The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Maps of our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer

I still don’t think a debut author this young has any right to write a book this impressive.

Delighted to see this here although it didn’t work for me personally.

Great to see this one on the list.

I bought a copy thinking it might be on the list (based on all the comments I've read here), so I'll be reading it soon.

Incredibly strong, powerful debut. Creatively written, compelling story, just knocked it out of the park.

This is the excuse I was looking for to re-read this one.

All the excuse I did not really need also. Same for The Colony.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I still don’t think a debut author this young has any right to write a book this impressive."

I absolutely agree. It's not just the amazing artistic talent, but the psychological insight that I find incredible for a young person of that age.

I can't believe both The Colony and this one made the list, they are surely among my top book experiences of the year.

Paul wrote: "Delighted to see this here although it didn’t work for me personally."

I too had issues with it. It was powerful and beautifully written, but at times over-kneaded? I can't imagine people actually having conversations that go like this:

- [Anthimeria] sounds like a secret word for the shape the moon makes on still water.

- Anthimeria is also the verbing of a noun - it is a leap, a transformation,
a conversion from Thing to Action;
where we box away, crane up, curtain through
the certainty of what things are and what they could be.
The way light moons about on a flat plate of sea."

The above is an extract from a conversation between Lia and her 12-year-old daughter, Iris (p 103).

I started reading this after the Booker longlist announcement. About 20% of the way through - absolutely loving it so far! The writing is so lush and beautiful. I cannot believe this is a debut author.

I liked Maps…more than The Colony. I liked The Colony and feel it deserves its place on the list, but if only one could be nominated for the Booker I would choose Maps for its different voices, including the disease and her bodily memories.

An ambitious and brilliant novel, though I'm not a fan of word gymnastics: sentences shaped like roller coasters, phrases encircled in bullseye, and words that dip and then rise to plateau. However, these distractions are a minor complaint for an incredibly smart, surprisingly funny (considering the subject) and heartbreaking work.

I’m not crazy about fancy page layouts either. I don’t think it adds to the story. I guess it makes the book more interactive, though.

I just got my copy of Maps yesterday. The comments here have intrigued me.

I hope you enjoy it!

That's interesting, Scott and Wendy - I had the opposite feeling about the adventurous typography. I thought it added another layer to the book that appeals on a different level (visually) than normal reading. It also helped me get through parts that otherwise might have dragged.

Mark me down for Team Curly Writing

I can see how others like it, but I don’t think it adds anything necessarily. It doesn’t hurt, but I can see that it could be clever. It defiant worked in little scratch and Lanny.

Sorry y'all, but I'm a purist. Save the visuals for art and film. In print it can be annoying and pretentious. The story alone stands as a riveting narrative, but Mortimer goes much further. She cleverly plays with word association; toys with humorous definitions and features cancer as arguably the most fascinating character. The bold print, italics and font change are challenging enough. In an evocative and stirring work such as this, optic tricks cheapen the experience.

I just started this one last night, and I have a bit of a problem: I'm reading the book in a dedicated e-reader, a Nook Simple Touch. Unfortunately, the "word gymnastics" are microscopic, and changing the settings of the pages, including the text size, does nothing for these sections.

I've only come across a couple so far. I was barely able to deduce what the first one said, but couldn't decipher the second. Given the comments here, I assume I will be encountering more.

How important are these to the overall experience of the novel? Will I be missing much if I cannot read any of them? I'm wondering if I should wait until I can get ahold of a print copy.

Chris, I'm reading it now -- finished about 160 pages so far -- and really like it. I believe that this is not a book to be read on an e-reader. A big part of the theme (so far) is the power of words. I suspect you'll get far more out of it if you read the print copy.

Neil I think read in Kindle and in his five star review actually gives a warning not to buy the Kindle version.

I started it on my Kindle but it is unreadable like that. I did read the ebook version but I had to use my iPad to make it legible. It was still a bit small and fiddly but at least I avoided buying two copies. I have a limited book budget, so I have to find ways round my mistakes like this (it's also the reason I am undecided on whether to read the 4 books of the long list that don't really appeal - that's 4 books I want to read that I could buy).

The audio version is phenomenal.

