The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2011 long-list was announced on the 26th July 2011 with a strong pack of writers. When the shortlist took the numbers down to the six below it was always going to be a close call, but last night the winner was announced at the awards ceremony, so for anyone still asking who won The Man Booker Prize 2011, it was Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending.
Previously nominated in 1984 with Flaubert’s Parrot, in 1998 for England, England and in 2005 for Arthur and George (2005), Julian Barnes is a powerhouse of British literature and his work has finally bagged him The Man Booker Prize. An instant bestseller, The Sense of an Ending is filled with questions about the past, the choices that we make, how we interpret events and how they impact the lives that are linked to them.
The plot follows Tony Webster as he is forced to look back on clouded memories from his friendship group at sixth form. The force comes in the form of a solicitors letter about one his old friends that shakes the foundations of his seemingly ordinary life.
The Sense of an Ending is only available on hardcover at the moment, but it should be out on paperback in the new year.
The shortlist for The Man Booker Prize 2011 was:
Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape – Random House) – Winner
Carol Birch Jamrach’s Menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail)
Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
A.D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)
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