A few days after a NY Times review shredded his book (ignoring the novelist’s gorgeous treatment of two set pieces, the lives of World War I pilots and the emergence of wireless radio), Tom McCarthy has been shortlisted for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize.

Five other authors joined McCarthy, chosen from the the impressive longlist for the prize. The judges also picked Peter Carey, Emma Donoghue, Damon Galgut, Howard Jacobson, and Andrea Levy.

The judges had this statement: “It’s been a great privilege and an exciting challenge for us to reduce our longlist of thirteen to this shortlist of six outstandingly good novels. In doing so, we feel sure we’ve chosen books which demonstrate a rich variety of styles and themes — while in every case providing deep individual pleasures.”