You probably knew this, Mary, but Alice Munro voluntarily withdrew her book of stories from the contest, or it almost certainly would have won. I’ve been working my way through her book, and it is a marvel.

Do you have any opinions on the other books that ‘might’ have won had this book not been in the right place at the right time?

You bet, Ann! If you click on the “Giller 2009″ link at the top of this post you’ll see my thoughts on all of the books that made the shortlist as well as Margaret Atwood’s awful contender and Andrew Crummy’s fable that didn’t make the longlist. For more looks at them shortlist as well as several other Canadian books of 2009, see KevinfromCanada’s page, which you can access by clicking on his name in his comment above or on my sidebar. Sorry, I’d put the links in this comment but I’m away from a computer right now.

Let me know your pick!

MacIntyre’s reputation as a television journalist probably did him more harm than good, if you are looking for that as part of a conspiracy. He works for the CBC — the Giller is sponsored, promoted and broadcast by their competitor, CTV, and you could tell the CTV types were gritting their teeth when his name was announced. A bias line that I would have found had more appeal is that Alistair Macleod, the jury chair, is THE chronicler of Cape Breton and had contributed a cover blurb to MacIntyre’s earlier memoir of growing up in Cape Breton, where the novel is also set. Interestingly, I didn’t see anybody raise that issue in commentary after the decision — even though the blurb was on the cover of original editions of The Bishop’s Man.

As for alternative choices, it is true that most of the daily press regarded MacIntyre as a surprise winner. In the pre-Giller coverage, I saw choices for everything but Fall (the other shortlist books were The Golden Mean, The Winter Vault and The Disappeared</em.). I'd say The Golden Mean was a mild favorite with professional critics (it would have been my second choice from the shortlist); the online Giller contest had The Winter Vault on top.

And I would offer the prediction that we would not be having this exchange at all if Alice Munro had not withdrawn Too Much Happiness from the competition. In today’s Globe and Mail a collection of Canadian literary worthies offered their book of the decade — Munro’s was the only 2009 novel to get mentioned and it was mentioned twice. (Cormac McCarthy got three mentions for The Road and David Mitchell two for Cloud Atlas as the only other multiple fiction mentions.)

In reality, we have seen the complex workings of a dictatorship religion; resulting in trails of wrecked lives and misplaced shame on the innocent.

However this book is a dark fictional disjointed attempt at understanding (or, excusing??) these religious criminals because of despair, depression, confusion, or lack of what one would hope to be basic human values.

Of minor significance is the language does not move fluidly – perhaps that would have helped somewhat.

Do you have any opinions on the other books that ‘might’ have won had this book not been in the right place at the right time?

In my opinion, it raises the question as to why there is such a lack of exposure to the spiritual soul of this main character — a man, the priest, who dedicated his life in the service of Christ?

Ann, I think you’ve indicated exactly what intrigued me so much about the book: what is the spirituality of this priest? His conflicted spirituality — or lack thereof — was exactly what sucked me in. And that’s what I mean when I say this is a great book because it remains focused on Father MacAskill and not on the sexual abuse which in other hands would have over-saturated the book — such a technical feat must have been incredibly difficult to accomplish.

So with all of his faults, Father MacAskill might not be the most appealing mind to life with, even if for only a few hours of reading fiction. But I don’t see highlighting such a faulty character (even if he exemplified a povery of human values — which I don’t accept) as being a problem. There certainly were several priests throughout this affair (and many other affairs) who did and felt exactly as he did, conflicted by the idea that the Church’s leadership was protecting friends rather than the community but also conflicted because of the Church’s inherent authority. Worse, some priests who dedicated their lives to the service of Christ surely didn’t even care about on a human level. It is ugly. I found his conflicted, suicidal, disillusioned, despairing, faithless/faithful, guilt-ridden soul painfully intriguing to explore. And even better when we can also turn the lens from the book’s subject to our community or even to ourselves.

In my opinion, it raises the question as to why there is such a lack of exposure to the spiritual soul of this main character — a man, the priest, who dedicated his life in the service of Christ?

A spiritual soul that should have been shocked, horrified at the outrageous actions of fellow humans, whether they be priests or lay people.

There seems to be a poverty of basic human character traits, of any human values, and, in that, it is empty and shallow. I wouldn’t want to know any of the book characters nor would I would to embrace them into my life, even as fictional characters from a book.

My impression is this book is a waste of precious time. Awards are subjective.