The winner of the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced tomorrow, so I thought I’d do a quick round-up of the nominees. This was the first time I read the entire shortlist of a literary award. For a mood-reader, it wasn’t always the most fun! But I hoped it would give me a better understanding of how the judging of an award might work.
My ranking is inevitably subjective as any review or opinion will always be, but I’ve done my best to consider technique. I have no idea how the judges will actually assess the books. Will they go for popularity, or a more objective assessment of literary writing?
I’m sceptical of how objective they can be, with sponsors being involved and all. My prediction is that The Vanishing Half or No One is Talking About This might win but y’all know who I’m rooting for.
I don’t think I’ll read the entire shortlist again next year. Two books were a massive disappointment. The ones I loved I would have read anyway. But I’m excited to see what the result might reveal about the award.
Here goes nothing:
Absurd Reviews 