In something of an upset, Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question has won the Man Booker prize, beating out Tom McCarthy’s front-running C. (Betting on the prize was actually suspended last week after a run on the McCarthy novel). The Finkler Question, about a radio producer and a philosopher’s old friendship, also won the prize over four other novels, including Peter Carey’s Parrot and Olivier in America and Emma Donoghue’s Room. The 68-year-old author’s previous books include the very funny The Mighty Walzer and Kalooki Nights; hopefully now he’ll be known in the States as more than just “the British Philip Roth.” [Man Booker]
