Man Booker Prize

I recently finished Alison Moore's book The Lighthouse which was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize for 2012. I don't only seek out prize winning books but if one interests me, I read. This was an interesting discovery because of the descriptive use of language which reminded me of reading Edith Wharton or the Bronte Sisters. Verbs fill the pages allowing the scenes to feel rather than be. For example the rhythmic opening of the story begins, "Futh stands on the ferry deck, holding on to the cold railings with his soft hands. The wind pummels his body through his new anorak, deranges his thinning hair and brings tears to his eyes."  The characters are well developed yet so simple in their thinking that you might miss the underlying tow that the novel has planned for you.  This is a story of those who give in and give up on life, sort of, with the exception of one and he makes it to the end, almost. You might be tempted to re-read the ending thinking that you missed something, but the verb tells all.