Month: October 2018

Milkman Delivers!

Milkman

Delighted to hear last night that Anna Burns has won the 2018 Man Booker Prize with her novel Milkman. It seemed to come as a surprise to many, and there’s been a lot of talk about its complexities and lack of commercial appeal (see for example this article in the Guardian). Yes, it does have long paragraphs, and, yes, none of the characters are given names, but there’s one aspect that shouldn’t be overlooked: it’s one of the funniest novels I’ve read in years. In particular, there’s a subplot about a couple who abandon their family to become ballroom dancing champions that literally made me laugh out loud.

I have to declare an interest, of course – I was the book’s copy editor, so perhaps I am a little biased. And editing necessarily requires a very different reading experience to that of a general reader. But it’s very rare when in the depths of editing also to be genuinely entertained by a book.

A hugely well-deserved win for Anna.

Broadsword Calling Danny Boy

Geoff Dyer

It’s a long time since I last saw the film Where Eagles Dare – it was probably a rainy Sunday afternoon in the 1980s – but Geoff Dyer’s new book made me want to watch it all over again. His love for the film, formed when he first saw it as a boy, is everywhere evident in his scene-by-scene description, though he doesn’t take it too seriously. He admits that the plot is at times preposterous, with the rucksacks carried by the main characters seemingly bottomless and carrying endless supplies of explosives. He’s very funny too on the two lead actors, Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton, describing the trademark Eastwood squint as he lays waste to hordes of Nazis, and quoting Burton’s diaries, in which he wonders why he agreed to appear in such blockbusters when he could be winning Oscars instead. Read my Sunday Times review here