"Shortlisted for the 2007 Man BOOKER PRIZE" it said on the cover, a thick book, paperback, recycled newsprint pages.
I picked it up from a friends and began reading. I don't read enough current literature, prefer the guaranteed pleasure of a weathered classic, but it's important now and then to get a glimpse of what's current in the literary scene. Not that 2007 is current, but it's about 150 years more current than my average reading choice.
It's curious. Not great, but inspiring in a sort of "I could have written this but not this, something else like this but better" sort of way. I suspect I'm missing the point, that I'm lacking the requisite body of knowledge, after all, the reviews (on the jacket) are entirely favourable, and it was Shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize. And we all say that, that it's easy enough to do better, but until one tries it, does it, it's just an easy phrase....
I'm almost done, but the finishing of it won't change my opinion of it any. Long, but not really, lots of white space and half pages, a curious but unengaging cast of characters, a slight hint of the human condition, an irrelevant detour on the way to Chesterfield...