The Kills was amazing, but it was difficult to come up with an overall rating that adequately reflected my feelings about it, since to me it wasn’t one 913 page novel so much as it was four separate books with additional web content attached. For me, how a book reads is only one piece of a complex equation. The point is that “best book ever read” isn’t a category that fits into my system. Apples and oranges, as Suzanne Collins’ kids like to say. For me, each rating is a stand-alone value assigned only to the novel in question, never to be compared against any other rating I’ve ever assigned. I certainly don’t examine the works of Mo Willems the same way I do Don DeLillo. The qualities I look for, or that I’m measuring, tend to vary wildly based on a number of factors. That said, when reviewing a novel, I try to take into account how much I enjoyed the work and how successful the author was on any number of different levels. Just like all great expressions of art, pieces of literature don’t easily lend themselves to anything more than a cursory comparison at best.
I can’t possibly hope to compare two such disparate novels as The Kills and The Testament of Mary against one another any more than I could hope to evaluate how the work of Charles Dickens stacks up against that of Dan Brown. Why do you feel that this book is superior and deserves the perfect ranking and why would you consider this one to win the Man Booker for 2013?Īaron: Well, first I’d point out that, at least to me, rating systems that attempt to rank books in relation to one another are ultimately destined to fail. You’ve even ranked The Testament of Mary higher than the set of books you really enjoyed from this longlist: The Kills. That would put it in the “best book ever read” category. To me, he attempts to shock and awe and then spends additional paragraphs backpeddling on his measly attempt at shock and awe.Īaron, you’ve given The Testament of Mary a perfect score of 5 out of 5 stars. I again can find no merit as my interpretation of the The Testament of Mary is that he contradicts himself on more than one occasion. I cannot even say there was some merit to Toibin’s usually wonderful writing as I felt that the voice he gave Mary was very sharp and staccato-like. While my review intones I would say it was horrible and barely readable, I do not feel I could say it has some merit, therefore I gave it the Meh, take it our leave it and wrote that I am “leaving it” as I truly did not care for it. On our Literary Hoarders’ site we have an explanation next to the star-ratings: 1.5 – horrible, barely readable, 2 – Bad, but not without some merit and 2.5 – Meh, take it or leave it.
Now, on to Mike’s question as to why I gave my grade of 2.5, one grade higher than Mike’s 1.5 when I clearly felt a stronger dislike for the book. The length of the review shows Mike’s brilliance in writing in a manner similar to what Toibin gave us in his brief novella. Just as short as The Testament of Mary, but so much much more sweeter. It was exceptionally concise, short and sweet. Penny: Firstly, I would like to call attention to Mike’s brilliant review of The Testament of Mary for BookerMarks. Does this mean that you saw SOME redeeming qualities? Can you name one thing you did like about the book? He got a half-star from me for exemplary spelling. I just reread your Bookermarks review, and it seems like you disliked it even more than I did, yet you gave it 2.5 stars, one more than I gave it. Mike: Penny… my fellow hater of this book… Mike sometimes sails historic ships in New York Harbor, jockeys a computer other times, and blogs nearly never at .Ĭolm Toibin’s short, controversial, Man Booker Prize nominated novella The Testament of Mary, is a fictional retelling of Jesus’ rise to prominence and his tragic death as seen through his grieving mother’s eyes. Jackie is a book freak and a Duran Duran enthusiast.
#THE TESTAMENT OF MARY MAN BOOKER FULL#
Penny is 1/3 of the Literary Hoarders that works in research administration by day and dreams often of reading and working amongst books full time. He’s the co-founder of Typographical Era where he blogs on a regular basis about the latest in translated literature, foreign cinema, and more. Except of course when it comes to books or movies. Today, Aaron Westerman, Penny Kollar, Jackie Hirst, and Mike Cohen partake in an in-depth spoiler-free discussion about Colm Toibin’s novella The Testament of Mary.Īaron is Opinionless.
#THE TESTAMENT OF MARY MAN BOOKER SERIES#
The 2013 Booker Conversations is a series of in-depth, spoiler-free discussions between BookerMarks bloggers about this year’s nominated titles.
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