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Booker longlist for 2025 suggests 'death of the male novelist' has been 'greatly exaggerated'
Commentators have given a mostly positive verdict on the "juicy, serious" 2025 Booker longlist, which some argued puts paid to the "rumours of the death of the male novelist".
The "Booker Dozen" was revealed yesterday (29th July), featuring novelists such as Natasha Brown, Claire Adam, Andrew Miller, along with Booker veteran Kiran Desai, who won the prize for her last book in 2006. Noteworthy exclusions seem to be Ian McEwan, Alan Hollinghurst and John Banville.
However, Claire Allfree believes the list shows that recent suggestions that men are "being pushed out of publishing" are unfounded. "It appears rumours of the death of the male novelist have been greatly exaggerated," she wrote in the Telegraph.
"This year’s Booker longlist, announced today, bucks recent convention by celebrating this most unfashionable literary creature over hot new faces – six of the 13 authors on the list are men, not to mention middle-aged ones (by contrast, last year’s shortlist of six featured five women)."
Allfree added: "With Sarah Jessica Parker on a panel headed by Roddy Doyle, the list plays a curiously straight bat. The men, in particular, are mid-career – Andrew Miller, Benjamin Markovits, David Szalay, Benjamin Wood, Tash Aw and Jonathan Buckley – meaning the list has largely eschewed this year’s buzzy debuts." Allfree believes these male nominees "represent the quiet men of – largely – British fiction, toiling away in the slipstreams" rather than the more traditional choices of Ian McEwan, Alan Hollinghurst and Tim Winton.
She added: "So, ostensibly a far from exciting list. But at its best it also celebrates the sort of quietly observational, superficially traditional storytelling that has been passed over by critics and judges in recent years – yet which often deliver just as much satisfaction as the most extravagantly hyped new sensation.
"No doubt this is down to the much more consequential presence of Doyle, who excels at precisely this sort of book. Will one of these underrated writers triumph? My bet is that Szalay, [Maria] Reva, Wood and Desai are placed to do well, with Szalay’s authoritative, deceptively spare examination of male desire at this point, arguably, the leading contender."
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Justine Jordan, writing in the Guardian, agreed that the male nominees provided an "answer perhaps to claims that male writing in the UK is in crisis, and they all do fascinating things with interiority".
Jordan believes the longlist marks a "new direction" for the 50-year-old prize. "This year’s Booker judges had a crowded field to pick from, with scores of eligible books from previously nominated writers and five new novels from winners alone (John Banville, Kiran Desai, Alan Hollinghurst, Ian McEwan and Ben Okri).
"Of these, Hollinghurst is one eyebrow-raising exclusion, for his elegiac and beautifully composed panorama of gay life in Britain over the past seven decades, Our Evenings. But it’s no surprise that the list is headed by Desai’s epic The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a novel in the works since her Booker win two decades ago and due out this September."
Author Erica Wagner, writing in the Observer, was one of the most positive commentators. "Global, political, complex and subtle: this list of 13 nominated novels is the most exciting for decades," she wrote. "What a juicy, serious Booker longlist! I can’t remember the last time I was as excited to read, or reread, every book the judges have selected as contenders for what remains one of the world’s most prestigious literary gongs."
Bea Carvalho, head of books at Waterstones, told The Bookseller: "This year’s judges have chosen a vibrant, varied, and exciting selection of books which booksellers will take great pleasure in championing. It is excellent to see so many of our favourite authors recognised, like past Waterstones Book of the Month author Andrew Miller. Natasha Brown’s Universality has been a standout for booksellers this year and we were hoping to see it here.
"We are also especially pleased to see Susan Choi’s Flashlight: a remarkable novel which has recently dazzled us completely. Both the debuts, and the authors who have already enjoyed successful careers will be discovered by a much wider readership thanks to this nomination: we’re delighted for them all. We look forward to celebrating the whole list, and can’t wait to see what the judges choose for their shortlist.”
The Bookseller’s books editor Alice O’Keeffe said: "This year’s longlist recognises some brilliant novels, with not too many startling omissions – in fact, only one springs immediately to mind, Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings (Picador). And there is a new Ian McEwan – What We Can Know (Cape) – which is not out until September but would be eligible.
"But on to the chosen few – I am thrilled to see David Szalay on the list for the extraordinary Flesh (Cape), one of the best novels I have read in the past year, which follows the life of Istvan, a remarkably inarticulate, passive protagonist in a novel that is never less than completely gripping. I loved the exquisite The Land in Winter (Sceptre) by Andrew Miller, built of the tiny details that make up the lives of others. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hamish Hamiliton) must also be a front-runner. Twenty years in the writing, it is her first novel since she won the Booker in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss."
Miranda Peake, of Chener Books in south London, told The Bookseller: "I think it’s a good list, I’m really happy to see some authors who tend to fly under the radar a bit – really happy to see Katie Kitamura on the list and also Claire Adam." She predicted David Szalay "could be a strong favourite to win".
