Monday, May 7, 2012

Emily Perkins' The Forrests my review



Here it is - within the six minute slip of a time slot on National Radio's Nine to Noon. I had so much more to say, but the guts of it is here and I am grateful for that.

To clarify about the 'will it win the Booker' question at the end of the interview -- okay, I didn't hear that --  I heard: 'could' it -- I mean, who can possibly say if it will? There's more than the book itself to consider, there's the competition, the politics, the sheer Britishness of the award etc -- but yes, I definitely think it could win the Booker. Oh yes I do.

As I say in the interview, it's as good as any other Booker winners I've read lately: Enright, Hollinghurst etc. This book grabs hold of you and is very very hard to dislodge.


3 comments:

Rachel Fenton said...

I thoroughly enjoyed Emily's Novel About My Wife - just thought she nailed that Brit Lit/middle class scene and her prose is a startling amalgamation of colloquialism and poetry - a joy to read. I cannot wait to read this. Thanks for the review, Mary.

maggie@at-the-bay.com said...

Congratulations Mary on such a professional review in such a short time-frame with the huge responsibility of the 'Booker' hanging over the book - such a tricky question and you've answered it really well. Wouldn't it be wonderful though (as we all said with Mr Pip). Looking forward to reading The Forrests

Michelle Elvy said...

Nice review, Mary! Glad I came here before slumbering tonight... Have tweeted!