Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction - Shortlist

Today, the American Library Association announced the three books shortlisted for its Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, awarded for the previous year’s best books written for adult readers and published in the United States:

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

From New York mobsters to the first woman diver at the Brooklyn Naval Station during WWII to the archetypally motley crew of a merchant-marine ship in U-boat–infested waters, Egan’s saga portrays individuals navigating the rising tides of war.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Saunders’s novel, which recently won the Man Booker Prize, pivots on President Lincoln’s grief over the death of his young son, Willie, as the cemetery’s dead tell their stories in a wild improvisation on the afterlife.  (See my review at http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/2017/08/review-of-lincoln-in-bardo-by-george.html.) 

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward  

In telling the story of a Mississippi family—siblings Jojo and Kayla, their troubled mother, Leonie, and their legacy of grief and spiritual gifts—Ward explores unresolved racial tensions and the many ways humans create cruelty and suffering.

There is also a non-fiction award (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ala-unveils-shortlist-for-2018-andrew-carnegie-medals-for-excellence-in-fiction-and-nonfiction-300542719.html).  Winners will be announced on February 11, 2018.