Booker prize 2021
“I never read contemporary novels,” Edvard said. “If I read anything, I read classics from the 19th century.”
“Yeah,” said Jasmina. “That’s the problem with our education system. It’s like nothing existed after 1900. Sure, there’s Proust and Joyce, and maybe Sartre and Camus, but nobody remembers them because, in the last year of high school, all you think about is partying and sex. So yeah, you end up reading Tolstoy or Maupassant in your thirties or forties when you finally feel the desire to read a good book, simply because you don’t know any other names.”
“Yeah,” said Edvard. “Pretty much my situation. Except, who is Maupassant?”
And Norton was laughing like crazy. Yeah, even he knew Maupassant from high school. And he knew Edvard knew it.
“Stop it!” said Jasmina.
“And I also know Hemingway from the 20th century, you know,” said Edvard with a giggle.
“Oh, yeah,” said Jasmina. “That one managed to become a household name too.”
“Wait,” said Andi. “It sounded like you don’t like Hemingway?”
“No, I like him,” said Jasmina. “I just wish some other writers were as well-known.”
“They would need to know how to handle a gun,” Andi said. “Or find some other way to present themselves as macho.”
“Oh, come on!” Jasmina exclaimed. “He was so much more than that.”
“I am not saying he wasn’t,” Andi replied.
“So...” Edvard said, “I asked Jasmina for help with choosing a contemporary novel to read.”
“Oh,” said Andi. “I hope she didn’t give you a crime novel?”
“For fuck’s sake!” exclaimed Jasmina.
“Well, you tend to underestimate your friends, dear,” Andi said.
“No,” Edvard said. “She suggested some novels that were shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021.”
“Oh,” said Andi, “that’s so fucking predictable, Jasmina.”
“And what would you, asshole, propose?” Jasmina asked.
“A crime novel,” said Andi.
“For fuck’s sake!” Jasmina said quietly.
“Leave him alone,” Edvard said. “He’s actually reading crime novels, believe me.”
“What is the Booker prize?” Norton asked.
“Fucking hell,” said Andi. “When will you learn to at least pretend you know things? People will always think you’re dumb if you keep stressing how little you know.”
“Shut up, Andi,” said Edvard.
“Yeah,” sighed Andi. “Don’t you think, Jasmina, that suggesting a novel shortlisted for the Booker Prize only makes sense if the person knows what the Booker Prize is?”
“Edvard knows,” Jasmina replied.
“Now I do,” Edvard said, “but I didn’t know two weeks ago.”
“Yeah, they are dump, but at least they are honest,” Andi said. “So, what’s this novel about?”
“Oh, I’ve actually read two,” Edvard said.
“Two?” Andi asked. “So, what, you’ve doubled the number of novels you’ve read in the last decade?”
“The first one is A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam,” Edvard said.
“Oh,” said Andi, “I’ve heard about that one.”
“It reflects on Sri Lanka’s civil war,” Edvard said. “I have to admit I didn’t know anything about Sri Lanka’s conflict until now. It was driven by an ethnic struggle between the Buddhist population in the south and the Tamil minority in the north.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Andi said.
“Come on, man,” Edvard said. “Don’t say you knew about it. Anyway, the novel mentions the Channel 4 documentary Killing Fields from 2011, which covers the final weeks of the war. I really need to watch it.”
“Yeah,” said Andi. “That’s what you remember from a novel - that you need to watch a documentary to finally understand the novel.”
“How can you stand this guy,” Janez said. “Shut the fuck up, Andi!”
“But I actually preferred The Promise by Damon Galgut,” Edvard said. “And I also read Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022.”
“Oh,” Andi exclaimed, “that’s quite impressive for you!”
“And man,” Edvard said, “this should be called realism. I know Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are considered realists, but they still have superheroes—especially Dostoevsky. Do you know anyone in real life like Dunya Raskolnikova? But man. There are no superheros in The Promise and Elena Knows. The characters in these novels are so real, they are pure flesh and blood. They are weak, just as we are. I was sufferring when reading, and at the same time these stories reveal so much about ourselves that you can’t help but enjoy such wonderful literature.”
“Oh, damn,” Andi said. “People will start thinking you actually understand what literature is about.”
“I was hoping,” Edvard continued, “for Galgut to reveal something positive about his characters towards the end of the novel. But, well, I just kept dying.”
“You dead, man,” Andi said.
“And Elena Knows... it struck me deeply when the consequences of Rita’s great deed were revealed. I won’t spoil what happened, but it really makes you think. It makes you think. I don’t think I’ve ever read novels so powerful.”
“Yeah, more powerful than Maupassant?” Norton asked.
And it was clear he was joking; there was no need for Andi to attack him.
“Well, if you liked these novels,” Jasmina said, “I haven’t completely lost faith in our education system.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Andi said. “She’s going to cry.”