Man Booker longlist in the news

Newspapers, websites and forums flooded with longlist reactions

1 August 2008


Since the announcement of the Man Booker 2008 longlist on 29 July, newspapers and websites have been flooded with stories and reactions to the 'Man Booker dozen'.

Writing in the Independent, Boyd Tonkin laments that James Kelman's Kieron Smith, Boy was omitted from the longlist, but claims that the list 'delivers some good news as well. The judges have saluted the awesomely smart and agile writing of the Sri Lankan-born Australian, Michelle de Kretser, in The Lost Dog. They have registered how cleverly Amitav Ghosh merges colour, humour and adventure on the 19th-century high seas into the big historical picture in Sea of Poppies.'

He goes on, 'Some less predictable contenders merit a cheer' mentioning Linda Grant, Tom Rob Smith and Gaynor Arnold.

The Guardian's Claire Armitstead picks up on the inclusion of five debut novels and claims, 'Overall, we should applaud the Booker's focus on first-time novelists'.  She adds, 'it allows fresh voices to be heard, carrying new worlds and new sensibilities into the traditionally rather parochial world of English language fiction, thereby changing and enriching it.'

Elsewhere in The Guardian, Mark Brown wrote, 'One book much talked about this year is on the list: Michelle de Kretser's The Lost Dog, a multi-layered, continent-crossing novel which begins with the search for a missing pet. AS Byatt has tipped it as a Booker winner and, reviewing it in the Financial Times, she called it "the best novel I have read for a long time."'

The Times focuses on Gaynor Arnold, 'By day, she is a 63-year-old social worker in Birmingham, specialising in adoption and fostering. By night, she works away in her made-up world.'  An earlier manuscript of Girl in a Blue Dress was rejected by publishers so 'she submitted it to a small publisher in her home city, Tindal Street Press, which saw its potential immediately.'

Internationally the longlist was picked up by, amongst others, The Hindu in India, the Los Angeles Times, Canada's National Post, The Canberra Times, and in publications across Europe.

A shortlist of six titles will be announced on 9 September.

The Man Booker Prize Fiction at its finest