English students review Booker Prize 2024 shortlisted novels

Orbital by Samantha Harvey, reviewed by Isobel Strevens

Six astronauts from different countries are stationed on the International Space Station as it orbits the earth, where every single day they observe ‘sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets’. Harvey’s novella does not follow traditional action-driven narratives of space exploration; instead, Orbital is a hauntingly beautiful and poignant exploration of humanity away from its home. The narrative flows unhurriedly between the astronauts, the globe, and the human condition. During a singular orbit, we are presented with the astronauts’ daily routines interspersed with their hopes, dreams, and memories, with stunning passages detailing the beauty of the cities and countries that pass beneath the ISS, and with philosophical explorations of what space travel means for mankind. The American astronaut Shaun is tasked by an editorial to answer ‘with this new era of space travel, how are we writing the future of humanity?’ Orbital encourages its reader to reflect upon the same question.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey, reviewed by Hannah Tomkinson

Samantha Harvey’s Orbital is a bewitching ode to planet Earth. Readable in a few hours, the magnitude of Orbital’s absorbing and philosophical quality is particularly impressive considering its brevity. Orbital gives an account of six astronauts orbiting the Earth over the course of 24 hours. This allows Harvey to question ideas about time and space; when night and day seamlessly blend into a handful of hours, and 'continents run into each other like overgrown gardens', doubt is provoked in the dichotomies which are so prevalent in modern societies. Orbital traverses topics such as loss, dreams, science and nature, however its most potent message surrounds the relationships between Earth and its inhabitants. Harvey constructs a ‘Mother Earth’ narrative and portrays human beings as her children, connecting us all through this dependency. As such, Harvey reflects on humanity’s true closeness, ironically magnified through the astronauts’ distance, and leaves her readers sanguinely reflective.

James by Percival Everett, reviewed by Jack Casson

Everett takes a welcome break from his typical post-modernist style to narrate a thought-provoking and, quite frankly, heart-wrenching tale of camaraderie, trauma and perseverance. Lifted from the literary spiritualism of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Everett combines fiction with reality in his own interpretation of the slave narrative that will leave readers in a ball of tears. Re-told through the perspective of the enslaved Jim from Twain's original tale, Everett questions the elusiveness of freedom and what it means to take away the voice of the oppressed, all whilst constructing a vibrant social and geographical landscape of Mississippi that only furthers Jim’s complex position as both hunted and hunting for freedom. James is undoubtably a worthy contender for the Booker prize in its rich yet accessible complexity… just make sure to have a box of tissues as you read.

James by Percival Everett, reviewed by Nathan Lewis

In his latest novel James, Percival Everett gives a new name and a new voice to a character from one of the most famous works of American literature. In Everett’s poignant reimagining of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Jim – James – is not a secondary character at all: he narrates his own story with wit, intelligence, and humanity.

Using language – particularly the concept of ‘code-switching’ – to interrogate the caricatured portrayals of enslaved people in Huckleberry Finn, Everett adds new depth to James’ character. Though the novel provides a crucial opportunity to reexamine historical narratives about race in America, Everett’s James also stands as a powerful story in its own right. It undoubtedly has its dark moments, which can make it a challenging read. However, the subject matter is sadly necessary to confront, and Everett’s tale blends humour, philosophy, and friendship into the moral complexity and exploration of identity, making James a worthwhile and important read.

Held by Anne Michaels, reviewed by Eve Mitchell

Held is a triumphant discussion of the relationship between time and connection. Following the lives of multiple members of the same family, we are taken both backwards and forwards within history as Anne Michaels constantly calls into question what it means to love and to be loved. The story spans across the European continent from 1908 Paris all the way through into 2025 Finland, asking the reader to ponder on their own perceptions of time and place. Michaels plays with a poetic style of language as she pushes her characters into each other’s lives, making the links between humans almost tangible and playing with the idea that innate connections can be almost supernatural in nature. The novel’s central motif of rivers is what ultimately brings this concept to life as Michaels leaves you in awe of her description of landscapes, which draws the reader into her world.

