Irish winner of the booker prize 2023: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Did you smash it

Was announced tonight. Sounds an interesting premise but I really liked The Bee Sting

rogber

I honestly wonder if the riots last week tipped the vote in Lynch's favour. The reviews for the book were actually mixed and in the run up to the prize the strong consensus seemed to be that Bee Sting was the best book on the shortlist. But the Booker judges love something topical to make the prize look politically switched on and Lynch may have got a bit of luck with what happened last week, now everyone saying "see, fascist Ireland isn't an unrealistic premise!"

cheese sandwich

Haven’t read this and to be honest am always a bit cynical about “relevant” and “urgent” books, the messaging often overwhelms the plot and characterisation. But maybe I’ll give it a go.

I’m currently reading The Bee Sting which is funny and enjoyable if very reminiscent of a Jonathan Franzen novel (not that that is a bad thing)

Thargor

I was looking forward to reading this but the stream of consciousness zero punctuation writing style is really getting on my nerves now, having to reread whole pages because of it, it makes the whole thing unnecessary hard work.

Thargor

Having finished this now Im glad I did, it definitely packs a punch, could have done with a bit more detail about what was actually happening in the country and hated the aforementioned writing style right to the end.

cloudatlas

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