Small Question

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What exactly decides if a book is a novel of a novella? Especially for a booker winner. I read that novellas are not eligible for the award, and how many pages is 'Life of Pi'?

― get, Thursday, 3 November 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

The Hugo awards say a novella is between 17,500 and 40k words. Life of Pi is short, but still at least twice that long.

― Ray (Ray), Thursday, 3 November 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

Bruce Chatwin's "Utz" is the shortest booker nominee (about 100 v-e-r-y wide spaced large print pages). "The life of Pi" is average length at around 300 pages. both of Coetzee's winners are shorter. i think that "The Life and Times of Michael K" is shortest booker winner.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 4 November 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

or possibly McEwan's "Amsterdam".

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 4 November 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

The Life of Pi may be around 300 pages long, but its deliberately deceptive. Those 300 pages are noticeably smaller than the standard, and they contain a lot of white space.

― Ray (Ray), Friday, 4 November 2005 08:56 (twenty years ago)

Marketing departments everywhere decide this kind of thing.

Academics have their own rules of thumb, but realise that the whole thing is arbitary.

Normal people don't really give too much of a shit.

― SRH (Skrik), Saturday, 5 November 2005 10:24 (twenty years ago)

Thank's everybody.

So, what is the length, in words, for a booker award eligibility?

― get, Saturday, 5 November 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

distinct words, or can some of them be the same?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 6 November 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/about/rules.php
the rules don't seem to say

― Ray (Ray), Sunday, 6 November 2005 09:47 (twenty years ago)

Yes, I read that before I came here.

It says must be a full length novel and not a novella, so that would be 17,500 - 40k words, then.

― get, Sunday, 6 November 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

The Hugo awards say a novel is anything over 40k, the Booker might have a different standard.

― Ray (Ray), Sunday, 6 November 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

I know, good lord.

So, what is the booker standard????

Does anybody know it here???????

― get, Sunday, 6 November 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

i guess they don't have a lower limit. suck it up!

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 6 November 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

lol

ok chill

― get, Monday, 7 November 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

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