A Spotlight On: The Costa Book Awards
- theshelfldn
- Jan 30, 2018
- 4 min read
After much anticipation, today’s the day of the announcement of the Costa Prize. Last year Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End took the title, after winning the novel category, accelerating it up the bestsellers charts and onto bookshelves around the country. The Costa (formerly the Whitbread novel) stands alone as the only prestigious award that compares novels across genres. This year category winners are:
Debut Novel: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Novel: Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
Biography: The Days of Rain by Rebecca Stott
Poetry: Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore
Children’s Book: The Explorer by Katherine Rundell
Not only is the feat of comparing books with vastly dissimilar audiences and aims a unique perspective for a book award, the Costa Award places the emphasis on widespread enjoyment of the novel over literary acclaim.
This year the three novels in consideration include an epic adventure story for young readers, a story that unpicks the lives behind a tragedy, and an exploration of loneliness that is both uplifting and heart breaking. But which should be declared the winner?
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (4th Estate)
What’s it about?
It is the start of a New Year and a 13 year old girl has vanished without a trace from the village in which her family are spending the holiday period. What follows is an poetic novel that sweeps across the decade that follows her disappearance. As if watching from above, we glide aver the lives of the villagers, dipping into snapshots of their lives as they love, mourn and question themselves in the wake of tragedy. This is a story of getting on after a moment of chaos.
What’s great about the Novel winner?
McGregor's novel is incredibly ambitious, introducing us to the residents of the village in its entirety. The ricochet of the initial blow of the girl's disappearance is treated with incredible sensitivity that places us in the heart of the action, exploring what it means to be witness to tragedy, and how life can, and must go on. Each time we become caught up in the loves, deaths and conflicts of a village family, McGregor fleetingly returns to the missing girl. Just as with the residents of the village, we are unable to forget her, no matter how long it is since her last sighting.
The novel's poetic descriptions of the natural world beautifully intertwine with the daily lives of the rural community. Moments of stillness clash with the chaos- a woman walks her neighbour's dog just sentences before a horrific fire, newborn lambs take their first steps moments before a disturbing revelation about one of the residents in unveiled- creating a haven of wildness.
What might stop it winning?
Certainly the most literary of the three novels nominated this year, Reservoir 13's scale may well be its downfall. There is distance between the reader and characters that is not seen in the two other novels, largely due to the fact that here we spend less time with our protagonists. Names and relationships become confused and characters merge as each paragraph flits between families, leaving the reader with little secure attachment or investment in the outcome of their lives.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (Harper Collins)
What’s it about?
Eleanor’s weeks rarely differ; tiresome colleagues and irritating passers-by are washed away by two litres of vodka and an oven pizza. Her world is one of isolated routine, which only the arrival of a persistently friendly colleague and a collapsed pensioner can break. This is a feel-good novel that celebrates the transformative nature of kindness.
What’s great about the Debut Novel winner?
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine manages to tread that thin line between hilarity and utter heartbreak. In Eleanor, Honeyman has created one of the most unique characters to be seen in literature this year: we cringe along with her ignorance of the world; are numbed by her tragic past; and can’t help but smile as we see her take those earl y tentative steps into friendship.
The novel has also received plenty of praise for exploring the often overlooked problem of chronic loneliness. The author sensitively explores what it is to crave love, yet be fearful of seeking it, and the shame that can come in admitting the desire for company.
What might stop it winning?
Eleanor Oliphant is very much a plot and character based novel, lacking the beautiful, atmospheric description of Reservoir 13. Yet as the Costa focuses primarily on enjoyment, this may not cause too big a problem.
The Explorer by Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury)
What’s it about?
Four young survivors of a plane-crash find themselves stranded in the heart of the Amazon with no sign of help. Together they must hunt, find shelter and protect themselves against the treachery of the rainforest. But when they find a mysterious map, it seems someone has been here before, and they are determined to find out who.
What’s great about the Children’s Book winner?
Rundell is undoubtedly one of the finest children’s novelists currently writing. The Explorer zooms along, with terrific pace, throwing readers from one moment of adventure to the next. The richness of the Amazon is evocatively drawn from each page- the excitement of Rundell’s protagonist to be in such a paradise is infectious, leaving readers with an urge to strap on the waling boot and explore the world.
What might stop it winning?
Children’s books rarely win the overall Costa prize, with just two novels for younger readers awarded the title in its entire history.
As with many children’s books, The Explorer is heavily focused on providing an incredible plot, full of twists and turns. As it admirably hurtles us through plane crashes, ant attacks and piranha filled rivers, Rundell’s latest offering loses out on character development. In addition the novel’s life-threatening finale is wrapped up all too easily, leaving us with a less than satisfying ending (wonderful epilogue aside).
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