M. John Harrison has won the Booker Prize for The End of Everything, becoming its oldest winner at 81. The unanimous decision brings a 50,000 pounds award. His novel follows everyday life on England’s south coast after an unexplained catastrophe. Judging chair Mary Beard described an unsettling book that nevertheless leaves a trace of optimism.
M. John Harrison has won the Booker Prize for The End of Everything at a London ceremony. At 81, he becomes the award’s oldest winner. The judging panel chose the novel unanimously from the six-book shortlist announced in September. The award follows the shortlist’s announcement earlier in the autumn. Mary Beard chairs the panel, which selected Harrison’s account of life after an unexplained catastrophe.[1], [2]
The novel follows Phillip Tennent and his elderly aunt Marnie on England’s south coast, a few decades into the future. Years have passed since a mysterious catastrophe involving entities called iGhetti. Social conventions have eroded, while vigilantes have taken over law and order. A crashed aeroplane can sit in a garden. Yet people still hold children’s parties and drink morning coffee at a seaside café.[1]
Phillip finds a jelly-like object on the beach. It quickly grows, develops speech and begins instructing the humans caring for it. Some people desperately seek an explanation for the changes around them. Beard reads the novel as present politics seen through a future setting, where old rules have lost their usefulness. Beard describes an unsettling book with a wry humour and an unexpected trace of optimism despite its subject.[1]
