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A razor sharp look at the current society we live in through the eyes of a set of unreliable characters! Very well written, you get the sense every word was chosen with purpose, and for a short book, they all earn their space.
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2025. I think looking at reviews that this is a novel that is a little divisive. For me, it’s about a society that is trying to talk about privilege and diversity and everything that is in the media at the moment while at the same time trying to find out where they fit because there doesn’t seem to be a coherent or solid base anymore. The words used in the media are becoming more and more powerful. It is a novel told in multiple perspectives. We start with a newspaper article about an illegal rave on a farm during the Covid lockdowns when a young man attending the rave assaulted the leader of the Universalist - a political group whose aim is to promote a new and alternative lifestyle with a gold bar that he had stolen. As the novel progresses we have the perspective of a disgraced banker who owned the gold bar and the journalist who wrote the article. But each seems to have a different perspective. There doesn’t seem to be a reliable narrator and words can influence how the readers and the viewers of interviews perceive events. Miriam Leonard - or Lenny - is a well known write whose book No mo’ Woke was a bestseller. She also uses words fluidly and is a real powerhouse. Her speech at the end of the book is as she says - ‘You hear how I speak, I sound like a normal person, because I am’ anti-woke. She comes across as using words to show that all that is needed is common sense but is she reliable or is she as manipulative as everyone else seems to be. In the UK there seem to be alliances and factions forming that are all being ‘guided’ by the media and parts of the population are becoming marginalised because of this. I’m pretty sure that this is happening elsewhere. This is a sophisticated novel and I’m not entirely sure that I really understood everything within it. I think it is a novel that will do well in the Bookers.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Every year I pick some of the Booker longlist to check out. And this one…is just not interesting. I was going to push through because it’s short and I may try it again later, but I don’t want to put myself in a slump.
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes