The Booker Prize Shortlist 2022

Hello Gentle Reader,
 

The Shortlist for the Booker Prize has been released. This year’s shortlist has strong contenders for the prize, with myself favouring two specific writers in particular. This year the Booker Prize seems to have soared to a strong shortlist, but with two golden gems within it. Without further ado here is this year’s shortlist:
 

Claire Keegan – “Small Things Like These,”

Alan Garner – “Treacle Walker,”

Elizabeth Strout – “Oh William!”

Percival Everett – “The Trees,”

NoViolet Bulawayo – “Glory,”

Shehan Karunatilaka – “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,”

 
At 87 years old, Alan Garner is the oldest writer to have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize with his novel “Treacle Walker,” a novel which has been unanimously praised for recollecting the joys and memories of childhood, but from the well weathered and aged perspective of looking back fondly. In fashion all Garner’s own, myth, history, and a sense of everyday magic pervade the narrative of “Treacle Walker,” and the unusual friendship which forms between the titular wanderer, and the introspective Joseph Coppock. The novel truly scourges the timelessness of themes that are ancient primordial in scope, which continue to plaque human consciousness and contemplation, such as time, death, and the absurdity of life. Yet, reviewers have also pointed out, that “Treacle Walker,” is no cake walk, and employees Cheshire dialect, along with extensive reference to English folklore. “Treacle Walker,” should not be written off as just a light read of whimsy and fantasy, but truly an impactful novel, who despite its ‘short length,’ ensures it packs its literary punch.   
 
Claire Keegan, is a renowned master of the Irish short story (and the short story in general). Her short stories are lapidarian, beautifully chiseled and carved, while gracefully assembled. Her jeweler’s eye for detail, tense, stress, are expertly deployed in building tension within her work. Keegan’s ability to discuss a situation through precise moments and scenes, clearly conveys the subtleties of the situation, with just enough shadowing around the negative space. Unspoken realities and shame are the shades that drape themselves over the snow of “Small Things Like These.” Ghosts haunt the small Irish town, alongside strict adherence to silence, where hard work has limited reward. For Bill Furlong a hardworking coal merchant, reflects on his good fortune while pondering other possibilities, and the generosity which turned out to be his saving grace. One morning, however, a discovery in a shed, leads Bill Furlong to confront the silence and willful blindness of the town, whose silence is complicit with the moral bankruptcy of the church, but also his own past. Claire Keegan has traced the unspeakable frequently in her short stories, which include casual misogyny, the flights of desire and the entrapments of despair. Claire Keegan’s work is wrenching, powerful, poignant, masterful in craft, and has the enchantment of timelessness. “Small Things Like These,” is a concise examination of the Magdalene Laundries of Ireland.   
 
The remaining four writers on this year’s shortlist, are equally important and talented writers.  NoViolet Bulawayo’s “Glory,” is a powerful parable of continued corruption in government, and brings the Orwellian beast fable to an African perspective, when reviewing persistent tyranny, generational cultivation of power, and the unflinching resilience to resist and overthrow it. While Elizabeth Strout completely invades and surveys the human condition and consciousness in “Oh William!” stalking the strange wonders of what keeps us together, the strange mysteries of human relationships, but its all held together by the fictional voice of Lucy Barton, who Elizabeth Strout, perfectly channels. “The Trees,” by Percival Everett is a difficult novel, which directly comments and discusses lynching within the United States, which is thankfully elevated but assured with potency with razor sharp wit. The reality of the horror, however, is still there, and is fashioned into the history of that nation. While “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” by Shehan Karunatilaka in turn applies satire to provide commentary on the chaotic and barbaric civil war of Sri Lanka. After ten years, Shehan Karunatilaka has returned with “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” to cement this reputation as one of the most important Sri Lankan writers.
 
Congratulations to the six shortlisted writers for this Booker Prize. Well earned and well deserved.  
 
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
 
M. Mary