Booker Prize 2019

Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood

  Isn't this a much better cover for "Girl, Woman, Other"?  It seems that the cover was changed after the book won the Booker Prize. 
   Actually, "Girl, Woman, Other" was tied with "Testaments" by Margaret Atwood for the Booker Prize.   Both books are a stretch for me to read.
  A black woman has never won the Booker Prize before and Atwood was very encouraging and supportive of Bernadine Evaristo.
  "The Testaments" follows "The Handmaid's Tale".  Once again, it is set in the totalitarian, patriarchal Gilead and is narrated by Aunt Lydia.  These novels seemed like science fiction but have themes that are resonating today.  Both books are selling extremely well.

Girl, Woman, Other

    This book was a struggle for me.  My friend, Terri, had the book recommended to her and she persevered, knowing that it would be a stretch. She ended up feeling that it was a brilliant piece of writing.
   On the other hand,  I struggled through, never seeing the brilliance.
  I had read that it was "a paean to what it means to be black, British and female".  That really appealed to me.  I really never wondered about black women's lives in England today and thought it would be good to get that perspective.
  I also read this advertisement for the book: 'a polyphonic choir of women, singing a song of life in dissonances and harmonies.'  Actually, I liked the write-ups about the book better than the book.
   It is a book about 12 women - a chapter for each one.  Many of the women are rebellious and angry.  As the women are struggling agains the norms of society, the author is struggling against the norms of writing prose: sentence structure, punctuation.
Sample:
************************************************************************************************************
Penelope's parents were dull and dispassionate automatons crawling towards their deaths
   she wrote in her diary at the age of fourteen
   it was unfortunate
   because she herself was brimming with vivacity and racing towards a marvellous life that stretched gloriously ahead of her
   as she also wrote
   in her diary
********************************************************************************
      Well, maybe it is the teacher in me, but I really didn't enjoy this book like others did.  The book won the Booker Prize in 2019 and it also was on Barack Obama's list of favourite books for 2019.  Love Barack Obama!

"Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett

   
   This is an interesting selection for the book club to be doing at this point in time.  Today I am on day 55 of social isolation and it suits the topic of the book: hostage taking.  At times, it seems like we have been taken hostage.
  However, it was a great book to focus on.  It is the most amazing combination of characters, plot, setting and language- the four aspects of a book that I look for.
  Because of the topic of the book, I was not expecting such an intriguing novel.  I wanted to read it slowly and carefully, because every sentence is worded so beautifully!

   
   This cover is simpler, but clearly shows the real theme of the book- the power of music!
  The first cover shows that the hostage-taking occurs at a very elite dinner party.  The vice president of the South American country has invited these guests to celebrate the birthday of a very important Japanese businessman.  And the main ingredient in this dinner party is opera, with the most famous opera singer to entertain.
  And so, she is taken hostage as well as the 200 plus dinner guests.

Ann Patchett- author

  "Bel Canto" refers to a style of operatic singing that began in the late 16th century in Italy.  The author said," I wanted to write a book that would be like an opera in its structure, its grandeur, its musicality, its melodrama." 
   And that is exactly what she did!
  Such an unusual setting, such fabulous writing!  I loved every word!