Featuring six novels in translation as well as several that have been nominated previously for prizes including the Man Booker, the Man Booker International and the Baileys Prize, this year’s Dublin International Literary Award shortlist brings the reader around the world to locations including Mexico, Mozambique, 18 century Greenland and Co Clare.
I was delighted to see Anne Enright on the list with The Green Road. A poignant and genuinely funny novel about adult children returning to their mother’s home in Clare for one final Christmas, it’s worth the cover price for the epic Christmas shopping scene alone.
Another of my favourite books in recent years was A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This is a divisive book, I’ve met readers who adored it and others who hated it but no one who reads it can fail to have an opinion on it. Shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, it tells the story of four college classmates in New York whose lives remain intertwined during their post university years. One of the four, Jude hasn’t told his friends about the horrific abuse he suffered as a child and his personal history has an impact on all of them. It is a very grim read but I found it fascinating.
Another book that might be familiar to readers is A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler. It’s a short, gentle but very powerful novel that tells the story, as the title suggests of one man’s life in a remote mountain village. During the course of his life he experiences great tragedy but also achieves a certain peace. A very moving read.
Elsewhere the list features a former winner of the prize, back when it was known as the IMPAC, Orhan Pamuk, this time with the Istanbul set novel A Strangeness in my Mind. This was also shortlisted for the Man Booker International prize and is, in essence a love letter to Istanbul, charting the course of a street traders journey through the city over the course of four decades.
Also nominated for the Man Booker International was Jose Eduardo Agualusa for his book A General Theory of Oblivion, which tells the story of a woman in Angola who shuts herself away from the world when war comes to her front door. A short, intense, often very sad book with a memorable central character.
There are two other African novels on the list, the first being Under the Udala Trees by young Nigerian/American writer Chinelo Okparanta. It’s the story of two girls who fall in love against the background of the Biafan conflict, and serves as a timely remind over the ongoing struggles experienced by the LBGT commuity in Nigeria. Meanwhile Mia Couto’s book Confessions of a Lioness, which is translated from Portuguese is a book with a touch of magic realism, a tale of a village where young girls are taken by a lioness and the myths of the older generation are still a fact of life for many.
One of the longer and possibly stranger books on the list is The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine, the story of a priest who travels to Greenland in the 1780s to convert the Inuit. Elements of fantasy and some strong sex scenes combine to make this an unusual novel with elements of fantasy.
Those interested in the Vietnam war will rush to get the Pulitizer Prize winning work The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, a literary spy novel set in Vietnam and America. It’s certainly fast paced, but I felt as a reader I needed more background knowledge of the conflict to really appreciate it.
Finally, from Mexico comes The Story of my Teeth a very unusual and entertaining novel by Valeria Luiselli. It’s the story of an auctioneer who collects the teeth of famous people, but what’s even more unusual about this book is how it came together. The story was in effect ‘crowd sourced’ when the author collaborated with workers in a juice factory outside Mexico city. She herself has described it as 'Dickens + MP3 divided by Balzac plus jpeg'.
The winner of the International Dublin Literary Award will be announced on June 21
