Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
Vincent Delecroix’s ‘Small Boat’ hits its themes in usually evocative ways. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
6/10
Small Boat: November 2021: an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants from France to the UK capsizes in the Channel, causing the deaths of 27 people on board. How and why did it happen? Despite receiving numerous calls for help, the French authorities wrongly told the migrants they were in British waters and had to call the British authorities for help. By the time rescue vessels arrived on the scene, all but two of the migrants had died. The narrator of Delecroix’s fictional account of the events is the woman who took the calls. Accused of failing in her duty, she refuses to be held more responsible than others for this disaster. Why should she be more responsible than the sea, than the war, than the crises behind these tragedies?
Thanks for watching, and remember: I only guessed two of the shortlist, how embarrassing is that, I’m an absolute professional and I’m making mistakes like that.
Goodreads: goodreads.com/user/show/61199102
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/TheDiscoKing
Instagram: instagram.com/funkydaddydisco
#bookerprize2025 #bookerprize #internationalbookerprize #booktube #booktuber #bookreview
Vincent Delecroix’s ‘Small Boat’ hits its themes in usually evocative ways. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
6/10
Small Boat: November 2021: an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants from France to the UK capsizes in the Channel, causing the deaths of 27 people on board. How and why did it happen? Despite receiving numerous calls for help, the French authorities wrongly told the migrants they were in British waters and had to call the British authorities for help. By the time rescue vessels arrived on the scene, all but two of the migrants had died. The narrator of Delecroix’s fictional account of the events is the woman who took the calls. Accused of failing in her duty, she refuses to be held more responsible than others for this disaster. Why should she be more responsible than the sea, than the war, than the crises behind these tragedies?
Thanks for watching, and remember: I only guessed two of the shortlist, how embarrassing is that, I’m an absolute professional and I’m making mistakes like that.
Goodreads: goodreads.com/user/show/61199102
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/TheDiscoKing
Instagram: instagram.com/funkydaddydisco
#bookerprize2025 #bookerprize #internationalbookerprize #booktube #booktuber #bookreview
