The Women’s Prize 2021 Shortlist and Winner Predictions with My Mum | September 2021
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- The winner of the Women’s Prize 2021 is announced on Wednesday, back in June - yes June - my mother and I recorded our thoughts on the shortlist, our preferences of them and, of course, announcing our favourites and personal winners. Will we agree? Will we never speak again? And just what on earth will Mum and I have to talk about or film together now? Suggestions welcomed.
Books Mentioned (in alphabetical order so no spoilers, the thumbnail may also be a ruse)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett uk.bookshop.or...
Piranesi by Susannah Clarke uk.bookshop.or...
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller uk.bookshop.or...
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi uk.bookshop.or...
How The One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones uk.bookshop.or...
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood uk.bookshop.or...
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Loved seeing Louise dip into her academic role, checking her bias & labeling her statements as anecdotal! 🎓
Yep
Simon's Knee and the Six. 🤣 Very entertaining to watch, thanks Simon and Louise! X❤X
Piranesi for me. An amazing world and a narrator with the most beautiful soul that it is enough just to spend time with him. Couple this with a puzzle box plot which has an understory of how the mind copes with trauma and you have something very special. I'll be honest Simon I don't understand how you can say it was gimmicky but we all read things in different ways.
I always adore the two of you together. Cheers to Mom! Interesting to see your differences this year.
What a great presentation. I adore you and your mum together. I wish you would have a regular mum and me chat. I agree with you re Piranesi and One Armed Sister Simon.My favourites are The Vanishing Half and Transcendent Kingdom. Thank you Simon and Louise
Well done to your Mum on picking the winner, I love her enthusiasm for Piranesi and I'm really looking forward to reading it. Listening to Susanna speak and understanding the challenge she faced to write it, makes it all the more inspiring, such a deserving win.
I had read The Vanishing Half which I loved and just finished Transcendent Kingdom which I enjoyed, but not as much as he debut Homegoing which was my One Outstanding Read of 2017. Oh my, please go back and read it, it's a beautiful tribute to the connection and subtle threads between generations.
I'm always so interested in your and your mom's opinions on the prize! You two are actually what got me into literary prizes to begin with! My favorite was Piranesi but I don't think it will win so I just don't know!
Love, love, love your mom ❤️
I've been really looking forward to this video! And what do ya know - I've been unsubscribed!! Good thing I checked.
Mum's looking beautiful. You're so fun together.
Your top two are two of my top 5 from last year. 👍👍
Always fun to see a video with your and your mum! LOL about the knee exposure and you chastising your mom about the book placement.
Would have chosen Vanishing Half, too. Loved the novel and really appreciated all the allusions (e.g. to Kate Chopin Desirée’s Baby and Toni Morrison‘s Tar Baby). Am a great fan of intertextuality ;-)
I love watching you and your mum. I loved The Vanishing Half!!!
I am yet to read two of them but I loved The Vanishing Half and Unsettled Ground. I hope one of those wins
I really enjoyed all this year’s shortlist, happy with any to win but personal favourites were Piranesi and no one is talking about this. Much as I think the vanishing half is a great book I feel like it’s had loads of coverage all ready so would be nice for one of the others to win and gets all of the press and sales that come with winning? Of course the judges can’t base their decision on that 😊 smashing video thanks.
Love you and your mum chatting books!
I think it's really hard to order these books I think the judges gave got a really hard job on this selection.
No one is talking about this is the only one I didn't particularly enjoy but I thought it was an interesting idea.
My order is in reverse order:
6. No one is talking about this
5. Transcendent Kingdom
4. Unsettled Ground
3. The Vanishing Half
2. Piranesi
1. How the one armed sister sweeps her house.
These videos with your mom are some of my favorites ❤️
Yes I agree with Simon's number 1. A modern classic. 🤞 it wins. 🙂
I love these predictions/mum bookish chats. I definitely want to read Unsettled Ground now too. My TBR is getting big 🤫
Okay, I think Louise might have convinced me to give Piranesi a try. It doesn't sound like the kind of book I would usually enjoy, but the way she described it has me so intrigued! Personally, I'd love to see Transcendent Kingdom win, but I have a feeling it'll be The Vanishing Half, which I'd be very have you two ever done a "choosing each other's TBR" kind of thing? Simon, you mentioned your video about your favorites from the past five years. Maybe you could give your mum a few from that list and she could give you a few of her own favorites from the same time period, then see where you agree and where you differ on them.
Oooh that’s an interesting idea for a video. Maybe that’s something we could do after our favourites of the year too. Let’s see if she has a channel by then. Lol. We have a choosing each other’s TBR set of videos coming in October. Are you psychic Alison? Hehehe.
Always lovely to see Louise, and a glimpse of your knee Simon, what more could anyone want! I love Piranesi and would highly recommend the audiobook read by Chiwetel Ejiofor, he does a great job. Best Wishes 💕📚
I really enjoy how everyone relates so differently to the same books. My pick is between The Vanishing Half and Piranesi (the writing is so beautiful, I read it twice and you do pick up more in the second reading). I didn't get on with Transcendent Kingdom.
Your lists are very different to mine, but isn't it more interesting when that happens?!
