George Saunders’s moving Booker-winner lived up to his masterful short stories, Salman Rushdie turned his gaze on America, several debuts dazzled, and then there was Hollinghurst and Pullman… This was the year in which George Saunders – long recognised as one of the masters of the short story – took on the novel. LINCOLN IN THE BARDO (Bloomsbury £18.99), set in a Washington cemetery over the course of one tragic night, was a worthy winner of the Man Booker. Focusing on Lincoln’s grief at the death of his beloved son, Willy, the story is narrated by the carnivalesque ghouls who inhabit the graveyard. It’s as wildly imaginative and profoundly moving as anything I’ve read for a long time. Joining Saunders on the shortlist was another Great American Novel, Paul Auster’s 4321_ _(Faber £20). While it wasn’t roundly praised by critics, it feels like the kind of book that will endure – so much of Auster’s extraordinary oeuvre comes together in this long and intricate tale, which manages to remain fresh and dazzlingly original. Fiona Mozley’s first novel, ELMET (Hodder & Stoughton £10.99), was a surprise inclusion on the Man Booker shortlist, but it’s a cracking read. Darkly lyrical and full of violence, Mozley’s Yorkshire owes something to Ted Hughes, something to older, deeper folk tales and fables. She’s a name to watch. Another shortlisted book, Mohsin Hamid’s EXIT WEST (Hamish Hamilton £14.99), casts a magical realist spell on the horrors of the migrant crisis, taking us into parallel worlds and through portals, the narrative strung between London, Greece and west‑coast America. Continue reading...
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