2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize

Tonight, the Scotiabank Giller Prize will be awarded to one very deserving and talented Canadian writer.  This year, the prize has been super-sized, with each finalist earning $10,000 and the winner taking home $100,000.

Each year I try to read as many of the long listed books as I can before the winner is announced and this year has been my most successful thus far.  I managed to read 11 of the 12 long listed books, this includes all of the short listed books.  And what an incredible list it was.  Here are the nominees, the first 6 being the shortlisted books:

The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis
Tell by Frances Itani
Us Conductors by Sean Michaels
The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O’Neill
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
The Ever After of Ashwin Rao by Padma Viswanathan

Waiting For the Man by Arjun Basu
American Innovations by Rivka Galchen
Watch How We Walk by Jennifer Lovegrove
Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab by Shani Mootoo
Paradise and Elsewhere by Kathy Page
My October by Claire Holden Rothman

My Prediction: I think that All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews should win.  Not just because it has already won the Rogers Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction this year but because it is a beautiful, emotional, tender, and heartbreaking novel.  The flood of emotions is incredible, you’ll be both laughing and crying over such a sensitive subject, and as I mentioned in my review the writing style is tender but packs a big punch.  While there are so many great books on this list, this was the standout for me.

Which book do you think will win the Giller Prize this year?

Comments

  1. As the Crowe Flies and ReadsNovember 10, 2014 at 6:42 AM

    I wish I had read more of these book. I wish the Giller Prize got more coverage in the US, too!

    The only one of these books that I've any of at all is Rivka Galchen's story collection, which was interesting but not at all my cup of tea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ShanNovember 10, 2014 at 9:05 AM

    American Innovations wasn't quite my cup of tea either. After reading the 2015 catalogues, it looks like a few of these books will get some good promotion in the US soon so keep an eye out!

    ReplyDelete

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