The Periscope Post

The 138 long-listed titles were whittled down to six, and here they are: “Parrot and Olivier in America” by Peter Carey, “Room” by Emma Donoghue, “In a Strange Room” by Damon Galgut, “The Finkler Question” by Howard Jacobson, “The Long Song” by Andrea Levy and “C” by Tom McCarthy. The prize will be announced on October 12.

The BBC‘s blogger Will Gompertz was generally pleased with the list saying that of the six books “none would look inappropriately dressed if adorned with a Man Booker Prize Winner 2010 sticker.” However, Gompertz did mention that if there ever was a “Man Booker Prize for overlooked novels”, he’d give it to McCarthy’s previous book, “Remainder”.

And Gompertz’s was not the only voice calling for an alternative prize. The Guardian took the “if-only” sentiment to its furthest possible denouement, by actually setting up an alternative prize. “An experiment in literary democracy, the Not the Booker prize.” In this version Guardian readers, rather than the literati’s most distinguished, vote on their favourite books of the year. The Guardian, however, ever hard on itself, saw the flaws in its own attempt at pure democracy. First-up, not everyone reads the Guardian, therefore the alternative list will possibly have a certain cultural bias based on its readership. And anyway, the paper noted, aren’t the writers just getting their friends to vote for them? “Just as you always end up with a government comprised of politicians (surely the very last people you would actually want to control the country), so a literary prize based on voting seems likely to favour writers at ease with self-promotion.” The voting will continue nonetheless.

Other commentators are sticking to the more traditional routine of simply wondering why certain expected authors didn’t make the list. “As we noted previously,” said Daniel Trilling in the New Statesman, “the longlist excluded both Martin Amis and Ian McEwan, two high-profile British authors who published novels this year. Instead, the judges appear to have gone for a serious but diverse mix.” Thus the Statesman seemingly ended on a unusual note: diversity is bad.

Many have noted the non-inclusion of one title in particular, “The Slap” by Christos Tsiolkas. ”This year’s Man Booker judges have failed to shortlist the book that has been finding the most readers and stirring up the greatest debate,” said David Sexton in the Evening Standard. Sexton seemed to criticize the Booker panel for choosing the shortlist based on the books’ perceived literary merits, rather than their commercial popularity. “‘The Slap’, was on the longlist, and has been the second-best-selling new novel in this country over the last two months. It trails only behind Katie Price’s latest ghostwritten effort.”

Sexton might remember, as the Daily Mail does, that last year’s Booker prize-winner “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel has now sold more than half a million copies. If this year’s authors are delighted by the possibility of such riches, then they are keeping it quiet. Jacobson recounted to the Telegraph important information he received from his mother upon being shortlisted. “What she said was ‘Enjoy the now. Don’t think about the next stage’. Very sound. The shortlist is the thing and you are mad to think about anything else,” he said.

Most have noted that the list is generally uncontroversial, unexciting and “safe rather than earnest.” Most that is, with the notable exception of the Daily Mail, who must be given credit for an ability to create shock value where all else fail. “Shocking Fritzl abuse case inspires Man Booker prize favourite” said the Mail‘s headline of nominee Donoghue’s book “Room”. The paper was not as shocked by the content of the rest of the shortlist, however, which includes “19th century slavery, an inquiry into Jewishness and a master-and-slave journey into America’s prisons.”