This is the second(ish) novel to win the Booker Prize. I am interested in the question of what wins prizes at different periods of times because it sheds some kind of light on critical and popular taste. In the early years of the prize some very good novels were to win, some particularly weak novels were to win, and some very good novels were to lose. This book is somewhere in the middle: an interesting but forgettable novel that lingers because of the win, but less so for the quality.
I had thought this novel would be about a member of parliament because of the title. But instead, it’s about a 41 year old Jewish barrister who has had some kind of “crack up” and now lies in bed at his father’s house, a sympathetic and caring rabbi who splits his care of his son with the man’s sister. As the novel develops we get a further explanation of the nature of the family, the nature of the break, and what happens as a consequence. The book is often funny and often moving because the care of the rabbi is earnest and loving, and the lead character Bernard has experienced and continues to experience real suffering.
What this book most reminds of (and it kind of splits the different between the two) is the family connections and sufferings of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis and the deep pain of suffering of parents in Nabokov’s short story “Signs and Symbols”. The family is not in denial and does not hold onto resentment as in Kafka and also does not suffer so painfully as in Nabokov, but there’s a balance here.
The novel also continues to highlight (not on the author’s part) but on the literary establishment’s part the interest in the role of Judaism in the UK.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0349130221/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0)