Booker Prize 2022 voor Shehan Karunatilaka
De Sri Lankaanse schrijver Shehan Karunatilaka krijgt de Booker Prize 2022 voor zijn roman “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”. Shehan Karunatilaka werd geboren in 1975 inGalle in Zuid-Sri Lanka. Zie ook alle tags voor Shehan Karunatilaka op dit blog.
Uit: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
“The memories come to you with pain. The pain has many shades. Sometimes, it arrives with sweat and itches and rashes. At other times, it comes with nausea and headaches. Perhaps like amputees feeling absent limbs, you still hold the illusion of your decaying corpse. One minute you are retching, the next you are reeling, the next you are remembering.
You met Jaki five years ago in the Casino at Hotel Leo. She was twenty, just out of school, and losing pathetically at baccarat. You were back from a torrid tour of the Wanni, unhinged by the slaughter, breaking bread with shady people, seeing the bad wherever you looked, and wearing your notorious red bandanna. You had sold the photos to Jonny at the Associated Press and cashed a welcome six-figure cheque. Even in Lankan rupees, six figures are better than five.
You had outplayed the house at blackjack, whacked the crab at the buffet and washed it down with some free gin. A regular day at the office.
‘Don’t bet on ties, sister,’ you said to the strange girl with frizzy hair and black make-up. She looked at you and rolled her eyes, which you found strange. Women usually like the look of you, not knowing that you prefer cock to cooch. A trimmed beard, an ironed shirt and a bit of deodorant will elevate you above a herd of sweaty Lankan hetero males.
‘I just won twenty thousand rupees,’ she said.
You noticed she was alone and that no one was hitting on her, both unusual for women in casinos in Colombo.
‘And the chances of you winning that again are nine per cent. And this house only pays out seven-to-one, minus commission. Which means, follow that strategy a hundred times and you will lose, even when you win.’
‘A man who knows everything. What a surprise.’
The croupier stared you down. You shrugged and placed her chips on the banker. She half smiled and half frowned, but let you commandeer her bet.
‘You better pay if I lose that.’
‘If you can’t think in numbers, this place will eat you up, sweetheart. The universe is all mathematics and probabilities.’
‘I come to get mellow. Not to do sums,’ she said.
When the bet came in, she let you place another, and then another.”
