Prophet Song
Have you ever had an intensely negative visceral reaction to a book?
I wouldn’t normally say publicly if I did, but Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (which just won the Booker) is my answer.
Good literature helps us find windows — even tiny ones — through which we can spot something that has propelled humanity forward throughout history: hope. That doesn’t mean I want only happy books. In fact, it’s usually the opposite…books w a big side of melancholy pls!
I understand the intended “point” of Prophet Song, set in modern-day Ireland as an authoritarian regime takes over. It’s an illustration of what a mother will do to attempt to keep her family together, and the prose is meant to illuminate this stress as life becomes more muddled and violent. The somewhat vague nature of this authoritarianism suggests a more universal struggle because, sadly, the reality is that people all over the globe are experiencing forced migration, dictatorial governments, etc. So, I get it. Because Prophet Song reads like an amalgamation of the following:
* Milkman (Anna Burns; read for “everything is vague to suggest the universal”),
* Room (Emma Donoghue; read to be immersed in the psychological stress a mother endures while trying to provide for her child despite living under extreme duress),
* A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle; read about a father being imprisoned for questioning authority).
{Read those instead.}
Much like how dictionaries declare a “word of the year” (‘rizz,’ anyone?), Booker judges certainly have some sort of “what is relevant?” criteria in their minds as they discern. Yes, there is so much in our contemporary world that is broken, lacking, and unjust, but giving the Booker to a novel like Prophet Song in 2023 somehow feels trite and dated and unoriginal...like, very 2020. A desire for hope doesn’t equal ignorance or lack of activism and care. Survival relies, in some measure, on hope.
Hope: Where is it in this book? (Please don’t say the last line because that is the trick of A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet, and fool me once…)
{Using this pic since the contrast of sunshine feels ridiculous, but welcome.}
originally published on instagram