Six authors made it to the 2019 Man Booker shortlist. Obioma, Rushdie, Atwood, Ellman, Shafak and Evaristo. This is one of the most prestigious and coveted literary awards.
And today we have been informed that the winner is …or should I say the winners are…. Evaristo and Atwood.
With her book, Girl,Woman ,Other, Evaristo interconnects the stories of 12 black, British woman. As a black British woman myself, I find this book very relatable. This is most especially when she mentions places such as Peckham, Kings Cross. Also, browsing through the table of contents, one of the sub chapters of chapter two was titled ‘Bummi’. Wow a chapter named after me, I’m loving her already.
Evaristo is the first black woman to win the Man Booker Prize. A great feat. So, how apt is it that her book should be about black women. Her characters are brought to life through realism, vibrancy and humour. Whilst reading it on the train I would smile inwardly but sometimes the smile made it out my lips and I would sit there with a smirk on my face. I wondered what the other passengers thought. This black British woman on the 4.40 express with a big grin on her face, or, occasionally, an escaped snigger.
Evaristo has a unique style of writing. A style I had not come across this before. No full stops. No capital letter. Only commas. Capital letters were only used were when there was a proper noun. This style would certainly make editing quite easy. Whilst reading the first page I thought oh my God what is this. But I have a confession. As I continued it came across to me that this is a rather good style. It enabled a fluidity in the narrative.
I began reading this book prior to it winning the 2019 Man Booker. So it is without any award bias that I highly recommend this captivating book.