Tournament of Books 2014: my Pre-Tourny analysis

What is our obsession with competition in America about? There's scarcely an activity any more that doesn't have a governing body and associated national tournament. There are beard competitions, rock-paper-scissors tourneys, air-guitar battle royales. There's nothing you can do that someone else won't claim to do better and start a tournament to prove it. Even stacking cups has become a competitive sport. 

Which brings us, of course, to books. The shortlist has been announced for the 10th The Morning News Tournament of Books, my favorite of the single-elimination tournaments that spring up in March to capitalize and satirize the NCAA basketball tournament. Filled with capricious judges, aggrieved fans, authors who sometimes chime in to the comments section - you never know where the Rooster will take you. It's both a legitimate study of what makes a book good/better than another and a perfect example of why rating books against each other is a fruitless path which ends only in madness. Madness I tell you! 

To more accurately sum things up: The ToB is a single-elimination tournament with sixteen (well, okay, this year, seventeen) initial slots. Books are matched up against each other, and a celebrity judge reads both and decides which book they like better, and writes a summary article of their decision. That book advances to face the winner of the adjacent bracket, and so on, till there is uno champion del mundo! 

Winner gets a live Rooster, as the legends have it.

Without knowing the first-round matchups, and having read only four of the books (sad shamey-face) I can only give vague impressions on relative odds. 

First, it looks like the selectors have done more to get some diversity into the field this year. Last year's list, while full of wonderful books, was surprisingly beige. It's nice to see that every inhabited continent has contributed to this year's carnage. 

There were several notable snubs this year: George Saunders, Meg Wolitzer, Khaled Hosseini, and Rachel Kushner, for instance, all wrote fantastic books, but without expanding the field and taxing everyone's patience, these folk will just have to settle for massive sales and great critical acclaim to keep them warm at night.

Judges this year include and eclectic mix of authors, critics, a musician, and a guest chosen from the ranks of talented hangers-on and fankids. Among them are Young Adult hearthrob novelist (and last year's runner-up author) John Green, the amazingly funny and talented Roxane Gay, the legendary Geraldine Brooks. I'm expecting good things from all these people.

Overall, I think these are all good books and would love to read every page of them, but only one can survive.  I didn't link to anything because you're probably smart enough to highlight, right-click, and choose search on Google and also, I'm lazy.

* indicates books I've read

At Night We Walk in Circles by Daniel Alarcón - A relative unknown though critical darling, this looks at first glance like yet another dark South American farce, this one with a guerilla theater troupe, though to be fair, those are usually pretty good, and the people who like them really like them. I'm guessing there are weaker books in the field, but if matched up against a heavyweight it's a first-round adios.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton - One of the heavyweights, this book carries its Man Booker award pedigree and "Concept novel" gravitas into the ring. Like Roostarian winners Cloud Atlas and A Visit from the Goon Squad, concept novel isn't necessarily a bad thing. But one rap on The Luminaries is that it's a writer's book, not necessarily a mainstream reader's book, so which judge it gets will be critical. Gravitas gets it past the first round, then its a crapshoot. 

The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto - This is another sleeper from Africa about an isolated tribe contacting the modern world. A wise and knowing insight into a foreign culture, this book will gain respect for being exotic, even if it may not have the pedigrees of other entrees. A true wild card, though probably not a contender.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert - Will the author of Eat, Pray, Love be able to overcome her backlash and find redemption in the the Rooster tourney? By all accounts this is about as far from EPL as a book can get. On the minues side, it's also a doorstoppy idea book. Maybe it has enough punch for the semi-finals, but I doubt it.

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid - An old-school political book, a second-person novel about making money in Pakistan. Satires play well with some but not others, though with the right pairing, say against an acerbic domestic drama, Hamid could score a moderate run.

The Dinner by Herman Koch - A divisive book about European scandals and privilege that takes place over a dinner table in Amsterdam. Reviews were mixed, though marketing made it a sales success; The same way it hit bookstores with a storm of publicity then didn't sell or get decent reviews, Dinner will flame out of the the ToB in the first round when faced with more lively books. 

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri - Another awards winner with the gravitas and popular appeal that will threaten to go deep. 

* Long Division by Kiese Laymon - A dark horse in a field of dark horses, this is another high-concept book about time travel, race, and viral YouTube meltdowns. I love the idea, and halfway through I'm finding it funny, endearing, baffling, and charming by turns. But in the ToB, high-concept only gets you so far; this feels like a first-round upset but not much further. 

