Karin van Eck, English Academy, Roosendaal:
“Some of you might already have picked up a copy or read the 2018 Booker Prize winning novel Milkman. For those still looking for the next devouring good book or who want a suggestion for their Sinterklaas or Christmas wish list, look no further! Milkman is not an easy read, might make you even feel a bit uncomfortable at times, but this novel set in the early 1970’s in an unnamed Irish city (Belfast) is a literary achievement. It is raw and funny and touching and Anna Burns is a novelist of incredible talent.” Chair of judges Kwame Anthony Appiah comments: ‘The language of Anna Burns’ Milkman is simply marvellous; beginning with the distinctive and consistently realised voice of the funny, resilient, astute, plain-spoken, first-person protagonist. From the opening page her words pull us into the daily violence of her world — threats of murder, people killed by state hit squads — while responding to the everyday realities of her life as a young woman, negotiating a way between the demands of family, friends and lovers in an unsettled time. The novel delineates brilliantly the power of gossip and social pressure in a tight-knit community, and shows how both rumour and political loyalties can be put in the service of a relentless campaign of individual sexual harassment. Burns draws on the experience of Northern Ireland during the Troubles to portray a world that allows individuals to abuse the power granted by a community to those who resist the state on their behalf. Yet this is never a novel about just one place or time. The local is in service to an exploration of the universal experience of societies in crisis.’ Credits: https://themanbookerprize.com/fiction Comments are closed.
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