My list would be:
1. Unsettled ground (my winner)
2. No ones talking about this
3. Transcendent kingdom
4. The vanishing half
5. Piranesi
6. One armed sister
Ooooh interesting it indeed is. How varied. How exciting. Not long to go now.
I loved both The Vanishing Half and Piranesi. Would be happy if either of them won!
Really enjoyed listening to you sharing with your mother the shortlisted books.Your conversation and opinions differ which is illuminating. Thanks/
Awww thank you.
Piranesi…brilliant. Didn’t think I’d like it but I absolutely loved it.
I’d be happy with either of your picks, but for me, it’s Piranesi all the way. I thought it was genius. My choices are closer to Louise’s as Transcendent Kingdom is bottom of my list. But unlike Louise, I didn’t like that book at all. I found Unsettled Ground an incredibly difficult read due to the abject poverty in which Jeannie lived. I very much enjoyed the One-Armed Sister. I haven’t finished The Vanishing Half yet, but hope to before Wednesday. I have no idea when or if I’ll read the Lockwood book. Someday, I guess. Hope you both enjoy the party. 🎉
I'm gonna get The one armed sister and Piranesi. I'm sure I will enjoy them both. Thank you for sharing this.
I’m really hoping your favourite wins as I loved it. Love seeing these videos 😊
Louise always gets it right. I fully expect her to be a judge next year.
Love this!
This 8 hours time difference means I always miss most of your live chats, I caught the end of this one and now I shall start from the beginning and watch it thank you…hello Louise🌷
Don’t worry. This one wasn’t live. It was just a premiere where I have a chat with everyone while it goes live if that makes sense. Ha. I’ll try and do them at sporadic times here and there.
My two favorites were How the One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House and Unsettled Ground but I have to come down on the side of Unsettled Ground. If either one wins I'll be ecstatic!
Transcendent Kingdom for the win! Think piranesi is the favourite tho, I did comment on your original predictions vid back in February saying the vanishing half would win so we shall see!
also the mothers by Brit Bennet is amazing
What really surprised me - because I just hadn't clicked when reading - was all the elements from the Narnia books in Piranesi. I really need to read it again because I really couldn't decide if I loved it, or not.
Ooh hello Essie! I liked it a lot. And after filming that video it’s gone up more in my estimation. I might have to do a new top six instead. Hahaha.
@@SavidgeReads I did love Unsettled Ground. So beautifully written, and socially relevant. But I must try and read the rest.
Mine:
Unsettled Ground
One Armed Sister
The Vanishing Half
Piranesi
Transcendent Kingdom
No One's Talking About This
That said I think One Armed Sister will win.
The short list was fabulous. Really hard to decide an order. Each offered different experiences and awakened different emotions. I, too,belly laughed at the social media in play in the first half of No one...
Loved the idea of a reliable narrator in an unreliable setting with regard to Piranesi and also built maps in my mind as I pictured so clearly the rooms and heard the soundtrack of the weather. Felt the cold etc. Rural poverty was so well described and was engrossed very quickly in Unsettled Ground. The One Armed..was staggering and horrifying in equal measure.
I’m kind of hoping that neither of mum or my predictions win as they do seem to be the most obvious weirdly. If you know what I mean. It’s been a great shortlist hasn’t it! Loved your thoughts.
You make very good videos, Simon, but the best ones are Simon & his mum. I am completely on your side, this time. It should be Brit Bennett in a short list where I liked 4 of th 6 titles.
I loved all six books.
My top 3 are Piranesi, Unsettled Ground and The Vanishing Half. Would be delighted to see any of those win. I didn’t really like the Lockwood but I can appreciate its originality!!
I think I could see what Lockwood was doing and I respect that but I don’t think I am it’s audience I guess.
LOVED this video! Thank you 🥰
I would love it if you and your Mum read the Giller prize short list and made your predictions. The long list is out now, short list on October 5 and winner announced november 8
I feel like I'm the only person on Earth who liked the first half of Piranesi better than the second, lol. Like Simon I also felt like it was a bit 'gimmicky' (not quite the right word). But the beautiful world and Piranesi's childlike, naive wonder is so well-written! I cried at the albatross scene and just wanted more of that...
Great arguments for both your lists! Can't wait to see what wins! :)
I need to work out what the word is that is almost gimmicky but isn’t and I haven’t found it yet. I’m still working on it. Hahaha.
I preferred the first half too...I loved being in Piranesi's world.
Piranesi - pleased I read it, but not sure I totally loved it. Definitely unique though.
I think I love it again now you know. Hahaha. Sod’s law we recorded this so far in advance.
This warms my heart
Loved this thanks peeps 📚💕
Transcendent Kingdom for the win! 😊 Piranesi was so inaccessible for me so it would have been at the bottom of the list. I found The Vanishing Half a bit disappointing but I loved their previous book The Mothers 😊
1. Unsettled Ground
2. Transcendent Kingdom
3. The Vanishing Half
4. Piranesi
5. How the One Armed Sister Sweeps House
I didn’t even read the one about social media as it didn’t interest me. I think I loved Unsettled Ground as I identified with it. I was brought up in rural poverty in the 60s & 70s.
