Man Booker Long List 2015

[Pompey Bum]

The Man Booker long list was announced a couple weeks ago. The nominees are:

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Satin Island by Tom McCarthy

Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy

The Chimes by Anna Smaill

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

The Green Road by Anne Enright

The Illuminations by Andrew O’Hagan

The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami

The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

I read A Brief History of Seven Killings earlier in the year, but I wasn't crazy about it (despite its interesting premise). The Moor's Account and A Little Life are high on my to-read list (especially A Little Life, which is supposed to be amazing). But aside from that, the list doesn't seem very broad in a creative sense this year. Maybe MB is too busy trying not to leave out one area or another that it no longer cares about an author's ideas? Or maybe I'm just being cynical. The Green Road and Did You Ever Have a Family are supposed to be good. Has anyone ever heard of the others?

[ennison]

They are trying to be inclusive . That is good.

[Pompey Bum]

I wonder if they've overreached a little in trying to be a world English prize. Diversity won't help if there isn't also a diversity of ideas and approaches to literature. I'm not saying this group doesn't reflect that (I don't really know); but in your opinion, did Eleanor Catton win last year because she wrote the best book or because MB wanted to give the (newly international) award to an Antipodean woman (and to a kid)?