The Wall
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- 8,49 €
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- 8,49 €
Publisher Description
* A Financial Times and Evening Standard Book of the Year *
* LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2020 *
'Masterly . . . A signal achievement . . . Remarkable.' Guardian
'A 1984 for our times.' Daily Express
Kavanagh begins his time patrolling the Wall.
If he's lucky, if nothing goes wrong, he only has to do two years of this. 729 more nights.
The best thing that can happen is that he survives and gets off the Wall and will never have to spend another day of his life anywhere near it.
But what if something did happen - if the Others came, if he had to fight for his life?
Thrilling and heartbreaking, The Wall is about a troubled world you will recognise as your own - and about what might be found when all is lost.
The Wall was longlisted for the Booker Prize in July 2019.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lanchester (Capital) imagines coming of age amid the xenophobia and despair of a world ravaged by climate change in his dynamite dystopian novel. Twenty-something Joseph Kavanagh arrives for his mandatory two-year service as a Defender of the Wall surrounding his coastal country. It has survived the massive ecological devastation and sea level rise known as the Change, and its Defenders kill anyone from outside (known as Others) who tries to enter. Kavanagh suffers bracing cold, prolonged tedium, and the exacting demands of his company's captain amid the fear of attack; any Defenders who fail are put out to sea. He gets to know his fellow soldiers and develops an incipient crush on androgynous and initially taciturn Hifa. After a war games training, a young politician warns the Defenders of rumors that the Others are increasingly desperate and some inside the country have been treasonously plotting ways to help them. Cracking under pressure, Hifa offers to have a child with Kavanagh, as parents receive a reprieve from duty, but their plans are obliterated by a surprise attack that has devastating consequences. This terrifyingly resonant depiction of desperation will spark lively discussions about the responsibilities climate change is restructuring, and is electrifying storytelling to boot.