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner, reviewed by Jago Furnas

In Kushner’s fourth novel the pseudonymous Sadie Smith, an American who while on the run from academia has somehow ended up a secret agent, is tasked with infiltrating a commune of environmentalists opposed to the agroindustrial development of their faded corner of France. Their leader is himself in thrall to Bruno Lacombe, a sage-like veteran of the ‘68 protests who lives in the Guyenne’s prehistoric caves, surfacing only to send rambling emails from his adult daughter’s computer. Armed with thorough and obscure research, Kushner renders Bruno’s formidable but unbalanced intellect as seductive to her reader as it is to Sadie, whose sangfroid and tightly controlled narration begin to fracture as pressures both internal and external mount. The espionage plot, though climaxing in a dubious deus ex machina, integrates pleasingly with the book’s contemplation of a humanity caught between its cryptic past and imperilled future, its extraordinary capabilities and prosaic failings.

The Safekeep by Yael Van der Wouden, reviewed by Daniela Ramos Lay

“How quickly did the belly of despair turn itself into hope.”

Yael Van der Wouden’s stunning debut novel, set in the Netherlands and marked by the aftermath of the Second World War, is a story of one woman’s resentment and its unconscious transformation into adoration. Dealing with themes of sexual awakening, the novel’s powerful eroticism and romance draws the reader in, and Van der Wouden’s dreamlike prose makes sure you stay. The mysticism threaded into the text is at times even uncomfortable – a discomfort that is explained at the novel’s end with a gut punch of a plot twist that astutely criticises the complicity of forced ignorance in the face of mass eviction. I was blown away by The Safekeep’s magnetism; I could have read a thousand more pages recounting the tale of Isabel and Eva’s beautifully portrayed relationship in a house that seemed to breathe with its own life.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, reviewed by Hannah Tang

Like the lingering sweat of a summer’s high noon, The Safekeep – a fervent tale of awakening and ownership – clings to you and refuses to let go. In the post-Holocaust Netherlands, Isabel grapples with her mother’s death and the unexpected arrival of her brother’s girlfriend, Eva, an event that reverberates across her claustrophobic existence. Domestic spaces are haunted by the atrocities of the past: no longer the simplicity of four walls and a roof, but instead locations of trauma and erasure. The feverish intimacy and devotion between characters is exquisitely depicted, the frenetic, heady thrum of repressed want beating a steady pulse throughout. Yael van der Wouden effortlessly interrogates this blossoming sexuality and its repercussions in her debut novel, as well as scrutinising the fragility of material objects – what does it really mean to own a plate, a house, a history?

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood, reviewed by Almas Hayat

Charlotte Wood writes a silent but weighty novel in a diary-like style about a woman who has decided to leave her old life and live out her days in a convent in outback Australia. This is a delicate and contemplative book about religion, grief, and forgiveness. The narrator’s relationship with God is a fascinating aspect of the book as, though she attends mass and lives amongst nuns, she doesn’t accept religion. However, neither does she fully deny it – she seems to respect and arguably envy the devotion and purpose religion gives the sisters. There’s a sense of overarching quiet in the book which reflects how the narrator is living this communal life tucked away from the outside world and seeking contentment. I really enjoyed the brief interjections of the narrator’s conscience remembering her mother and reflecting on grappling grief and how desperate she is to seek forgiveness from a person who re-enters her life.

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood, reviewed by Ellie Dempster

Stone Yard Devotional offers readers a chronotope of religious battles, qualms, and questions of moral integrity. Wood’s confessional writing style is an immersive and engaging factor in the novel, and the careful weaving of complex childhood memories alongside a grappling with the notion of a ‘middle aged’ panic crafts a striking dichotomy. The novel shines in its bitter and staccato dialogical parts, allowing for a revelatory insight into the main character's struggle with her position in her new religious routine. Whilst the chronology of the narrative feels lost at times, this temporal aspect only heightens the enclosed space she is operating within and offers a juxtaposing sense of freedom away from a cyclical ‘day after day’ structure.

We feel intertwined with the main character’s desire for forgiveness, yet simultaneously feel disconnected from the harrowing crises which arise in the monastery, negated by Wood’s sometimes charmingly detached writing. It is certainly a novel which imposes introspection in a disguised and covert manner, which we can commend the author for fostering.

The winner of the Booker Prize 2024 will be announced on Tuesday 12 November.