The Literary Review has announced the shortlist for its annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Jonathan Franzen‘s Freedom literally topped the list (see the complete list below).
Sex causes lots of problems for Franzen’s characters. By our count, Freedom featured 94 different references to the word “sex,” including this passage: “One hesitates to ascribe too much explanatory significance to sex, and yet the autobiographer would be derelict in her duties if she didn’t devote an uncomfortable paragraph to it.”
Last year, Jonathan Littell won the award for The Kindly Ones. For our U.K.-based readers, the winner will be announced on November 29 at the In & Out Club in St James’s Square.
The complete list of Bad Sex in Fiction Award nominees, via Literary Review.
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (4th Estate)
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (Atlantic Books)
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon (Atlantic Books)
Maya by Alastair Campbell (Hutchinson)
A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee (Constable & Robinson)
Heartbreak by Craig Raine (Atlantic Books)
The Shape of Her by Rowan Somerville (W&N)
Mr Peanut by Adam Ross (Jonathan Cape).