* The Good Lord Bird by James McBride - Pulitzer Prize winner, a race-and history based romp, this is a strong contender for the final four. See my review on this site for more information.

Hill William by Scott McClanahan - Surprisingly, this has the highest Goodreads rating at 4.24, which bodes well (although it has only 369 readers; surely a wider readership would drop that total?).** This feels like the sleeper pick, much like The Sisters Brothers was a few years ago.  

The Son by Philipp Meyer - I read Meyer's debut novel, and if this is anything like that the density of his prose will render one judge comatose, booting him in the second round. 

* A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - I actually read this book! It's a great book with great themes and characters. Ozeki is a dark horse with a chance to win the whole thing. Unfortunately, the final chapter employs a deus ex hand-wavy metaphysical meta-narrative which may sink her in the round of four, due to some judges insistence on literal believability in all things fiction. 

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell - YA books are always a dark horse; they tend to hit hard emotionally but don't hold up on reflection, much like your own teenage years perhaps. Probably a first or second round exit, though it could return in the zombie round, as its Goodreads rating tops this field at 4.22. 

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - The perfect combination of literary gravitas and popular appeal, The Goldfinch rode a tidal surf of buzz to best-seller status and squee-ing fan-boys and girls. The Goldfinch is my pre-tournament favorite, as even if it's bounced, it will probably be a zombie pick. It's only drawback is that it's really long and people get turned off by long.

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara - I'm not sure how I feel about a book that features lost Micronesian tribes and magic turtle meat. Guess we'll find out. I feel this has very low odds of winning, but maybe there's more magic in that turtle meat than I think. 

[Winner of the Pre-Tournament Playoff Round]

Play-In:
For the past two years, the sixteenth spot has been fought over by a surplus of books. Last year three war novels fought their way through; this year I can't sense a theme, so I don't get it. It's two books by women authors, one a seasoned vet, the other a relative newcomer. 

* Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - Ambitious, funny, idea-packed, Life After Life is also a gimmick book, and some judges will be shut down by gimmicks. In a fair world, Life After Life would make a deep run. Although if it gets booted, it may just employ its own narrative trick and re-birth the whole bracket from the beginning until it does win. 

Woke Up Lonely by Fiona Maazel - The lowest rated book on Goodreads with a shockingly low 2.84, little is known of this upstart, who will face a stiff challenge from the compulsively readable Life after Life.

The Rooster crows in March!

Here's my compilation bookshelf on Goodreads.

** Goodreads ratings are a moving target. Two days later, Hill William had been added to 467 readers, and it's rating had dropped to 4.11. As of Jan 26, Eleanor and Park had the highest GoodReads rating at 4.22, and Hill William had dropped to third. 

Review: The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride

So I'm trying to close the gap on my Morning News Tournament of Books reading list. When the list was released, I'd scored 2 of the 17 books (a record low), and now I'm on three. At this pace I'll have read maybe four or five when the gates open. I'm hoping to have a my uninformed rundown and odds as soon as the pairings for the first round is announced, but for now, please accept my notes on The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride.

The Good Lord Bird is a great historical romp, a journey into the heart of the slavery issue when race was almost literally tearing the country apart. It's 1857, and Henry, a young light-skinned slave in Kansas territory, is liberated by the infamous John Brown several years before his ill-fated raid on Harper's Ferry in Virginia sparks the US civil war.

As a reward, Henry travels with John Brown's party, sleeping in the dirt, eating wild game, and enduring Brown's hours-long prayer sessions as he plots the violent liberation of all the slaves in America. Also, because of a mix-up, John Brown thinks Henry is a girl, and so Henry spends four years living in a dress, indolently letting the menfolk around him do all the heavy lifting.

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker,
also known as the
Lord God Bird or, in this novel,
the Good Lord Bird

It's a great setup for a novel, and McBride plays it well for satire, humor, and pathos by turn. Like Huck Finn before him, Henry is a more or less innocent child, gifted in observing what the grown-ups miss: John Brown is insane, for example, and some blacks in slavery are better off than Henry is in his 'freedom.' That is, the situation is more complex than you think.

Then there's a lot of picaresque scene-hopping as Henry loses touch with Brown and lives in a brothel for two years of drinking and loose-living. This tests his disguise as a girl and his emerging 'manly urges.' Then, after reuniting with John Brown, there are a few Forrest-Gump-ish twists, where Henry manages to meet Frederick Douglass, who is painted as a drunken lecher, and Harriet Tubman, who is an unimpeachable saint, before the final inevitable showdown at Harpers Ferry.

