but she is us and we are her.
After realizing that her marriage has come to an end, our narrator joins a group of nuns to find what? Peace? God? Grief? Release of the past? Trust me, she doesn’t know either. But when a plague of mice show up at the same time as the remains of a long dead sister makes their way back with Sister Helen Parry, everyone will have to face the past and present.
Written in epistolary type structure, Wood’s allows the reader to bury and rebury themselves inch by inch, word by word.
“As I grew older I was confused as to why martyrdom was never just called ‘murder’”.
“The word ‘remains’ is somehow insulting though: like leftovers.”
“We all make saints of the dead.”
“If you don’t live the life you are born for, it makes you ill.”
“Nobody knows the subterranean lives of families.”
“… those who most powerfully resist convention quite peaceably accept the state of being reviled.”
This novel is less about religion and more about the quiet comroderie we need to survive. That we don’t always need to speak to be heard by others and more importantly ourselves.
A beautiful story of loss, grief, and the question of offering forgiveness.
A HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND 5/5.
JAMES
By Percival Everett
“Belief has nothing to do with the truth.”
In this re-imagining (?), alternate retelling of a beloved classic, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, we are shown James’ viewpoint through the whole novel, and friends, my lord it is a rough read. Not because of the writing or anything of that nature, but because of the absolute degradation of his character long with others.
James is a run away slave and assumed murderer. His best friend Huck is along for the ride. With the story being in James’ voice, the reader is giving a much different view than HUCKLEBERRY FINN and it hurts. I can promise you will never look at a pencil the same way again.
Terrible situation after terrible situation befalls James. Sometimes with Huck, but more often without. I cried so many times while driving and in the carpool lane at the kid’s school. JAMES hurts and it hurts bad. Even writing this review I have goosebumps and tears in my eyes.
I completely understand why it’s on the Booker List this year. And I have a feeling it will win.
A DOUBLE HIGHLY RECOMMEND 10/5.
HELD
By Ann Michaels
“We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?”
Get ready for your new existential crisis novel. A novel that spans four generations and intersections that are brilliantly wrapped up, HELD is a tour de force of sadness, longing, and realizing that we do not last forever.
Here are a few quotes to really drive home the heaviness of this novel:
“Years, an entire life - now only this handful, this heartful.”
“Would he know the moment of his death or world it be like night falling?”
“But, like everything we find hard to believe, it need only have happened once to be true.”
“It took him some time to realize that the noises that woke him were in his head.”
“What is fate? When struggle is the same as surrender?”
“To acknowledge one’s own pain is not self-pity.”
“It does not take much - a centimeter or two, a word or two - to cross a boundary.”
If any book could give JAMES a run for the Booker, it’s this one. I have so many quotes from HELD etched on my soul and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
A DOUBLE HIGHLY RECOMMEND 10/5
ORBITAL
By Samantha Harvey
**Disclaimer: only read if you to suffer an ongoing existential crisis for weeks after reading.
Imagine you have been working your entire adult life to obtain a goal and that goal is to be an astronaut. Six of those very people come together in this short novel and allow a glimpse of the Earth from the outside. While fights are not to be found, pain, anguish, and longing are.
ORBITAL made me call my mom and tell her how depressed I was from realizing my insignificance in life. That’s how you know it’s a phenomenal book, my mom knows about it. Think about it, no matter what we accomplish, say, or do for the betterment of mankind or the negative we have had will mean nothing when the Earth ends. (You’re welcome for that perky thought). It helps with perspective - oh, there’s a traffic jam, meh. You stubbed your toe, who cares.
Life changing, thought-provoking, and deserving of being on the Booker list.
A HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND 5/5.
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