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jacqui_des's review
3.0
I had high hopes for this issue of Granta 123: The Best of Young British Novelists 4, especially given the beautifully written introduction by John Freeman, which so eloquently captures exactly what I have been trying to say unsuccessfully for so many years about the power of fiction, and the skill it takes to create, capture and articulate a world as real as our own.
“What is exciting about a novel is not what it tells us about reality, but how it uses the tools of literature – language and structure, time and voice – to create an alternative world that feels as real and as urgent as reality, a world against which even realistic novels scratch.”
“Literature exists, after all, not just for escape, but to speak truth to power, and it does so be asserting that the world as it is imagined is every bit as important as the world as it exists.”
“...literature creates a new reality, drip by drip, in the lives of its readers. It changes the way people imagine, which alters how they think, and expands what they believe is possible.”
Unfortunately, of the twenty works of fiction included in this issue, only three were actual short-stories, with the remaining seventeen all being excerpts from forthcoming novels. As such, they all read as "tasters" and it's difficult to get into the flow of the writing or the story, making this issue far less enjoyable as some previous issues. Despite these criticisms, I did enjoy 'After the Hedland' by Evie Wyld, 'Driver' by Taiye Selasi and 'Slow Motion' by Adam Thirlwell, the only author I have subsequently added to my 'To-Read' list.
Memorable Quotes
Vipers - Kamila Shamsie
“...he was maimed now, a partial man, and from here on he would never be admired, only pitied.”
Glow - Ned Beauman
“You know, back in the States, you can’t use the coffee pots in hotels, because people like you use them to brew meth. Even in the good hotels, I heard.”
Filsan - Nadifa Mohamed
“...a gun makes a soldier even out of a woman.”
Driver - Taiye Selasi
“If you have never been to Ghana then you might not understand the way the darkest skin can glow as with the purest of all lights.”
“Madam says her flowers are the toast of all of Ghana. I would note that all of us do not, alas, have bread. But the flowers are spectacular.”
You Don't Have to Live Like This - Benjamin Markovits
“I didn’t want to be gay, for several reasons. One of them being that I wanted to sleep with girls.”
“What is exciting about a novel is not what it tells us about reality, but how it uses the tools of literature – language and structure, time and voice – to create an alternative world that feels as real and as urgent as reality, a world against which even realistic novels scratch.”
“Literature exists, after all, not just for escape, but to speak truth to power, and it does so be asserting that the world as it is imagined is every bit as important as the world as it exists.”
“...literature creates a new reality, drip by drip, in the lives of its readers. It changes the way people imagine, which alters how they think, and expands what they believe is possible.”
Unfortunately, of the twenty works of fiction included in this issue, only three were actual short-stories, with the remaining seventeen all being excerpts from forthcoming novels. As such, they all read as "tasters" and it's difficult to get into the flow of the writing or the story, making this issue far less enjoyable as some previous issues. Despite these criticisms, I did enjoy 'After the Hedland' by Evie Wyld, 'Driver' by Taiye Selasi and 'Slow Motion' by Adam Thirlwell, the only author I have subsequently added to my 'To-Read' list.
Memorable Quotes
Vipers - Kamila Shamsie
“...he was maimed now, a partial man, and from here on he would never be admired, only pitied.”
Glow - Ned Beauman
“You know, back in the States, you can’t use the coffee pots in hotels, because people like you use them to brew meth. Even in the good hotels, I heard.”
Filsan - Nadifa Mohamed
“...a gun makes a soldier even out of a woman.”
Driver - Taiye Selasi
“If you have never been to Ghana then you might not understand the way the darkest skin can glow as with the purest of all lights.”
“Madam says her flowers are the toast of all of Ghana. I would note that all of us do not, alas, have bread. But the flowers are spectacular.”
You Don't Have to Live Like This - Benjamin Markovits
“I didn’t want to be gay, for several reasons. One of them being that I wanted to sleep with girls.”
chirson's review
3.0
The stand-outs for me would be Helen Oyeyemi (whose novel I can't wait to read), Steven Hall and Naomi Alderman. I didn't much care for Thirlwell or Wyld and of the three pieces by Zadie Smith I've read this year, this one was unfortunately the least impressive.
narflet's review
4.0
Borrowed this volume from my brother for one night and read the Naomi Alderman story, which I really enjoyed. I've dipped into Granta volumes before, and would quite like my own subscription now.
lmc_sf's review
4.0
Granta has always doen a great job with these collections. I'll be interested to see what the new Granta does.
kram's review against another edition
2.0
I had it in my head that this would be a collection of short stories, it being Granta, but there were only a few - the rest being excerpts of forthcoming novels. And I can't say that reading excerpts of novels is particularly satisfying - I find I never feel the urge to invest fully in it. Which made this a chore to read. There were a few standouts, but nothing majority exciting.
vanessav's review against another edition
3.0
I'm now looking forward to reading "Boy, Snow, Bird" anf "End of Endings" once they are published.
Also. "Submersion" was my first reading experience with Second Person Narration. It feels really weird and immerges you into the story more than any First or Third Person Narration I have ever read by identifying with a 'you' in the text.
Also. "Submersion" was my first reading experience with Second Person Narration. It feels really weird and immerges you into the story more than any First or Third Person Narration I have ever read by identifying with a 'you' in the text.
bookmarchitect's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent way to keep in touch with new British literature. My only complaint is about the audiobook production: in a long, segmented book like this, it would have been nice to follow the list of contents on the display of my device: the audio file chapters should have stated which author and which book was currently playing.
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