The Judge, The Cook, The Orphan and Her Lover

And before you think it is Peter Greenaway redux, it's not.

John Crace digests this year's Booker Short List and that's the Digested, digested for Kiran Desai's The Inheritance Of Loss.

Why am I so troubled? thought Sai. Why does every chapter start with a few
words in italics? Why has every sentence become a question? Is it because there are so few answers in such a chaotic world?

A brief flash of rebel violence
interrupted the introspection, but all the characters were left unscathed.

Nasty, nasty. Go read.

Update: Kiran Desai has won the Booker.

The Guardian says,

"And at her first attempt Desai, 37, not only became the youngest woman to win but achieved a victory which repeatedly eluded her mother. The esteemed Indian novelist Anita Desai - to whom The Inheritance of Loss is dedicated - has been shortlisted for the prize three times."