Howard Jacobson wins Man Booker 2010

After reading (and loving) three from the shortlist and one from the longlist of this year's Man Booker Prize I will now have to read the rest of the shortlist at the very least. I had made up my mind to read Emma Donoghue's "Room" for I am aware of the incident it is inspired from. Tom McCarthy's "C" attracts me after my tryst with two classes in electromagnetics. The only novel left from the shortlist will be 'The Finkler Question' and there is no point reading the ones which lost without reading the winner. Already this was the closest I had shadowed any literary award, I will just have to go all the way now.

Who will win the Man Booker Prize this year?

The last four novels I have read have been from this year's longlist. Let me risk exposing my little intelligence today. My reviews/analyses are just a few posts earlier to this. These authors are new to me and it's been enchanting reading each and every one of them.

1. In a Strange Room: Damon Galgut's novel on travels through Africa, Europe and India is head and shoulders above the rest of the novels. It was the first time I was reading something on traveling and I absolutely loved it. It haunts me even today. This is my probably my first sparsely written novel and the feelings of the characters grew on me as time went by.

2. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: David Mitchell's latest didn't survive the cull from the longlist to the shortlist so can't win the day after tomorrow. From the ones I have read on this year's longlist this is my second choice. It's a crackling historical, romantic, metafictional, magically real, political, action-adventure. I toh loved it 'pa. The head of the jury flatly said it was not good enough to make it to the shortlist.

3. Parrot and Olivier in America: Peter Carey will look to do the unprecedented, win this prize for the third time. Now I wouldn't be surprised if this won. It has everything I love in a historical piece: very very vivid visuals, two well-explained and different characters, politics, romance. I also liked it since it had no story to speak of, it's about building a mood and I love this novels. I wouldn't mind if this won for I thoroughly enjoyed it.

4. The Long Song: Andrea Levy probably won't win this year. This novels doesn't have the detailing like the other two historical novels on my list, the drama doesn't reach the fever pitch 'The Thousand Autumns...' attains, characterization is not very very strong either. Of course, perhaps I missed too much.

Let's see what happens the day after tomorrow. I have not read three others from the shortlist.

Andrea Levy, The Long Song

On the Man Booker Prize shortlist this year I anticipated this to be the type of book I'd wind up recommending left and right. Having read it I am somewhat surprised it is on the shortlist.

My wife read this just before I did, she said,"It's not a g-g-r-r-r-eat book but it's good." She read 'Sea of Poppies' recently and her expectations were quite different. As for me, I was hoping to move to a new location for my next novel. West Indies seemed to me to be a place I knew little about through Naipaul's Mr. Biswas but this time the setting was a different with slavery as the backdrop. Needless to say I was excited about this book. More so with the quality of the other novels I'd read from the Booker lists this year.

'The Long Song' starts well, it throws its reader a challenge, asks the reader to read on, glean a different slavery story. Not having read too many stories on slavery I think I can still agree with this different bit. Most stories with backdrops of hardships tend to focus on the hardships, trying to manipulate us to brink of tears or indignation at the oppressors, forgetting that sufferers have lives to live. Even slaves and servants have a sense of routine and social structure in which they must progress. There are too many things, in slaves' lives too, that need their ruminations whereby not sitting to curse fate or destiny. It is this aspect of life that is interests me. Exemplars that I recall instantly are 'The Counterfeiters' and 'Slumdog Millionaire'. In the former, the protagonist must sell his skills to the Germans to save his life at the same time working his way through table-tennis in a concentration camp. Simon Beaufoy infuses love, greed and ingenuity into Jamaal for him to work through rioting mobs, child-blinding mafia and cricket-betting gangsters with crafty guile. Such seem to be thoughts of Andrea Levy as she makes July sexy and crafty and her missus fatty batty, dewy eyed but still as crafty as our July. It is this rivalry between mistress and servant that keeps the novel alive for me. Missus Mortimer almost makes July an Angrezi Mem, permits July to bear her husband's son only because she knows she will outwit her in the end. July, using her guile, makes herself indispensible to the Missus, later makes herself indispensible to the Massa (only to delude herself) with the love of a parish overseer. The book is all about matching wits, if it isn't July verus Missus, then it's July verus Miss Clara, if not these two then it's July versus her son. It's these portions I enjoyed the most.

The historical bit actually isn't much. It's not overused and I liked it for this, this also makes it a not-too-long novel. But the bit of history it did supply was something I'd not known. I wasn't aware of the structure within the slave community in a particular plantation, some slaves on the field and some at home, slaves working on the plantation field and also having some portion of land to grow their own plants for sale or fish in a lake, etc. Also wasn't exactly aware of how freedom could be bought, the significance of a mulatto or quadroon, etc.

The characterization is not over-exploited, which is good, but also under-developed, whic is not good. Caroline Mortimer doesn't have a showdown as such against July. Miss Clara clearly seems to have won the battle, although July tries to fictionalize a victory at one point. It's the supporting cast of characters that are underdeveloped. A lot of names of slaves are thrown around towrds the end and I couldn't recollect most.

The last few pages which trace the life of July's son Nimrod served some purpose? I wasn't interested in reading at this point. Just wanted to drop the book at this point. Why tell that story? I didn't care for Thomas at any point in the novel.

My final opinion mirrors my wife's.

Team India, SRT, VVS and nerves

Of course, it's the time to bask in the glory of a team whose rise to top from the lows of match-fixing in 1999-2000 and the WC fiasco in 2007 many of us have shared in the last decade. I have vicariously lived my life through Team India in this period. Yesterday's one wicket over Australia was no less.

The 98 runs Sachin scored in the first innings, all four fifties in the first innings were crucial for they took us close to the Australian first innings score, that too in very very good time. What do I make of SRT? He is a flawed genius of rather weak nerves in comparison to some of his underrated and overlooked contemporaries. The art of batsmanship is his forte. His committment to the national colours unquestionable, perhaps unparalleled even. At the end of fourth day I read a great many headlines which said something to the effect of India's fortunes being in SRT's hands. Everyone forgot about VVS who would have turned up to bat even if he were comatose. Sehwag too could be assailed with similar criticisms (lack of fourth innings contributions) in future unless he learns to calm his nerves in desperate situations. There was an observation in an article in Cricinfo (I read every single one!) which differentiated batting in normal situations with batting in situations like the one encountered yesterday. It's the latter that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will wish he can improve upon. I'd love to see him retire with no defeciencies.

As for now every time a batsman saves Team India from the hands of the undertaker and that batsman isn't SRT the barrage of criticisms will be drawn from holsters. Every contemporary genius has peoples' opinions polarized. Even Federer's greatness is open to question today. Such is life. SRT can just give his best and he will continue to. Before the end of 2010 I believe he has 7 tests.

Congratulations for we have retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy despite some nervous batting. I am overjoyed.