Welcome to Litsy!

This time I did wonder by what sign, on me, in me, I might have measured this famous dehumanisation. I guess saying that I had a little girl and that she was the apple of my eye, that I was a good mother who had commendably looked after her when her father had left the conjugal home, and that I looked after my elderly parents - I guess that wasn't enough, since the guards in the concentration camps loved their families too.

I‘ve read some good books in the past few weeks, although not the ones I‘m supposed to be reading. 😂 I‘m behind on reviews but enjoyed all of these, many of which felt very timely. Parable of the Sower isn‘t actually dystopian at all anymore, really.

Well, I got lost 🙁

An important book. On Nov 24, 2021 a sinking boat with 29 refugees wasn‘t rescued. A French radio operator was in contact with them for hours, but failed to get them help, and criticized them. 27 people drowned.

This is a fictional look at the radio operator. She narrates her thoughts and a perhaps imaginary questioning.

Unfortunately I couldn‘t follow what she was thinking. Didn‘t make sense to me. I just missed too much.

In the canal between France and the UK a boat with immigrants have sunk causing the death of 27 immigrants. On the French side the woman who took the calls are being questioned by the police and she is not prepared to take on any more blame than the rest of us since she “didn‘t force them to leave”

Is she a representation of all of us? And the fatigue of ever more immigrant stories? Is it worse since she was a woman and we expect more nurturing

A very thought provoking 122 page book about an inflatable dinghy filled with migrants trying to cross the English Channel. Parts 1 and 3 are narrated by the coastguard agent who is in communication with someone on the boat, and part 2 describes what the people on the boat are actually going through. Short listed for the International Booker, brilliantly written, highly recommend.

A small, inflatable boat capsizes between France and England resulting in the deaths of 27 people. The French woman who took their distress calls is being interrogated after recordings of those conversations were found severely lacking. However she struggles with whether she is more to blame than anyone else for causing them to get in the boat in the first place., This is one of those books I will be thinking about for a really long time.

Tomorrow the winner of the #InternationalBooker prize will be announced. I managed to read 5 out of 6 of them (I didn‘t read Heart Lamp yet).

I have especially enjoyed Perfection, Under the Eye of the Big Bird and On the Calculation of Volume I but my absolute favorite is Small Boat. I hope it‘ll win the prize tomorrow.

Do you have a book you root for?

Starting a new book. I have four left for the International Booker Award long list.

This one, oddly, is not available as an ebook on Kindle in the US. I bought my copy from Bookshop.org - didn‘t know they sold ebooks!

Based on a real event where 27 migrants drowned in the Channel because the British couldn't get to them in time and the French wouldn't help, even while the boat was still in French waters. A semi-stream-of-consciousness narrative where the French navy emergency dispatcher tries to justify her actions and her words, refusing to bear the collective guilt and responsibility of society. Powerful and uncomfortable. #InternationalBooker #Booker