Any quibbles? Sure. You'll have to put up with a lot of semi-ridiculous corn-pone phraseology that may or may not be authentic and/or your cup of tea. I can put up with several different euphemisms for boobs each starting with 'love' ('love sacks,' 'love knockers,' etc,) and endure a mouth being called a red lane ten or fifteen times (as in, 'I threw that drink down my little red lane...' ) because just as often, McBride's language is deliriously inventive. But I was forced to look up the etymology of three questionable words: mojo, drinkie-poo, and pixilated. I could confirm only one of them was in use in the 1850's. Bonus points to you if you find out which one.

The ridiculousness of Henry's masquerade isn't ignored by by McBride. Henry continues to question his own masculinity, which is an interesting tack for a novel that on the surface seems to be about slavery and freedom. By the end, however, Henry has thrown off his dress and accepted his fate: to live as a man and a disciple of God. It's a strange conclusion to what had seemingly been a secular novel about freedom, madness, and destiny.

"Be a man: follow God" isn't exactly the theme I was looking for. But that only confirms what I'd known from the first few pages: This is not, sort of, the novel you're expecting, but it's definitely worth the trip.

Review: The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer

Over on Goodreads, I welcomed another member to my coveted Five-Star club: Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings! Now, why did it enter such rare territory, you ask? Well, it's hard to say. Is it a solid five-star like Delillo's White Noise, a modern classic destined for doctoral theseses and scorn from the unwashed masses? Well, how many books are?

But The Interestings is five-star good in ways that count: It's readable and believable. It's a good solid read, by turns enchanting and engrossing, that rarest of literary feats: a page-turner about mundane things done by ordinary people. The six core Interestings all met at a summer camp in 1974, and they were all Talented in various ways: The actor, the dancer, the animator, the musician, playwright, and the enigmatic prodigal. Mostly they went on to do non-artistic work, although one, Ethan, went on to be a Success complete with money and fame.

In fact Ethan Figman went beyond ordinary in many ways: he's a multi-millionaire cartoon king, morally scrupulous, ethically above board - a liberal superman, even. Which is no doubt what turns a lot of people off about this book (see white privilege, etc.) and I get your point. But it also drives the narrative in a believable way; he's surrounded by the ordinary, and he elevates them. Maybe this sounds like a strange point, and maybe I'm talking The Interestings out of five-star status just by mentioning it, but Ethan is even a bit... Christ-like, isn't he? (yeah, my eyes are rolling too. I'm backing off...)

Overall I loved being in this book, finding out what happened next, following along. Jules, the primary narrator, may have been a bit harsh and needy and jealous, but she was real. And I found Jonah to be entirely sympathetic and engrossing; his sections could have been a novel by themselves. And despite a bit of tidy wrap-up involving astounding coincidences and Just The Right Words from Ethan to Jonah, followed by a noble tearful death, The Interestings was an amazing, astounding read. Welcome to the five-star lounge, The Interestings!

Andy Kaufman, the Rooster, and more

First, a Story: Rubies

Something lovely and strange from Maria Mutch on Necessary Fiction. I love the constant allusions to cuts with little pain, the lightly addressed second person, how multitudes of the narrator's life are hidden but present, a larger world seen only through the distorting and selective glass of these assorted vignettes.

The Rooster is here, the Rooster is here!

And now the real awards season begins with the announcement of the 2014 Tournament of Books, from The Morning News. And despite a year of training, of reading more new releases than in any previous year, I have read only two of the nominated books. Two! They were: Life after Life, by Kate Atkinson, and A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. Both were wonderful, by the way. I will have more to say on this later.

Looking ahead

If December's for looking back, January is for looking ahead. In that vein, The Millions has posted their most anticipated literary books of the year. BookRiot has posted their 60 most anticipated YA books. 

non-fiction: Andy Kaufman

I used to watch Andy Kaurman when I was a kid. Watched may be the wrong word: I observed him, looking for clues to his human-ness, what lay underneath the strangeness of his persona. So I read with interest Margaret McCullen's very Andy Kaufman story on The Morning News, about the time she wrestled Andy Kaufman and how they became strange friends. Also appearing is Blondie, and a young cub reporter's favorite dress.

Sometimes in real life you get to know someone, a strange someone, and you keep waiting for the nervous persona to drop so you can meet the real person. And it's sad to realize that sometimes there is no person under the persona, that they're touched in some strange other-worldly way. It's just as sad when this happens to one of your childhood icons. But also it's beautiful in its own way.

Here's Andy spending time building a persona, on David Letterman's short-lived morning show.