The matchup:
Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart vs. Model Home, by Erich Puchner
Judge: Matthew Baldwin
I read a chapter of this in The New Yorker, where it masqueraded as a short story. I loved the concept: a love story set in a dystopic, decaying future New York, where technology's assault on individuality is in its final stages, and Homeland Security's assault on individual liberties is nearing completion. Everyone in the book accepts and revels in the status quo except, seemingly, the main character, who is mocked by his new girlfriend for his adherence of anachronisms like printed media.
Model Home
Reviews mark this as a cross between Freedom and Weeds, a loss of innocence set in Southern California's sun-drenched banal 1980's, well before the events of Super Sad. It's probably pretty good, though the central plot - a family on hard times is forced to occupy a model home in a development - is lifted directly from the beloved sitcom Arrested Development.
Judge: Matthew Baldwin is a co-founder/editor at the Morning News.
Summary:
In a field with two other strong domestic dramas, and up against the powerhouse prose and bombastic vision of Shteyngart's prodigious talents, Model Home looks like an easy first-round knock-off. But, as I've said before, you never know.
Winner: Super Sad True Love Story
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