I discovered I own a copy of Held. I have books sent to me on subscription each month and sometimes lose sight of what I’ve been sent. Terrible thing to admit! I’m hoping for the Charlotte Wood along with all of reading Australia! I suspect it will be James. Unfortunately I was not as enchanted with James as everyone else seemed to be. Good read but not for me a great one. This is a great video Bob 🤗
I’m in the homestretch of Safekeeping and really enjoying it. I was not quite ready for the lusty depth of the lovers, that made me blush a bit, but I’m also impressed at how well it’s done and that it describes succinctly something so outside my realm of understanding clearly and emphatically. What’s so striking is that of any book written in the 21st century that would capture the attention and heart of Edmund de Waal, it would be this book, as it mirrors so intently his own family experiences in the nonfiction book the Hare with Amber Eyes. Even down to the centrality of the weight of beauty, history and meaning in a ceramic shard, it touches on his other professional passion as one of the greatest living potters in the Art world today. Especially as chair, I can imagine him plucking this book out of the mix, championing it and his enthusiasm pulling the others along. This book is here and on these two lists, long and short, because he is part of the jury, I don’t know if this would have happened with another cohort. Yet to be clear, I do feel this is a case of cream rising to the top and it’s very much a worthy contender, much more so than Orbital even making the initial list, which I find to be fine, on the verge of mediocre. But, if I was writing a Booker trap book for Edmund de Waal, one could do no better than this. I do find Held head and shoulders above Orbital in their overlap. And while I’m also currently tucking into James, it’s most likely my candidate of choice for winner in lieu of my beloved My Friends, my front runner, being cut. For me it’s a fever dream of a book where time folds, reshuffles and overlaps on itself drilling down into a focus of these Deja vu precise moments of these characters that universally connects them across time and space in a melancholy heartbreak of experience. Perhaps, if there was a Booker book trap title aimed at myself (at least for my current state of mind) it might be this novel. In a way, the characters of Orbital seem to be experiencing something similar, but where its uniting and connecting the Held characters, it’s isolating and compartmentalism the Orbital characters, which leaves me cold. They are simultaneously having one of the most unique, transcendent, hyper real experiences that few people will ever experience in life, and yet they are cut off from each other and not sharing it, choosing to shut out others and experience it solitarily. By contrast in Held they are experiencing this moment, but are all universally connected and sharing it and experiencing it as one across time and space.
I think 'James' will win. Just because of what it represents. I honestly don't have any urge to read it though. I think Matar's 'My Friends' should have been on the shortlist. I enjoyed 'Creation Lake', though I see your point about it's strength tailing off somewhat. 'Stoneyard Devotional' is my personal favourite.
I’ve started listening to Creation Lake on audio. I’m experiencing it as satire/comedy but I don’t know if the author intended that? Held is confusing me. It’s coming across as a prose poem? James is the one that is most enjoyable.
I was so surprised My Friends didn't make the shortlist! I was also surprised that they shortlisted both Held and Orbital. I thought it would be one or the other. (I hoped for Orbital but expected Held) The only one of these i haven't read yet is Creation Lake. I wasn't sure I wanted to, but I guess now I will 😂 I liked the Safe Keep, but I'm hoping for James or Stone Yard Devotional to take the win.
I’m in the homestretch of Safekeeping and really enjoying it. I was not quite ready for the lusty depth of the lovers, that made me blush a bit, but I’m also impressed at how well it’s done and that it describes succinctly something so outside my realm of understanding clearly and emphatically. What’s so striking is that of any book written in the 21st century that would capture the attention and heart of Edmund de Waal, it would be this book, as it mirrors so intently his own family experiences in the nonfiction book the Hare with Amber Eyes. Even down to the centrality of the weight of beauty, history and meaning in a ceramic shard, it touches on his other professional passion as one of the greatest living potters in the Art world today. Especially as chair, I can imagine him plucking this book out of the mix, championing it and his enthusiasm pulling the others along. This book is here and on these two lists, long and short, because he is part of the jury, I don’t know if this would have happened with another cohort. Yet to be clear, I do feel this is a case of cream rising to the top and it’s very much a worthy contender, much more so than Orbital even making the initial list, which I find to be fine, on the verge of mediocre. But, if I was writing a Booker trap book for Edmund de Waal, one could do no better than this. I do find Held head and shoulders above Orbital in their overlap. And while I’m also currently tucking into James, it’s most likely my candidate of choice for winner in lieu of my beloved My Friends, my front runner, being cut. For me it’s a fever dream of a book where time folds, reshuffles and overlaps on itself drilling down into a focus of these Deja vu precise moments of these characters that universally connects them across time and space in a melancholy heartbreak of experience. Perhaps, if there was a Booker book trap title aimed at myself (at least for my current state of mind) it might be this novel. In a way, the characters of Orbital seem to be experiencing something similar, but where its uniting and connecting the Held characters, it’s isolating and compartmentalism the Orbital characters, which leaves me cold. They are simultaneously having one of the most unique, transcendent, hyper real experiences that few people will ever experience in life, and yet they are cut off from each other and not sharing it, choosing to shut out others and experience it solitarily. By contrast in Held they are experiencing this moment, but are all universally connected and sharing it and experiencing it as one across time and space.
