The Booker Prize has a storied history in New Zealand with two Kiwi authors taking one of the literary world’s top awards in groundbreaking circumstances. Keri Hulme was both the first New Zealander and first debut author to win the prize with The Bone People, and Eleanor Catton was the youngest-ever recipient with The Luminaries. With the 2022 Booker Prize longlist just announced, Jo Bennett rounds up a list of award-winning books to dip into during these cooler winter months.
The Lacuna
Barbara Kingsolver
I was reminded of this book when I saw news of Frida Kahlo’s forthcoming exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery. Kingsolver, perhaps best known for her sweeping epic The Poisonwood Bible, fuses art, politics and war in this Women’s Prize-winning novel. We join American-born Harrison Shepherd on a thrilling odyssey straddling the USA and Mexico as he finds himself working and eventually befriending artists Diego Rivera and the enigmatic Frida Kahlo. When Shepherd becomes secretary to Leon Trotsky, he is thrust into a world of art and revolution, newspaper headlines and gossip, while the risk of political violence throbs menacingly in the background. This book made me feel I was at a lively, intellectual dinner conversation where art and politics blend in a bright and unforgettable palette.
The Promise
Damon Galgut
Galgut had been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three-times previously before taking the top prize for this modern family epic in 2021. The Promise reveals a South African family in crisis. Reunited by four funerals over three decades, they reflect on the atmosphere of the country – one of resentment, renewal, and, ultimately, hope. While stylistically very different, the plot made me think of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying – another family saga steeped in cultural politics (interestingly, Galgut has been described as South Africa’s Faulkner). This is a deftly written and moving novel from a modern master.
Barbarian Days
William Finnegan
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2016, I was drawn to this book not by the blurb but the endorsement from Olivia Laing who wrote, “I don’t know anything about surfing, but I was gripped”. This is a gorgeously rendered memoir about obsession, craft and the time we give to things we love, even when we don’t know why. Finnegan is a reluctant surfer, an acclaimed New Yorker writer who “hid” his lifelong passion, worried it wasn’t serious enough for his reputation as a war reporter. For lovers of the ocean, and poetic reflective writing (Finnegan has been compared to James Salter), Barbarian Days will pull you along, like riding a perfect barrel. A lovely, absorbing read for wintery days.
