So I have finally got hold of the first ever Booker prize winner, which won way back in 1969. This involved requesting the book from the Central Resources Library (which I imagine is a bit like Gringott’s bank in Harry Potter but filled with every book imaginable – however this is unfortunately probably not the case!) and although I started reading it, some annoying person requested it and back it had to go!
Interestingly it was published by Faber Finds which is “an imprint whose aim is to restore to print a wealth of lost classics and authors of distinction” - which suggests that there was once a time when it was out of print, which seems crazy given that it won such a prestigious prize! It made me stop and think about what an impact publishers have in deciding to stop printing a book, or conversely how many copies to send out into the world. I must say I like the idea of bringing books ‘back to life’ again so that a whole new generation of readers can share the story once more. Furthermore, it highlighted to me what a ‘classic book’ has achieved by succeeding in the struggle for survival of the fittest in the cut-throat world of publishing, where people are constantly looking for the next new thing to sell.
So, well done to ‘Something to Answer For’ for winning in 1969 and successfully returning via a re-print which has meant I am able to come to read it now. However, this was a book where I constantly felt I was missing something vital to understand what was happening. So much so, I felt compelled to do some research into the book to try to shed some light on whether if I was more intellectual or had more insight, the story would become clearer and would then appreciate its genius.
I would even struggle to recount the basic plot of the story or what it was trying to communicate to the reader. It is set in Egypt during the Suez Canal Crisis and follows the protagonist Townrow, who after being attacked and suffering a head injury appears to be confused for the rest of the book. The reader can never be sure what actually happened and what he has imagined or hallucinated, everything is muddled and fact and fiction are impossible to distinguish. So much so that Townrow is not sure of whether his nationality is Irish or British, or whether the husband of the ‘widow’ who he has come to visit has actually been killed!
The writing was excellent and the descriptions of the background events were interesting and atmospheric. However, it’s not a book about which I feel I can really form an opinion, as my predominant impression is one of confusion. From reading other people’s reviews I think that this was the point of the book and clearly other people are far more comfortable with this uncertainty. I wonder whether the other early Bookers will be similar in style and therefore gives an insight into literature around that time? I guess I will have to wait and see…