I'm coping on my Kindle Paperwhite by breaking out my extra-strength reading glasses I usually use for medication bottles.

What does the audio version do for all the pages that are unusually typeset?

Noted. Thank you all. I think I'll try to find another copy before proceeding.

It wouldn't be difficult at all for the publisher to make the visuals more legible. I'm sure it's a matter of just not testing on a variety of devices, and probably not worth the time for them, but it's very frustrating for the reader.

Neil wrote: "What does the audio version do for all the pages that are unusually typeset?"

A second narrator (also female) reads in a very dramatic voice. At one point, she even sings. It's all very theatrical.

I also enjoyed listening to Lanny on Audible, although I also read it in print. Papa Toothwort's narration was incredible, and even included sound effects (wind blowing, etc.).

I bet Lanny is wonderful in audio!

My favourite so far by quite a long way. I read this at a time when someone very close to me was undergoing treatment for cancer and I found it profoundly moving and very original.

Really hopes this one makes the final cut and it would make a worthy winner.

Debra, that does sound dramatic!

Sorry to hear that BookerMT

I agree this would be a fabulous winner. It’s a shame none of the Booker judges are on the forum so we can’t try to influence them as we did with the Desmond Elliott Prize (and I have to confess I may have done a bit of lobbying with a judge of another prize for this book).

GY, that's cheating!

I'm toward the end of it now and have been reading with mounting excitement. And thinking how unfair that a debut writer not out of her 20s could have this kind of immense talent. I've only read half the nominated books and this one just shines.

Agreed. It’s outrageous.

Jill wrote: "And thinking how unfair that a debut writer not out of her 20s could have this kind of immense talent."

More than talent. What astonished me was the insight into the matters of life and death that can only come from traumatic experience. Her extraordinary talent decanted this experience into what would be a worthy Booker winner.

But_i_thought_ wrote: "I too had issues with it. It was powerful and beautifully written, but at times over-kneaded? I can't imagine pe..."

I am having the same problem. The talent is evident and impressive, but it tries a bit too hard to find the cleverest wordplay, the most literary reference, the most poetic metaphor. This makes it quite slow and creates a distance between me and the story. Listening to the audio at least I avoid the optical gymnastics...but I find the overly theatrical voice of the disease very distracting. But ok, I love clean, French autofiction so perhaps this should not have come as a surprise.

I can very well see it win though!

I think Maddie Mortimer lost her mother to cancer at a young age. Her mother was sick for a few years if I remember right.

This one does sound very promising just not quite up to the subject matter at the moment. Maybe later.

Giving a sentient voice to cancer - one that knows all about The Proclaimers’ big hit and has read books itself - didn’t work for me even a little bit here. On the other hand I really enjoyed the writing about struggles with faith. But probably in my lower half in a ranking of these 13.

To be fair, only cancer would like that song.

😁

Hehe

I think that’s a valid criticism, though. Giving voice to cancer is one thing, but that much space to it was probably a little much.

In your review, you quote the death scene which I agree was very nicely done.

Lee wrote: "Giving a sentient voice to cancer - one that knows all about The Proclaimers’ big hit and has read books itself - didn’t work for me even a little bit here. On the other hand I really enjoyed the w..."
I had the same issue. My other is that this book also focuses on misery, which I am not fond of reading. I would not have finished it if it had not been longlisted. I appreciate it as a creative writing exercise.

It’s been a few months since I read it, but cancer wasn’t the only interior voice was it? Weren’t there voices from her memories and regrets as well? Her subconscious was also speaking I thought.

I think the idea was that the cancer began by dominating the interior voice and then slowly it 'became' her as she became sicker & sicker so when they were one and the same, her memories were included in the 'interior' sections.
In the content at the back of my copy of the book Mortimer writes 'I wanted to explore the cancerous cell as a metaphor for the darkest, most relentless aspects of the human mind, rather than the other way around.' So the idea I got was that cancer/Lia were part of each other in these sections, towards the end at least.

That’s well expressed Ellie.

Having ruminated for a little on the longlist this month and following the comments with great interest I have now settled in my longlist ranking and will be posting some mini summary reviews in decreasing order (with some pictures of my avatar).

This for me is top of the list

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChF0QOxsV...

Love the instragram GY! Thanks for sharing.