Right to the details, then.
You are already aware, dear Ides follower, that Bolaño's brick lost to the sublime first effort from Kushner per the perfectly penned pan from Jenn Northington (this year's tournament champion and a leader among readers). So now to what you don't know.
Brian Seethaler (yup, him again) read the Netherland vs. Harry, Revised match and offered only this:
"After reading both books I can only determine that the survival of Sarvas' treatise on narcisistic self loathing, Harry, Revised, advanced because The Dart League King was even worse. Sorry to the reading judges about that, and we promise to do a better job of vetting the contestants next year. Netherland wins. There was no contest.
WINNER: Netherland
In other quarterfinal news, Elaine Ellis, of inaugural tournament fame (last year's tournament champion and leader among readers) dropped the hammer on Babylon Rolling, Amanda Boyden's multicultural mishmash leading up to the Katrina disaster and declared the mystery powers of Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo too great to be vanquished, even by Fearius himself.
WINNER: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Rounding out the quarters, a new kid on the block takes the time to do it right.
Jenny Lyons joined the reading team to adjudicate this, the second of the quarterfinal rounds. Jenny hails from Vermont, far back east. But not Down East, which is an altogether different (and perhaps less hospitable) animal. Though a relative newcomer to the fast-paced world of book tourneys, she judges like a seasoned professional—fearless, ruthless,and utterly unfair.
A Mercy vs. Home
To me, this match-up first looked like a serious blow-out. As if the #1 seed, A Mercy, was meeting the #78 seed, Home. No contest. I had already been enveloped by the Toni Morrison book and I figured the Marilynne Robinson novel didn't stand a chance. But I was certainly surprised...
A Mercy was sublime to read, perfectly crafted by a master. The story involves the consequences of an act of mercy: a mother giving up her child to try and save her from the brutal life she had endured as a slave on a plantation. Florens' fate lies at the heart of this immaculately wrought novella. As a heroine, she is unpredictable and real. This book reads like an allegory, and you get the feeling you are living many lives, hearing many tales, witnessing many truths instead of the particular ones which are told by the voices of the characters.
In contrast, Home is achingly particular and personal. Robinson relates the tensions that arise when Jack Boughton, infamous ne'er-do-well son of infinitely respected minister, returns home at the age of 45 or so, after being gone, literally gone, for 20 years. It was so interesting to see inside a character who cannot explain his bad choices, cannot even stop making bad choices, and the effect this has had on his family. Glory Boughton, younger sister, also figures prominently, she has also returned home, though in a less intense shade of shame, to care for their father who is increasingly frail and less coherent. The pace is real, the strained silences are real, the dialogue is real. There are multiple descriptions of what was cooked and how for Sunday dinner, all written out in excruciating detail.
But you want to know the winner, right? Do you have an idea? A Mercy, hands down. I know, I know. That was a surprise? But Home was really more engaging than I thought it was going to be, and I really gave it my full consideration, but in the end, the restrained narrative was too restrained, and that restraint coupled with the overbearing, in my humble opinion, discussions of faith and scripture and sin and blah, blah, blah made it impossible for Home to win. And while A Mercy is a much different creation than Beloved or Song of Solomon, it will, I predict, stand the test of time and be regarded as one of Morrison's finest works. And what author can beat Toni Morrison when she is writing at her finest? Hmm, can you answer that?
WINNER: A Mercy
And that, dear readers, is that. On to the semis.
