by Paul Lynch
A dystopian vision set in present day Ireland but could be anywhere in the western world. The country descends to civil war as a far right party takes over the country and bit by bit clamps down on dissent. A depressing but captivating read as a mother tries to keep her family together after the husband is arrested.
Some of the characters were a bit unbelievable but still powerful storytelling 7/10
by Paul Murray
The longest book on this years list it is set in a small town in Ireland a couple of hours from Dublin.
It tells the stories of the four members of the Barnes's family as the family faces up to various challenges such as bankruptcy, mid life crisis, marriage breakdown, male rape, bullying, transition to college life, climate change etc etc. It is very funny in places and exceedingly dark in others and I felt it ran out of steam by the end with an ending that left you guessing. I enjoyed the structure as the four members took it in turns to be central stage and tell their story. Not sure why the mother had to do this without punctuation but no doubt it made sense to some! 6/10
by Elaine Feeney
You get the impression as you read this that Elaine Feeney may well have built a boat at some time in her past.
This book is about a lot of things other than boat building though. It is about grief, growing up on the spectrum, single parenthood, relationship breakdown, abuse and misogyny in the catholic church and more. In fact, although I enjoyed this book its weakness is that it tries to deal with too much and feels missing something as a result. Definitely an author I would read again though 6/10
by Paul Harding
A small island community made up of black and mixed race poor is forcibly evicted from their homes in a story, based on fact, about our inability to tolerate difference. It is a sombre tale, told brilliantly with a poetry to the language that makes the darkness of the story even more painful. It took me a while to get into it but I ended up racing through the second half 8/10
by Viktoria Lloyd Barlow
This is, I suppose, a story of three women set in a rural town not far from Lancaster. Dolly is sixteen and growing up fast. She lives with her divorced mother. There summer is disturbed when new neighbours move in next door. They are from London and looking to do some property deals in the area. Dolly becomes thick with Vita and starts spending more and more time with them. So far so normal but thrown into this mix is the fact Vita has always wanted a daughter and Dolly's mother, Sunday, is on the aspergers spectrum. The tale is told slowly and keeps and element of gentle tension throughout.
The book focuses a lot on pronunciation and hearing it read on an audiobook worked really well. It is spliced with humour but I felt it was too long in the end with repetition that was unnecessary. An interesting ending though 6/10
by Ayobami Adebayo
A story set in Nigeria detailing how the lives of two families from different parts of society are altered by external events. The stories overlap in a deadly way and from the moment the title of the book is explained it is clear the story can only end badly which is does for all concerned. Both sad and moving it is not a book I would read again. There was no redemption here, no hope. Must be in with a chance of winning! 5/10
by Sebastian Barry
Set in 1990's Dublin this is the story of a recently retired police officer dealing with grief and getting old, overshadowed throughout by child abuse in the Catholic Church and the impact on him and his immediate family.
The book constantly unsettles you from simple things like the main character's references to cheese on toast as welsh rabbit through to whole sections of the book, which are told as fact suddenly becoming dreams or the misplaced memories of the protagonist. Excellent novel 9/10
by Jonathan Escoffery
A collection of stories about a Jamaican family making its way in America which hangs together fairly well. The ending had some sort of resolution but felt rushed compared to much of the rest of the story.
The way it deals with feelings of belonging and displacement I found really good and there were also some shocks I was not expecting as well as moments of humour. 7/10
by Chetna Maroo
An unusual storyline that includes a lot about squash!
It is the story of a young teenage girl who has lost her mother. She has two sisters and their father at a loss what to do with them starts taking them to the local squash court.
The story unfolds of how they deal with grief and growing up. It was beautifully told and ends on a bitter sweet but positive note 8/10
by Sarah Bernstein
Bernstein has been listed as one of Granta's best young novelists in 2023 although her dust jacket biography says she is from Montreal. This ambiguity flows through into this book where it proves difficult to pin anything down.
The writing is superb in places but I ended the book feeling it was an exercise in style rather than a telling of tales. I found myself asking the question how much can a novel be pared down before it ceases to be. The book has little plot-a woman travels North to care for a brother and never is accepted by the locals due to certain events she believes the town blame her for. Little in the way of subplot. The location is never clarified other than North and it gets cold in winter. The two main characters are not named and we learn little of them other than mystery. There are few other characters, all anonymous and from the town.
Having said that I keep thinking it through and trying to work out what was going on and I like that. Vintage booker material :). 5/10
