Rowan Somerville has won the Bad Sex in Fiction Award for The Shape of Her, which has a shapely lady in a bikini on the cover. The passage that earned him this dubious award compares nookie to “a lepidopterist mounting a tough-skinned insect.” Well, what can I say?
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Bad sex award is done by uptight english people terrified of sex…reviews for the author’s work below…why do you think Franzen in on there ? Duh
googled his reviews
THE ECONOMIST – 17/7/10
“Deceptively simple in plot and singularly musical in its voice, it is a study of the place where our past has become our present. A summer read to be kept – and visited in the dark days of winter.”
BOYD TONKIN
THE INDEPENDENT – 25.06.10
“Rowan Somerville investigates cause and effect in obsessive desire. On a Greek island, the novel’s summer idyll for two privileged youngsters darkens into dread and recrimination… In his novel, unresolved trauma brings its danger to this liaison like the jagged boat-wrecking rock that lurks underwater beyond the golden beach.”
IRISH TIMES – 10.07.10
“darkly erotic, offbeat holiday read… an entertaining book that while not echoing to the chimes of chick lit, probably wouldn’t be out of place in the beach bag.”
THE GUARDIAN – 17/7/10
“Somerville is clearly a thoughtful writer… a rich plot and some lovely vivid local colour.”
PRESS ASSOCATION
“Alternating between the past and the present, the novel explores the open scars of childhood abuse and its effect on later relationships.”
THE DUBLINER
“confronts us with an extended meditation on the anxious incomprehensbility surrounding sex and desire.”
WATERSTONES.COM - bookseller’s review
“For any young man desperate to work unflexed sexual muscle it’s the ultimate win: a holiday in the Greek sun in a secluded villa close to the beach and the briny with the singularity of your first serious girlfriend for company. The retsina, the sea food, the heat…gosh… Somerville’s own background? He speaks with the pain of too intimate a recognition. A brilliant summer read on so many levels. Take it to the beach and be glad to be past your first fumbles.”
FOR BOOKS SAKE blog
“Rowan Somerville is a talented author, perfectly capturing the characters¿ distinctive voices…The language is gorgeous, rich and evocative…the pacing is perfect. The Shape of Her is dark, beautiful and an ideal summer read.”
FOLLOW THE THREAD blog
“Somerville has a deft turn of phrase”
You don’t seem to understand that the Bad Sex Awards are simply a joke and a bit of fun.