I am a huge fan of book prizes, the reason being that the titles chosen are usually different to the ones that influencers like to display on social media. Obviously I can’t read every shortlisted book or winner. There are exceptions and the only two prizes I follow religiously, by which I mean I’ll read the entire longlist is the International Booker (IB) and The Booker. Spring is for the IB while Summer and Autumn are for the Booker.
This year’s International Booker is chaired by poet/novelist Max Porter, the other judges are director and photographer, Caleb Femi , Wasafiri’s publishing director Sana Goyal , translator and author, Anton Hur and musician Beth Orton. As with every Booker longlist, the titles reflect the current state of the world and tap into a cultural zeitgeist of sorts. I am at the halfway point, having read eight novels and I’ll write about some of them. At this stage there’s one I didn’t like too much, two I’m lukewarm about and the remaining 5 are great.
The one I didn’t like: Eurotrash by Christian Kracht, translated by Daniel Bowles (2021, English translation, 2025)
German born Swiss author Christian Kracht is a big name in Germany, with his debut Fraserland being a classic. In this novel he puts himself in his own narrative and references his past work, not unlike what Bret Easton Ellis has been doing lately. In Eurotrash he goes on a road trip with his 80-year-old alcoholic mother, and it turns into an exploration in his family’s dark past. In between their conversations, one particular one is about Roald Dahl’s plane crash in Libya, which led to his nose being restructured.
Unfortunately, what put me off about the book was the writing style. At times it felt too clipped and jagged plus the constant barrage of trivia (which is something I like) just ruined the pace of the book, I understand that it’s about how we are shaped by history but Eurotrash just didn’t work for me.
One book I was lukewarm about:
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes (2022, English translation, 2025)
Perfection focuses on a millennial couple, Anna and Tom, who relocate from Italy to Berlin. The book documents the minutiae of their expat life: their digital, stay at home jobs, the monstera plant exceptional taste in music , not really like culture but showing up at every event. All is good until the number of people who are living are affecting the economy and as a result house rentals have increased, which puts the couple in a situation.
Despite the criticism about capitalism and expat communities, I felt like I was the wrong demographic for this novel. Every generation has their fashionable city be it Paris, Prague, Berlin and now Lisbon but in Perfection I just couldn’t relate that much and at times I did want the book to go into more depth but it never does: we get a superficial portrait of a privileged couple at odds with the country’s red tape. That’s it really. By the end of the book I just went ehhh that was ok. It’s a breezy and flowing read but Perfection is ok.
The Ones I REALLY liked:
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated by Polly Barton (2023, English translation, 2025)
At this point in my International Booker readings, this brief novel is one of the more unsettling titles in this year’s longlist. Shaka, a woman with a muscular disorder which leaves her confined to a wheelchair and breathing apparatus (which is the same disorder the Saou Ichikawa has). Fortunately born in a prominent family, she is able to have constant care, In her spare time she writes erotic fiction. One day a care worker discovers her writings and offers a deal not to expose her. The question is: will Shaka accept?
What was unsettling was how Japanese society treats disabled people. According to the novel, they should be hidden from society and given the status as a non-human. Considering how we westerners see Japan as a progressive country it is quite disturbing to see that it is seemingly non inclusive.
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson (2023, English translation, 2025)
Small Boat’s premise lies in an incident in 2021 where an inflatable dinghy with migrants leaving France for the UK in it sprung a leak and all but two drowned. This led to a police investigation as the French coastguards were charged with neglect. Philosopher Vincent Delecroix novel is divided into three parts. The first section reimagines the interrogation process with one of the guards and throws in issues such as ethics, complicity, social class, identity with some semantics included. The second part recalls the tragedy from the point of view of one of the victims. The novel concludes with a philosophical meditation of the many faces of the sea. Small Boat is a layered and intelligent novel. A tiny novel with big ideas, and it works.
Last but not least:
Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu , translated by Sean Cotter (2015, English translation, 2022)
How does one describe the mighty Solenoid? It’s surreal in places, thought provoking in others, a bit gross in places and it also is based around an ethical premise and that’s not including the digressions on mathematics, politics and literature.
The main protagonist of the book is a teacher who is a failed writer due to a disastrous poem he read. Thus he is confined to reading his notes, which is the novel Solenoid (there’s a lot of meta moments like this).
As he lives in a real corporeal world, he descends into a metaphysical one – one where the 4th dimension exists and there are Solenoids planted all over Bucharest.
The book constantly dances between these two worlds but they are linked by Ethel Lilian Voynich’s 1897 novella The Gadfly. The author herself also straddled the physical and astral plane due to her family connections. The main protagonist finally realises that he faced with an ethical problem and it’s u to him to choose the right path in order to verify the world he wants to be in.
I may make this sound complex and in a way it is but Solenoid is not as densely written as, say experimental authors such as Pynchon, Foster-Wallace or William H. Gass. Think of Nicola Barker or Will Self (who also visited different astral planes in My Idea of Fun) Solenoid also has humor and a heart and, at this point, is a strong contender to win.
Are you reading any of the International Booker Novels? Please get in touch.
