Posted by Rizwan on 19/5/2008, 13:46:12, in reply to "The Booker's Booker: 6 best out of 40?"
208.118.161.49
I only read one of the 6--"Midnight's Children"--and thought it was fantastic. However, I've thought about reading "The Siege of Krishnapur" for a long time now, so maybe this will help spur me on to do it.
--Previous Message--
: Hi all,
:
: The Booker prize turned 40 and the committee decided
: to select the Booker's Booker winner from among the t0
: prizewinning novels.
:
: The shortlist, selected by a illustrious panel, is:
:
: *Disgrace by J M Coetzee (1999)
:
: This heartbreaking tale told through the eyes of an
: apathetic, middle-aged academic, explores a man and
: his country coming to terms with the horrors of their
: past and present in post-apartheid South Africa.
:
: *The Ghost Road by Pat Barker (1995)
:
: The last volume in Barker's First World War trilogy,
: The Ghost Road poignantly explores the inner and outer
: conflicts arising from class and sexuality and how
: these boundaries are re-asserted and dissolved on the
: battlefield. The story is told through the eyes of
: working-class, bisexual soldier Prior, fated to
: confront his destiny on the battlefront of France,
: 1918.
:
: *Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (1988)
:
: Carey tells the tale of preacher's son Oscar Hopkins
: and heiress Lucinda Leplastrier, on board a ship bound
: for New South Wales towards the end of the 19th
: century. Drawn together through their love of gambling
: and fear of loneliness, they tentatively embark on a
: romantic affair.
:
: *Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)
:
: Based on events that took place before and after the
: partition of India in 1947, the novel is famous for
: its employment of the technique of magic realism, and
: influences from Rushdie's own childhood and
: exploration of this troubled, diverse continent.
:
: *The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer (1974)
:
: Gordimer's explores the conflict and tension between
: decaying and new worlds in this tale of a businessman
: in 1960s apartheid-South Africa, who's forced to
: re-assess his values and life when a body is
: discovered on his property.
:
: *The Siege of Krishnapur by J G Farrell (1973)
:
: Farrell wonderfully captures the follies of the
: stiff-upper-lip Brits and their assurance of their own
: infallibility in this satirical novel, which depicts
: the siege of an Indian town during the 1857 Indian
: Rebellion, told from the perspectives of the British,
: the Indian sepoys and the Indian princes.
:
: (from The Independent)
:
: What would be your favourite - among those you have
: read of course. In this group we have read Gordimer
: and Coetzee recently. The current bookies' favourite
: is Rushdie.
:
: Friederike
:
:
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