The Booker Prize (awarded annually to the best novel of the
year written in English and published in the UK or Ireland) has brought
recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over 50
years. This year was no exception with
not one but two winners of the prize!
We’re going to look at the full shortlist this month, all
thoughtful stories that are well worth a read:
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - More than fifteen years
after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the
Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is
beginning to rot from within…
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo - Girl, Woman,
Other follows the lives and struggles of 12 very different characters.
Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families,
friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann - Latticing one cherry
pie after another, an Ohio housewife tries to bridge the gaps between reality
and the torrent of meaningless info that is the United States of America.
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma - A
contemporary twist on Homer’s Odyssey, Chigozie Obioma weaves a
heart-wrenching epic about the tension between destiny and determination.
Quichotte by Salman Rushdie - Inspired by the
classic Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, Quichotte is
the story of an aging travelling salesman who falls in love with a TV star and
sets off to drive across America on a quest to prove himself worthy of her
hand.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World by Elif Shafak
- For Leila, each minute after her death brings a sensuous memory: the taste of
spiced goat stew, sacrificed by her father to celebrate the long-awaited birth
of a son. Each memory, too, recalls the friends she made at each key moment in
her life – friends who are now desperately trying to find her. .
Mae Gwobr Booker (a
gyflwynir pob blwyddyn i nofel orau’r flwyddyn yn Saesneg ac wedi ei chyhoeddi
yn y DU neu Iwerddon) wedi dod â chydnabyddiaeth, gwobrau a darllenwyr i
ffuglen ragorol ers dros 50 mlynedd.
Doedd eleni ddim yn eithriad gyda nid un ond dwy enillydd.
Rydym ni’n mynd i edrych
ar y rhestr fer lawn y mis yma, pob un yn stori ystyrlon sy’n werth eu darllen:
The Testaments gan
Margaret Atwood – Dros bymtheg mlynedd ers digwyddiadau The Handmaid’s
Tale, mae theocratiaeth Gweriniaeth Gilead yn dal i afael yn dynn ar ei grym,
ond mae yn arwyddion ei bod yn dechrau pydru o’r tu mewn …
Girl, Woman, Other gan
Bernadine Evaristo – Mae Girl, Woman, Other yn dilyn bywydau a brwydrau 12 o
gymeriadau gwahanol iawn. Mae’r rhan
fwyaf yn fenywod, yn ddu ac yn Brydeinig ac maen nhw’n adrodd storïau eu
teuluoedd, ffrindiau a chariadon, ar draws y wlad a thros y blynyddoedd.
Ducks, Newburyport gan
Lucy Ellmann - Wrth addurno un darten geirios ar ôl y llall, mae gwraig tŷ o
Ohio’n ceisio pontio agendor rhwng y gwirionedd a’r llif o wybodaeth ddiystyr
sy’n cwmpasu Unol Daleithiau America.
An Orchestra of Minorities
gan Chigozie Obioma – Tro modern ar Odyseia Homer, mae Chigozie Obioma’n gweu
stori arwrol a dirdynnol am y tyndra rhwng ffawd a rhagderfyniad.
Quichotte gan Salman
Rushdie – wedi ei hysbrydoli gan y clasur Don Quixote gan Miguel de
Cervantes, stori yw Quichotte am drafeiliwr oedrannus sy’n syrthio
mewn cariad â seren o’r teledu ac mae’n cychwyn ar daith ar draws America mewn
ymgais i brofi ei fod yn deilwng o’i llaw.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds In
This Strange World gan Elif Shafak – I Leila, mae pob munud ar ôl ei marwolaeth
yn dod â chof synhwyrus: blas cawl gafr a aberthwyd gan ei thad i ddathlu
genedigaeth mab. Mae pob cof hefyd yn dod ag atgofion o’r ffrindiau y bu iddi
gwrdd â nhw ar bob adeg allweddol yn ei bywyd – ffrindiau sydd ar dân eisiau cael
hyd iddi nawr. .
