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Tournament of Books 2020: Golden State
In a dystopian California, obsessed about the truth and capturing every moment of reality, a detective in the lie-detecting “Speculative Service” encounters an accidental death that may be more than...
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Tournament of Books 2020: Oval
Dystopias are rarely boring. Dystopias rarely make you think, “meh”, when the characters meet the horrors of their world. Dystopias rarely lack plot, drive, an every calling telos. The world of...
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Tournament of Books 2020: We Cast a Shadow
Writing a satire that is also “good high fiction” (i.e. not trite, full of one dimensional characters, in a world lacking verisimilitude) verges on the impossible, partially because of the demands of...
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Tournament of Books 2020: Girl, Woman, Other
After reading Bernadine Evaristo’s “Girl, Woman, Other“, I have to say that Atwood’s “The Testaments” better be a flawless novel to justify giving it the joint Booker prize with this masterpiece....
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Tournament of Books 2020: Lost Children Archive
Valeria Luiselli’s “Lost Children Archive” could have been a great novel. All the ingredients are there. And I mean ALL of the ingredients are there. There’s a solid and enticing plot. There are...
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Tournament of Books 2020: Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen
A very surprising book. I was expecting a grotesque horror story, and I got nothing of the sort. In “Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen” Dexter Palmer takes a historical event and greatly expounds upon...
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Tournament of Books 2020: Normal People
It feels like a waste of time to write a review of Sally Rooney’s “Normal People“. It’s a boring novel with the basic “Ross and Rachel” love story plot, but with zero charm or meaning added. The...
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Tournament of Books 2020: Nothing to See Here
Kevin Wilson’s “Nothing to See Here” is a sharp, fresh, unputdownable gem of a novel. A heartwarming story about finding your tribe and embracing your weirdness in a world that’s all about conformity....
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Tournament of Books: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is more of a memoir in poetry than it is a novel. Even as you read it it’s clear that this book is so autobiographical that practically only the...
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Tournament of Books 2020: Optic Nerve
María Gainza’s “Optic Nerve” is a pleasant piece of what I now know to be termed “autofiction,” which is to say that it’s “fiction” based on the author’s life. It’s a nice way to while a way a few...
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