WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021 | LONGLIST REACTION

The 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist has finally been announced! It’s always an exciting time of year for me because seeing a roundup of some of the best works of the past year written by women and being introduced to some I didn’t yet know about is a wonderful thing. I posted my predictions for some of the books I thought might make the list last week (you can check it out here), but here is the actual list.

Books I predicted correctly:

          

    

The ones I didn’t predict correctly:

              

               

          

Of the books on this year’s list I’ve read two – Transcendent Kingdom (review here) and Because of You, both of which I enjoyed. I had some uncertainties around Because of You – the author is Dawn French, a White woman, and her characters are predominantly Black, and I’m never really sure if that’s okay or not – but the story was intriguing and had me unable to put the book down. I thought some of it was a little far-reaching, but at the same time I gobbled it up and then moved on to another book by her immediately upon finishing it, so I’d say that’s a good sign!

I have also read part of Luster, The Vanishing Half, Burnt Sugar and Exciting Times. The Vanishing Half I didn’t get very far in and my library loan was due back, but I’ve had it on hold for ages to try and get to it again. Luster, Burnt Sugar and Exciting Times I read about the first thirty to fifty pages of, and while there wasn’t anything wrong with them, I also didn’t feel invested enough to keep going. Not the fault of the books in question, though, more just my mood or interests, so there is a good chance I’d be willing to go back and try again.

Of the ones I haven’t read at all yet, I’m most excited to get to Amanda Craig’s new book, The Golden Rule – it’s a re-working of Strangers on a Train, but with a twist – she is one of my all-time favourite authors and I was gutted that her last book, The Lie of the Land didn’t get more attention. I’m hoping this one does! I’m excited to see Summer on the list (though I haven’t yet read Winter and Spring and would want to before reading Summer – they’re not technically sequels, but I’ve heard that there are characters and details that connect the three, so I feel like I’d be missing out if I skipped ahead) as I have been impressed with Smith’s work and have heard great things about the whole quadrilogy. I’m also quite excited to try Piranesi, Nothing But Blue Sky, How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House and Detransition, Baby. Just based on their covers, my kid is most excited about Luster and Summer, in case you’d like the advice of a 4-year-old!

I don’t think I’ll have time to read the entire Longlist, but I’ll try to get to one or two of them in the near future. Depending how many of the books I’ve read by that point make it onto the Shortlist, I may try to read along with that as I did a few years ago and very much enjoyed!

What do you guys think of this year’s list? Were your favourites or best guesses included? Which ones came as a total surprise? Do you plan to read along with the prize or has their inclusion in the list moved any books up your TBR? Which ones would you like to read?

(Note: I’ve linked each book image above either to my review or the Goodreads page for the book, but I’ve also created a Goodreads list of all the titles here in case you don’t want to hop back and forth to check out multiple books!)