Caine Prize round-up
Tonight I am going to Caine Prize readings in Southbank (if you are going as well, let me know!), so I thought I would quickly gather together all my observations regarding this year's nominees.
Altogether, I wasn't particularly blown away by any of the stories but my favourite is Hitting Budapest. I think it was the one that raised the most important questions about what is expected of African literature and what should be delivered. It was also the story that was exceptionally well written and well structured.
The second place goes to In The Spirit of McPhineas Lata and Butterflies Dreams. In The Spirit of McPhineas Lata was a well crafted comic tale and Butterflied Dreams was asking similar questions as Hitting Budapest.
The Mistress's Dog was a definitely well written but it's coming second to last in my ranking because I just didn't care for it. Maybe if I was older it would mean more.
My least favourite story was, of course, What Molly Knew. It was so just horrendous on every level I am not sure what the judges were thinking shortlisting this one. Needless to say, if this one wins I am going to lose all my interest in Caine Prize and we will not be having this discussion next year.
The winner is announced tomorrow so we will soon find out how my opinions correlate with those of the judging panel.
