The race for the Booker Prize
11 Oct 2012 10:17 PM GMT
Great Britain is a betting nation. Horses, dogs, reality shows, pregnant royals and the Man Booker prize for literature – it’s all fair game. Betting on the Booker has become a tradition. Even those who wouldn’t touch a Booker winning novel with a barge pole will want a wager on it. And why not? It has all the unpredictability, drama and action of a thundering, swashbuckling horse race. Like Royal Ascot, the Queen’s favourite racing event of the year, it has glamour, money and celebrities aplenty associated with it. This year, Emmy Award winning English heartthrob Dan Stevens is a judge.
Of course, the feverish betting and the accompanying razzmatazz liven up an essentially pedantic, elitist contest and bring it to the attention of the millions who are not ‘scholastically inclined’. Whether you bet on the Booker because you love books, gambling or a windfall [who doesn’t? ], the outcome is positive; the hoopla generates book sales, publishers prosper and churn out many more titles to delight book lovers every year.
So, join me in a ‘Vegetarian’ bet where, having examined the form of each author below, you tuck your favourite’s name with a `20 note [or more, if you’re feeling lucky] into a sealed envelope, hiding it in a dark recess till the winner is announced. You’ll be delighted to get your hands on that money again should you guess the winner correctly and if not, pass it on to someone less fortunate than you. It’s a win-win situation!
This year, the competition is looking like a two horse race between former winner Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies and comic star Will Self’s Umbrella. Indian debutant Jay Thayil’s Narcopolis has an outside chance at best but Indians have traditionally exceeded expectations at the Booker; can Thayil pull one more out of the bag for his countrymen?
The doyenne of contemporary historical fiction, Hilary Mantel, is an incredibly accomplished authoress. Amongst her many literary triumphs are the 2009 Booker winning Wolf Hall and Beyond Black, shortlisted for every conceivable prize under the sun. In Bring Up the Bodies, she tells Thomas Cromwell’s compelling story with such wit and style, it should have been a shoo-in for the Booker but for the fact that she’s won before with Wolf Hall, the first book in the trilogy. Will they reward her for a sequel even if it shines brighter? The top dogs in the UK betting industry, Ladbrokes and William Hill, have her in second place with odds of 5/2 and 2/1 to win.
Raconteur Will Self isn’t a big a star outside the UK but he is ubiquitous here. Starting life as a stand-up comedian, he was a telly regular through the Noughties. He is now an acclaimed novelist with a string of successful books like How the Dead Live, shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year 2002 and The Butt, winner of the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2008. He has also been shortlisted thrice in the last decade for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award! Despite that, he is clearly the frontrunner for the Booker this year with odds of 2/1 and 7/4 from Ladbrokes and Hill.
The other Asian in the running is Malaysian Tan Twan Eng. Lawyer, martial arts expert and novelist, Tan is no Booker virgin. His first novel, The Gift of Rain was longlisted for the prize in 2007. Can he make it past the finish line this year? The British betting establishment doesn’t rate his chances with odds of 11/2.
The two remaining women, Deborah Levy, the battle-scarred veteran staging a comeback, and feted newcomer Alison Moore, might also end up as also-rans. Alison’s novella, The Lighthouse is spare and ambitious, and Deborah’s 18 year labour-of-love, Swimming Home has been described as both satisfying and unnerving. But they aren’t backed by the gambling fraternity, who have pegged them at 6/1 and 10/1 respectively.
Bringing up the rear for the bookies but with all eyes in India pinned on him is our man from Mumbai, Jay Thayil, with his surreal snapshot of Bombay, Narcopolis. It will never be a book club favourite but it has received rave reviews from critics. The Guardian calls it ‘a blistering debut that can stand proudly on the shelf next to Burroughs and De Quincey’ while the Financial Times celebrates Thayil’s ‘compelling’ and ‘exhilarating’ first canter. The consensus seems to be that the book is a triumph despite its overheated prose, because the author’s own 20 years of addiction gives it the ring of truth. Can he pip the favourites, Mantel and Self, to the post?
Why not? The bookies may dismiss his chances with odds of 10/1 but he could turn out to be the competition’s dark horse. He wouldn’t be the first Indian to win the Booker after being declared a long shot. Rushdie, Roy, Desai and Adiga spring to mind. In fact, Indians are one up on the British when it comes to winning a double. Unlike Rushdie, no home-grown English author has ever won the Booker twice. Mantel would be the very first if she wins this year with her stunning sequel.
