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And the Booker goes to...
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The discussion on "What makes and breaks the Booker?" held the interest of book lovers at the British Council
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MUCH AWAITED, always controversial. To discuss "What makes and breaks the Booker?" this year were Geeta Doctor, writer and critic, and Nirmala Lakshman, joint editor, The Hindu.
For the 40-odd members in an ante-room at the British Council, Chennai, on Tuesday evening, it was a stab at the final six shortlisted for the Man Booker 2003 — "Brick Lane" (Monica Ali); "Oryx and Crake" (Margaret Atwood); "The Good Doctor" (Damon Galgut); "Notes on a Scandal" (Zoe Heller); "Astonishing Splashes of Colour" (Clare Morrall); and "Vernon God Little" (DBC Pierre).
To Geeta Doctor, it was the much-hyped Monica Ali and her "extraordinary first novel" that scored. Not a catchy title, but the stamp of clever marketing ("Brick Lane" is where one heads to in London for all things "Indian"). Here was a book that was a "Bangladeshi takeaway", and nowhere as "dull as dhal", as Time magazine reviewer Aparism Ghosh had put it. Then, one had Monica Ali, who seems a marketing person's dream writer, very cool, long black hair, a Madonna face and very elegant.
More importantly, this was a book with a simple structure. Two sisters, two lives: one pretty and clever who remains behind in Bangladesh; the other, plain and quiet, who goes to London. What happens to the sisters?
A variation on the Cinderella story, with minor irritants — Ali had painted a magnificent canvas that would continue to attract attention for a long time.
The surprise came from Nirmala Lakshman. To her, though the Booker was a comment on the idiosyncracies of the judging process, her choice — 2003 Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee's latest book "Elizabeth Costello" — was not on the shortlist.
"Brick Lane" may be "a darn good read", but Coetzee is all about the purpose of literature. Though his is a bleak picture, he reminded the reader of the pain and turbulence of the human condition amidst a changing world order, and in doing so, extended the boundaries of literature, she said.
What about the other books?
To Doctor, if "all the world loves an underdog", "Vernon God Little", with its text marked by every other word a "cuss", was a frontrunner.
Nirmala Lakshman wrapped up the evening with her comments on "Astonishing Splashes": "A work by a 51-year-old, with lots of colour and passages that enabled a fluid read."
Finally, the "Q and A" recognised the point that though the Booker may not be about great literature, as in "great", it had the zest to recognise talent.
Postscript: It's official. This year, it's "Dirty But Clean" or "Dirty Pierce" or 42-year-old Australian DBC Pierre! Geeta Doctor may not be lucky a second time!
MURALI N. KRISHNASWAMY
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