☘️👋📖🫖☕️🍀📕🐝📚💐
I think what we all bring to a book definitely makes a reading experience for us. The more it resonates sometimes the more we love it.
Cherie Jones is my #1, with Brit Bennett and Susanna Clarke rounding out my top 3!
I don't know why, but I have a niggle that says it might go to Claire Fuller though. Can't wait to find out!
The more I think about it the more I think it could be Cherie or Claire who takes it. I will be very happy as long as Lockwood doesn’t win. It probably will now. Ha.
Burnt Sugar to win. Don’t care that it isn’t shortlisted, I need it to happen 😂
That would be a surprise 😂
Oh Kieran. Hahaha.
@@SavidgeReads I’m still not over it 😆
I’ve been waiting for this video! So interesting to hear your thoughts and ranking. Just to say mine would be:
1. How the one armed sister- it’s stayed with me so much
2. Unsettled ground - growing up in the country this resonated
3. Vanishing half
4. Transcendent kingdom
5. No one is talking about this
6. Piranesi ( I really tried!!!!)
My list was:
1. Unsettled Ground
2. How the One-armed Sister Sweeps Her House
3. Piranesi
4. Transcendent Kingdom
5. The Vanishing Half
6. No One is Talking About This
But I think the actual winner will either be Piranesi.
I don’t think there’s anything this year to quite rival HAMNET from 2020, but overall this is a really strong list.
My order from ‘not quite to my taste’ to ‘personal favourite’ would be:
6. NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS: I did nod appreciatively and smile wryly at several satirical observations, but, as with Weather last year, I struggled to engage; the fragmentary nature of the prose, comprising vignettes and asides, doesn’t really create much narrative drive and pull, and this I find this sort of book difficult to engage with and find I don’t derive much narrative satisfaction.
5. HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SLEEPS THE HOUSE: Dare I say it, maybe a bit one-note? Well-written and atmospheric (let’s just say the evocation of Barbados is a far cry from Death in Paradise) but I found the characters a bit thin; they seemed to exist to inflict or endure, and I did find the harrowing unrelenting misery of it all a bit tedious. I found it a little worrying how little I cared for the characters despite how much they were made to suffer.
Any of the following could win and I’d be happy, I think:
4. UNSETTLED GROUND: Claire Fuller is a very good storyteller and I think this is the most traditional entry on the list. Sturdy prose, but I question its originality perhaps? I suppose the central premise - the 51-year old twins who have lived with their mother all their life - is quite a novel idea, and Jeanie (especially) and Julian were compelling characters. The ending all felt a bit too neatly tied up for my liking but I did enjoy the characterisation (support cast included). Nobody was wholly good or wholly bad, and because of that, they felt like real people.
3. PIRANESI: I don’t share your annoyance at the repetition; I think that was conscious choice of the author, to reflect Piranesi’s existence and meticulous attention-to-detail. I also don’t share your view that the premise was gimmicky; I found the world beautifully and memorably realised and would argue that it’s maybe the most distinctive entry on the shortlist for that reason. It went to places I didn’t expect, and, all in all, I found it a simple story well-told, even if it maybe didn’t have the depth of some of the other contenders.
2. THE VANISHING HALF I’m not sure this one needs to win, as its had bags of acclaim in the year following its publication already, but, if it did scoop the prize, I’d be very happy. It’s a sweeping saga, full of life and heart, that’s generous to both its characters and its readers. Hard to believe that it comes from the pen of an author so young, as it’s packed full of insight, balancing epic scale with intimate character beats. The central hook is genius and it has all the hallmarks of a page-turning bestseller; I could imagine abandoning a cocktail on a beach whilst I raced to finish this. I just hope the fact that it’s clearly a Bestseller with a capital B doesn’t prove its undoing…
1. TRANSCEDANT KINGDOM I can’t believe this is your mother’s number six! Actually, I recommended this to a few people, who have since fed back to me that I don’t quite see what I loved so much about it, so maybe she’s in good company? I found the debate raging at the core of this novel unforgettable; can grief be explained through science? A huge, weighty topic, explored beautifully and, most importantly, accessibly. There’s a lightness of touch here that’s incredibly skilful and I loved the family dynamics depicted; I found the protagonist’s relationships with both her mother and her brother very moving. Not only do I think this should win, I think it will win, and justifiably so!
have only read 2 and i have 2 more on my tbr, i'd be really happy to see piranesi win :-D
I think it will but I’ve decided I don’t want either Piranesi or The Vanishing Half to win. It seems a bit too obvious now. I want more of a surprise winner.
I really enjoyed the vanishing half. Only downside to me was the boyfriend, some person finder he was!
I like a book with a spectrum of characters. Flaws and all.
No one is talking about this hasn’t appealed to me so number 6 number 5 pitanesi I def couldn’t get into it I really want unsettled ground to win one armed sister was good but had to many triggers vanishing half I liked but not something I would rave about xx
Your knees do please
So does Louise
Still watching, I dnf'd Patricia Lockwood - didn't connect either. Totally over my head.
I liked some of the second half a lot. I just had an uneven reading experience. More me than the book I think.