I have just watched the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013 live stream broadcast on the Huffington Post website. In the build-up towards the big announcement when Miranda Richardson said that the judges were looking for originality, accessibility and excellence, I thought: “It’s got to be ‘Flight Behaviour’! Or ‘Bring Up the Bodies’! Or ‘Life After Life’! One of those three will definitely win it!”
Oh, how wrong I was. Accurate predictions for this type of thing have never been my strong point even when I place my bets on 50% of the shortlist. I have to say I am pretty surprised that the Prize has been awarded to ‘May We Be Forgiven‘ by A. M. Homes. It’s an intriguing book with complex characters and the passage she chose to read from last night at the Southbank Centre was a great example of the dark humour in the opening scenes. However, I still think that there were more consistent books on the shortlist, particularly the three I mentioned above. Congratulations to A. M. Homes all the same though – maybe it’s a good thing that an author who hasn’t previously won major awards gets the spotlight for a while.
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I know it’s awful to say, but I’m so happy Hilary Mantel didn’t win. It’s not that she wouldn’t have deserved it, but like you said it’s nice to see someone new share the spotlight.
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Out of the shortlist I’ve only read May We Be Forgiven. It’s an intriguing and ambitious novel but I definitely agree it was inconsistent. The plot was really a series of loosely connected incidents, some worked really well, others fell flat.
Daniella
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I am such a huge A. M. Homes fan, and I rarely run across anyone else who really reads or is obsessed with her books as I am. Her book ‘This Book Will Save Your Life’ is one of my all time favorites, and I think she may have more cold hard talent than any of the other writer’s on that list (fighting words! OK I admit I haven’t read any Zadie Smith, she’s on my to-read). I also agree though that May We Be Forgiven was ambitious but I just don’t know if it worked, in a way. It was definitely like reading a roller coaster ride — the whole time I was just wondering where the book was going and sort of disappointed at where it went next. I feel like her writing style is so fresh, clear, and earnest lately she does a great job of describing the awkwardness and wanting of social connection, but the plot just climbed all over the place in this book, almost like a dream.
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