Well, I've just finished reading The Famished Road by Ben Okri. I have to admit that it left me feeling less than satisfied.
Billed in many reviews as magical realism, and unlike anything I would have read before I was looking forward to it. It didn't live up to its billing. I trudged through the novel; was disappointed by its repetitiveness and found the dream sequences too frequent and far too similar to each other.
There are, however, many fantastic scenes, which are realised with flair and build genuine excitement: notably most of the fights that Azaro's father has either as a boxer or just due to his heightened sense of injustice. The 'stand-out' scene for me is Azaro's father fighting Yellow Leopard. The trouble is that the great scenes are few in number given the near six hundred pages of story.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone not interested in completing all Booker winners. Out of five, I award it two.
Next, I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Blood Meridian is in my top five, so I can't wait to get started...
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Louis
Hello,
this is my first attempt at posting any form of blog. I decided to read the Booker winners about a year ago during a struggle to find something I wanted to read. In order of their victories I have read so far: 1969 - Something To Answer For; 1973 - The Siege of Krishnapur; 1975 - Heat and Dust; 1978 - The Sea, The Sea; 1979 - Offshore; 1981 - Midnight's Children; 1983 - Life and Times of Michael K; 1986 - The Old Devils; 1989 - The Remains of the Day; 1993 - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha; 1994 - How Late It Was, How Late; 1995 - The Ghost Road; 1998 - Amsterdam; 1999 - Disgrace; 2000 - The Blind Assassin; 2001 - True History of the Kelly Gang; 2002 - Life of Pi; 2003 - Vernon God Little; 2007 - The Gathering; 2008 - The White Tiger; 2009 - Wolf Hall.
I'm currently struggling through The Famished Road (1991) by Ben Okri, which isn't gripping me as much as I'd like, but I'm barely a third of the way through.
I've already read six winners this year and one shortlisted novel (Room - Emma Donoghue), but I'm confident I can get through six more this year to put me close to two thirds of the way through the lot.
this is my first attempt at posting any form of blog. I decided to read the Booker winners about a year ago during a struggle to find something I wanted to read. In order of their victories I have read so far: 1969 - Something To Answer For; 1973 - The Siege of Krishnapur; 1975 - Heat and Dust; 1978 - The Sea, The Sea; 1979 - Offshore; 1981 - Midnight's Children; 1983 - Life and Times of Michael K; 1986 - The Old Devils; 1989 - The Remains of the Day; 1993 - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha; 1994 - How Late It Was, How Late; 1995 - The Ghost Road; 1998 - Amsterdam; 1999 - Disgrace; 2000 - The Blind Assassin; 2001 - True History of the Kelly Gang; 2002 - Life of Pi; 2003 - Vernon God Little; 2007 - The Gathering; 2008 - The White Tiger; 2009 - Wolf Hall.
I'm currently struggling through The Famished Road (1991) by Ben Okri, which isn't gripping me as much as I'd like, but I'm barely a third of the way through.
I've already read six winners this year and one shortlisted novel (Room - Emma Donoghue), but I'm confident I can get through six more this year to put me close to two thirds of the way through the lot.
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