Congratulations to Rose Tremain, who has won the Orange Prize for Fiction 2008, with her novel "The Road Home"."Like so many others, Lev is on his way from Eastern Europe to Britain, seeking work. He is a tiny part of a vast diaspora that is changing British society. But Lev is also a singular man with a vivid outsider’s vision of the place we call home."
As an ex-pat who has experience of working with many people from all over Eastern Europe, I am very much looking forward to reading it.
"Rosa Lane is a dynamic journalist in her thirties, already the picture of London achievement... But one afternoon soon after the death of her mother, staring at her computer screen at work, she fails to see the point, walks out of her job – and begins her long fall from modern grace."
This too sounds like a good story. Both seem to share common themes of a family death, a journey or 'quest', to find the meaning of being within or outside of society. Broadcaster Kirsty Lang, says in the Guardian of The Road Home", "I felt it was a very timely theme. Eastern European migration is one of the biggest things to have happened to our country in recent years and there hasn't been much seriously written about it in this way. That this book captures the Zeitgeist and is about something that affects all of us is certainly a point in its favour."
Lang added that the trends that had emerged were, "over and over again, immigration and identity and, alongside that, loss and bereavement. And these themes are connected. In an age of globalisation and migration these are the questions that we grapple with."
It sounds as though, although an international prize, the two novels set in the UK had a certain pull this year. Last year's winner was Nigerian born, US resident, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for 'Half of a Yellow Sun'.
The universal 'Lottery' remains a personal favourite..."Per sounds like Pear, but I am not a fruit..." says Perry L. Crandell in Patricia Wood's first novel. How wonderfully word play can reveal naivety, or does it? The pace of his language may at first appear to reflect the pace of his thoughts, but does not necessarily indicate the depth of them. Read it for the enjoyment, for the underlying themes of discernment between disability and ability, love, society's treatment of one another, for studying how to use great dialogue to show character on the page and for so much more.
The fruit this time was destined to stay in the UK, but just making the shortlist has got to have been a wonderful experience and does sales no end of good. And who knows, perhaps Patricia Wood, like Rose Tremain who was previously shortlisted, may win a future award? The publishing world can be slow, you might get impatient, but writers who are in it for the long haul don't forget, Rose Tremain's first book was rejected 7 times before being accepted for publication and take a leaf out of 'Lottery'. Perry’s fresh perspective of the world. When a friend tells him to hurry up, that they 'don’t have all day', Perry thinks “…that is funny because we do. We do have all day.” It's just up to us what we choose to do with it.
Congratulations to all the nominated authors.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment