Pulitzer Prize Challenge
Submitted by ash_campbell on Thu, 02/26/2004 - 13:17
Tags:
- 1976: Humboldt’s Gift (Saul Bellow)
- A great book by a great author. Some of the plot details have faded from memory, but the overall feeling when you put this book down is wonderful.
- 1977: No Award Given
- The quickest read. :)
- 1978: Elbow Room (James Alan McPherson)
- A nice collection of short stories about African Americans in the Northeast, post WWII.
- 1979: The Stories of John Cheever (John Cheever)
- The hardest (read: worst) one in the bunch, by far. It’s a huge collection of short stories about snotty, upper class New Englanders. It took me forever to get through it. The Swimmer is the best of the bunch.
- 1980: The Executioner’s Song (Norman Mailer)
- Totally depressing examination of Gary Gilmore, a man who was convicted of killing two people and then lobbying for his own death (he was the first man in America executed after the death penalty was re-instated in 1976). Mailer does an amazing job of keeping interest in the unlikable main character, and fleshes out a full story.
- 1981: A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
- I started this and couldn’t force my way through the first 40 pages, so I put it down for about a year. When I finally forced myself to push through, I was rewarded with an imaginative tale of lunacy in the Big Easy. One of two posthumous Pulitzer awarded for fiction (the other is 1958’s A Death in the Family, but James Agee).
- 1982: Rabbit is Rich (John Updike)
- Part of a four book series, this is the second one, with the main character hitting the comfortable part of life. Lots of sex and dysfunctional familial relationships, I’m curious to see how the series ends (see 1991).
- 1983: The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
- Very solid effort, but it’s kind of a “get what you expect” book. Still, there are some sharply written characters in this one.
- 1984: Ironweed (William Kennedy)
- Neat yarn about forgiveness and interpersonal relationships. You can come home again, it’s just that it’s different when you do.
- 1985: Foreign Affairs (Alison Lurie)
- Very adult drama that documents two American teachers abroad. Stylish and evenly paced with a few twists on the way to a realistic conclusion.
- 1986: Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry)
- A very good Western that is surprising and interesting at every turn. It’s always a good sign when you’re rooting for the main characters.
- 1987: A Summons to Memphis (Peter Taylor)
- One of those novels that seems very simple and quiet, but actually has a lot of combustible elements lurking just beneath the surface.
- 1988: Beloved (Toni Morrison)
- Unique, to say the least. Is she actually communicating with her dead child, or has she gone crazy? An interesting look into loss of identity and madness, and the importance of human connections.
- 1989: Breathing Lessons (Anne Tyler)
- A rambling tale of an older couple dealing with their love, and their adult child. It’s a little boring at points, but it’s a solid effort.
- 1990: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (Oscar Hijuelos)
- A smoothly written, laid-back novel that is expressive and engaging without being too over the top.
- 1991: Rabbit at Rest (John Updike)
- Haven’t read it yet. Updike and William Faulkner (A Fable in 1955 and The Reivers in 1963) are the only authors to have won the award twice.
- 1992: A Thousand Acres (Jane Smiley)
- Kind of blasé, and often a little condescending, this still has its moments. An interesting Americana take on King Lear.
- 1993: A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (Robert Olen Butler)
- A collection of short stories about Vietnamese immigrants, this is well written, but not amazingly special.
- 1994: The Shipping News (E. Annie Proulx)
- Strange tale (in a good way) of a man who transplants his remaining family to a remote part of Canada. Odd characters and situations make for intriguing interactions among the townsfolk.
- 1995: The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
- Largely forgettable novel showing the life and times of a dying woman. Interesting retrospective, but it didn’t connect that much with me.
- 1996: Independence Day (Richard Ford)
- Bittersweet look at the life of a divorced parent trying hard to help out his rebellious son. I’ve heard the previous book about this character, The Sportswriter, is the much better novel.
- 1997: Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (Steven Millhauser)
- Very cool and quick story about a self-made man who doesn’t really know what he wants or what’s important. I like how effectively Millhauser evokes the era of turn of the century New York.
- 1998: American Pastoral (Philip Roth)
- Haven’t read it yet. Couldn’t get through the second chapter and put it down. I’ll get back to it.
- 1999: The Hours (Michael Cunningham)
- Solid, if a bit wide in its characterizations, this is an interesting narrative weaving three generations of depressed women who are connected
- 2000: Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
- Maybe the best in the bunch. Lahiri writes crisp and clear stories about the experience of Indian immigrants or first generation Indian Americans. A must read.
- 2001: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay (Michael Chabon)
- Surprisingly engrossing and original, considering it’s zillionith novel about Jewish immigrants during WWII-era America. Chabon is an excellent writer.
- 2002: Empire Falls (Richard Russo)
- Haven’t read it yet.
- 2003: Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)
- Haven’t read it yet.
Author Comments:
Back in college, a close friend of mine decided to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winners of Fiction from the year of his birth to now (and then continue with every new one). He read through them in a little over a year. It’s taken me much longer (I intersperse all sorts of other reading in between), but I really like the idea. I’ll catch up one day, I suppose.
Note: In my estimation, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction requires that the author write about some aspect of American life, although it’s pretty malleable what counts.
The only one I've read is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay and I would have to agree that it is very well written with a very good story behind it. I would highly recommend it.
I definitely want to read some of his other novels. I've read a short story by him which was extremely good.
You do realize that at least two of these novels listed are Canadian stories by Canadian women?
Yes. I didn't say the award goes to an American, but simply that the story has an aspect of the American experience. Shipping News starts in the US and its geography is less important than the fact of the village's remoteness.
Stone Diaries is much more Canadian, but it hits the highlights of 20th century North American experience. You may call that fudging, but I think it's pretty close. (Even though that's what Canadians hate to hear the most..."You're just like Americans.")
I think the Canadian experience is extremely different than the American experience. There would be hell to pay if Canadians were to lump Americans into being anything but Americans.