London: A thorny political satire about the fall of an African dictator, told from the perspective of talking animals. A touching comic novel about the inevitable horrors of racism in America. A bleak but slyly funny story that explores the trauma of Sri Lanka’s civil wars. These powerful satirical novels are among six finalists for the Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes. This year’s shortlisted novels, announced Tuesday, included authors from five countries and four continents, and covered a diverse range of prose genres and subject matters, from cool, introspective literary fiction to fantasy and magical realism.
Several novels recognized by the judges this year depict humour, myth and allegory to tackle painful chapters of history. In her novel “Glory”, the Zimbabwean writer novaelet bulawayo indirectly deals with the fall of the autocracy Robert MugabeThrough a narrative featuring a race of animals – horses, donkeys, dogs, goats, chickens and a crocodile.
“The Seven Moons of Mali Almeida,” a mythological story by Sri Lankan novelist Sheehan Karunatilak, follows a photographer who wakes up dead in an underworld where he encounters victims of political violence. And in his novel “The Trees,” Percival Everett uncovers the scars of racism in America, a story about a pair of black detectives who investigate a series of murders that echo lynchings. Emmett Till,
The other authors on the shortlist are Irish writers. Claire Keegan, for “Small Things Like These”, a thin 116-page novel about unmarried women and their children who suffer at the Magdalene laundry in Ireland; English fantasy writer Alan Garner, for “Treacle Walker”, a dream-like story about a boy with magical vision; and American novelist Elizabeth Stroud “Oh William!” For is about a grieving woman who helps her ex-husband investigate his troubled family history.
The judges selected 169 novels. The winner, which will receive a $58,000 prize, will be announced at a ceremony in London on October 17.
Several novels recognized by the judges this year depict humour, myth and allegory to tackle painful chapters of history. In her novel “Glory”, the Zimbabwean writer novaelet bulawayo indirectly deals with the fall of the autocracy Robert MugabeThrough a narrative featuring a race of animals – horses, donkeys, dogs, goats, chickens and a crocodile.
“The Seven Moons of Mali Almeida,” a mythological story by Sri Lankan novelist Sheehan Karunatilak, follows a photographer who wakes up dead in an underworld where he encounters victims of political violence. And in his novel “The Trees,” Percival Everett uncovers the scars of racism in America, a story about a pair of black detectives who investigate a series of murders that echo lynchings. Emmett Till,
The other authors on the shortlist are Irish writers. Claire Keegan, for “Small Things Like These”, a thin 116-page novel about unmarried women and their children who suffer at the Magdalene laundry in Ireland; English fantasy writer Alan Garner, for “Treacle Walker”, a dream-like story about a boy with magical vision; and American novelist Elizabeth Stroud “Oh William!” For is about a grieving woman who helps her ex-husband investigate his troubled family history.
The judges selected 169 novels. The winner, which will receive a $58,000 prize, will be announced at a ceremony in London on October 17.