Maybe (like me!) you’ve just read it and found it so rich and strange and inspiring and unlike anything else you’ve ever read that you’re struggling to find a move on to the next book, because it’s unlikely to be as good. I’m not going to review it: instead, I thought I’d recommend a few things that I think you might enjoy if you liked it, and/or that might shed an interesting light on a specific aspect of it. If you want to read a good, comprehensive review of Milkman, I’d point you in the direction of Claire Kilroy’s piece over at the Guardian. Sure, it sometimes requires a bit more focus on the reader’s part than many other novels, but that’s no bad thing! And it still contains plenty of scenes that you’ll want to read aloud to your friends or other halves or cats because they’re so funny and/or insightful. It’s one of the richest texts I’ve come across this year, and a very deserving winner. Turns out, Milkman is strange and dark and funny and thought-provoking, as well as topical in the way it deals with both gender politics and cultural sectarianism. I hadn’t been following the contest particularly closely, but when I heard about the sort-of backlash against the novel in some corners of the media, from pundits who believed it was too difficult or challenging and would disappoint a lot of readers, I felt a profound urge to check it out. A few weeks ago, Anna Burns won the Man Booker Prize with her third novel, Milkman.
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