Half Blood Blues

Winner of the Giller, but also a finalist for the Man Booker, Governor General, Roger's Writers Trust, and long-listed for the Orange.  Wow.

Wonderful story and well-deserved acclaim for Esi Edugyan's second novel, Half Blood Blues.

Her dialogue is great, and although the story spans a few decades and hops back and forth between periods, it was never a struggle to know where you were in the story.

As I was approaching the ending and there were fewer and fewer pages left, I kept wondering how she would wrap up such an intricately woven story.  Although the finish was abrupt, I thought it was absolutely brilliant.

Paris. Jazz.  Love.

Here is the author being interviewed on Studio Q - just hours after winning the top prize.