Man Booker International 2017 Book Worm’s Predictions

Tomorrow is the day that they announce the winner of the 2017 International Man Booker Prize. I have managed to read all 6 books and wanted to sneak in my predictions before they announce the prize tomorrow (thus the reason why we are posting twice today). I had some help from our guest reviewer, Tracy in reading and ranking the books. Here are our ratings: 

For those of you who have followed our blog for a while, you know that we rank our Booker candidates on a rating scale of up to 20 points. We award points to writing, originality, character development, plot development, and overall enjoyment. We use these rankings to create a more “objective” metric to rank books. After reading all 6 books, here’s how they were ranked:

1. Fever Dreams (18.5/20)
2. Mirror, Shoulder, Signal (17/20)
3. A Horse Walks into a Bar (15/20)
4. Judas (13.5/20)
5. The Unseen (13/20)
6. Compass (12/20)

Based on my personal ratings I think Fever Dream should be the 2017 winner, not just because I loved it, but because it was so original and so out there. It was also a thought provoking and enjoyable read.

However, my personal preferences almost never completely align with the Man Booker Judges. So, thinking like an official judge, I am going to guess that A Horse Walks into a Bar will be the book chosen to win this year. I am going with this one because it is original in narrative style and setting, and also because it is by its very nature a controversial work of literature. We all know the judges like a bit of controversy.

What do you think? Which book do you think will take home the prize? Which books have you read and which ones were your favorites and/or least favorites?