"If I had known how graphic and direct this memoir/essay is about sexual child abuse, I probably would not have picked it up. I am still glad I did - not because it gives any satisfying explanations either from the perpetrator's or victim's perspective, but because it shows really well the impact on Neige Sinno."

"The International Booker longlist this year has a number of short novels exploring big themes.

'Small boat' looks at the migration crisis from the perspective of an operator of the French marine emergency rescue service. It is based on a real disaster in which 27 people drowned in the Channel. What made the disaster even more shocking were the audio tapes of the rescue operator, who not only screws up, but is also talking to herself, saying these people won't be saved and that it's not her fault if they decide to undertake the dangerous crossing in a flimsy dinghy.

Delecroix takes the perspective of the operator and as such holds up a mirror to us readers. You constantly wonder whether the shameful excuses the operator uses, actually apply at a larger scale to all of Western Europe.

Really well done (but there are two books on the shortlist that I would rate higher)."

"ehhhh..."