Now you know them all [or better still, have read them all], shut that door, dim the lights, and write that name down. Stick it where the sun doesn’t shine [I mean a drawer you don’t rummage through often] and wait. All will be revealed next week.
Shreya Sen-Handley is a writer and illustrator. She now writes for The Guradian and other UK newspapers.
Of course, the feverish betting and the accompanying razzmatazz liven up an essentially pedantic, elitist contest and bring it to the attention of the millions who are not ‘scholastically inclined’. Whether you bet on the Booker because you love books, gambling or a windfall [who doesn’t? ], the outcome is positive; the hoopla generates book sales, publishers prosper and churn out many more titles to delight book lovers every year.
So, join me in a ‘Vegetarian’ bet where, having examined the form of each author below, you tuck your favourite’s name with a `20 note [or more, if you’re feeling lucky] into a sealed envelope, hiding it in a dark recess till the winner is announced. You’ll be delighted to get your hands on that money again should you guess the winner correctly and if not, pass it on to someone less fortunate than you. It’s a win-win situation!
This year, the competition is looking like a two horse race between former winner Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the Bodies and comic star Will Self’s Umbrella. Indian debutant Jay Thayil’s Narcopolis has an outside chance at best but Indians have traditionally exceeded expectations at the Booker; can Thayil pull one more out of the bag for his countrymen?
The doyenne of contemporary historical fiction, Hilary Mantel, is an incredibly accomplished authoress. Amongst her many literary triumphs are the 2009 Booker winning Wolf Hall and Beyond Black, shortlisted for every conceivable prize under the sun. In Bring Up the Bodies, she tells Thomas Cromwell’s compelling story with such wit and style, it should have been a shoo-in for the Booker but for the fact that she’s won before with Wolf Hall, the first book in the trilogy. Will they reward her for a sequel even if it shines brighter? The top dogs in the UK betting industry, Ladbrokes and William Hill, have her in second place with odds of 5/2 and 2/1 to win.
Raconteur Will Self isn’t a big a star outside the UK but he is ubiquitous here. Starting life as a stand-up comedian, he was a telly regular through the Noughties. He is now an acclaimed novelist with a string of successful books like How the Dead Live, shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year 2002 and The Butt, winner of the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2008. He has also been shortlisted thrice in the last decade for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award! Despite that, he is clearly the frontrunner for the Booker this year with odds of 2/1 and 7/4 from Ladbrokes and Hill.
The other Asian in the running is Malaysian Tan Twan Eng. Lawyer, martial arts expert and novelist, Tan is no Booker virgin. His first novel, The Gift of Rain was longlisted for the prize in 2007. Can he make it past the finish line this year? The British betting establishment doesn’t rate his chances with odds of 11/2.
The two remaining women, Deborah Levy, the battle-scarred veteran staging a comeback, and feted newcomer Alison Moore, might also end up as also-rans. Alison’s novella, The Lighthouse is spare and ambitious, and Deborah’s 18 year labour-of-love, Swimming Home has been described as both satisfying and unnerving. But they aren’t backed by the gambling fraternity, who have pegged them at 6/1 and 10/1 respectively.
Bringing up the rear for the bookies but with all eyes in India pinned on him is our man from Mumbai, Jay Thayil, with his surreal snapshot of Bombay, Narcopolis. It will never be a book club favourite but it has received rave reviews from critics. The Guardian calls it ‘a blistering debut that can stand proudly on the shelf next to Burroughs and De Quincey’ while the Financial Times celebrates Thayil’s ‘compelling’ and ‘exhilarating’ first canter. The consensus seems to be that the book is a triumph despite its overheated prose, because the author’s own 20 years of addiction gives it the ring of truth. Can he pip the favourites, Mantel and Self, to the post?
Why not? The bookies may dismiss his chances with odds of 10/1 but he could turn out to be the competition’s dark horse. He wouldn’t be the first Indian to win the Booker after being declared a long shot. Rushdie, Roy, Desai and Adiga spring to mind. In fact, Indians are one up on the British when it comes to winning a double. Unlike Rushdie, no home-grown English author has ever won the Booker twice. Mantel would be the very first if she wins this year with her stunning sequel.
Now you know them all [or better still, have read them all], shut that door, dim the lights, and write that name down. Stick it where the sun doesn’t shine [I mean a drawer you don’t rummage through often] and wait. All will be revealed next week.
Shreya Sen-Handley is a writer and illustrator. She now writes for The Guradian and other UK newspapers.
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