Anyone read this year's winner? I set myself the challenge of reading a few past winners and shortlisted ones - depending on what appealed to me and there were some good ones. Room - 2010 - Emma Donoghue - the book was brilliant. The film was awful. Goshawk Squadron - 1971 - "Derek Robinson’s brutally funny appraisal of the contradictions of war follows the misfortunes of a British flight squadron on the Western Front." If you ever read the derring do of Biggles and chums as a kid, then this is the antidote. What the reality must have been like. One keen new pilot is all keen and eager to get at the hun, Sir! The other pilots point out to him that if he wants to kill Germans then he's in the wrong place. If he gets lucky he might kill one or two as a pilot. He wants to get himself on a machine gun in the trenches and then he can kill hundreds.. The Siege of Krishnapur - 1973 - "J.G. Farrell details the siege of a fictional town in India in 1857, when Muslim soldiers turned to bloody rebellion against their British overlords". This is not a battle or war book. It describes the intimate details of the breakdown of society amongst the Richie Raj Brits and the falling away of all the facades of gentile nobility and the class distinctions - especially when it gets down to nothing left to eat and there are hoarders etc.. A brilliant book. Highly recommended.
The winner this year, ‘The Promise’ is about the years after transition after the first free elections in S Africa. I was there at the time and was allowed to vote (as a foreigner in S Africa, as the Govt assumed white people would vote the ‘right’ way!). The promise alludes to the promise of home ownership of the hut/shack? and land it was on that was given to a black maid working for a white family. I know the ANC spread this narrative far and wide (and other false promises) to garner votes. I will ask the missus to read it and report back! Thanks for the tips on the winners you’ve read Clive. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59149960
