Tournament of Books discussion

Can someone explain to me how this book made it into the TOB? I haven't even read The Luminaries yet, but there is no question in my mind about which book will win this bracket.

Just starting Hill William in an hour or so. Stay tuned!

Hm while I tend to agree that Luminaries will win brace yourself because stranger upsets have happened :)

I actually liked Hill William though. I have read both books and LOVED Luminaries but I liked Hill William. It was different, it was thought provoking, it was fast and disturbing. The poverty, casual ways abuse found its way back in, the post traumatic stress clearly experienced - it has all stayed with me. For a book that was so short, that I read quickly in two evenings, I've thought about it more than many of the longer more eloquently written books in the tournament. Though my experience with the tournament doesn't go back as long as some people's those unique aspects do sometimes lead to a book's success -- I actually wish it wasn't against such a megabook b/c I think it could win against some of them (and I don't count it completely out vs Luminaries b/c anything can happen with one person's opinion)- I would pick it over Signature of All Things for example if I were a judge :)

An interesting side note is this posting on the Tournament of Books Facebook page by Scott McClanahan (?? or somebody who has highjacked his name!!):

I am resigning Hill William from the tourney of books. I am sorry to say so. But fuck me. Soccer Moms are still idiots. I have resigned from the judging. Notify Anna Stein.

Interesting! I didn't love Hill William but there were things I liked about it. It was funny in spots (not many) but it also portrayed someone who grew up and moved beyond a miserable youth, someone who seemed destined to be a hillbilly but was able to become a hill William instead.

Hill William is one of my favorite books of the tournament, for all the reasons Katie mentioned. One of the joys of the TOB is that the crew that organizes it reaches well beyond the books that get the literary spotlight. I don't always agree with the choices (hello, Tuner of Silences) but I DO value the opportunity to stretch myself as a reader. Sorry HW wasn't in your sweet spot.

Julie wrote: "An interesting side note is this posting on the Tournament of Books Facebook page by Scott McClanahan (?? or somebody who has highjacked his name!!):

I am resigning Hill William from the tourney o..."

Wow, that would be pretty sad if it's true.

I don't think he can "resign" it from the tourney. It is still showing up on the website brackets.

Along with the resigning Hill William from the tourney comment, he also declares : And fuck Oprah and This is nothing more than a fart in the whirlwind. Not sure what what Oprah said to offend him or what "this" refers to : ToB?, readers comments?

Anyway I think his "I'm not going to play" attitude will be all for naught as it would be a bit of a surprise for it to knock out The Luminaries or for it to return as a zombie.

My review for Hill William :

Sadly mesmerising
Both charms and unnerves

This is not mainstream storytelling, certainly a road less travelled. It is prose stripped back to bare essentials. It is full of ugliness. You somehow feel dirty just looking in on the narrative.

The calmness of pace and language set up an inner vibration of trepidation. It is hauntingly honest with characters that, at first, seem stereotyped, but, at their dark heart, are well crafted and intimately nuanced. The West Virginia setting resonates. The devastation of the local environment is mirrored in the devastation of innocence.

I liked it ... but I loved The Luminaries.
(Review : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...)

Thanks to everyone who has commented thus far; you've given me a different lens through which to perceive my reaction.

Jan, your comment had me laughing out loud. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm loving The Tuner of Silences, which clearly wasn't your cup of tea!

Julie wrote: "I don't think he can "resign" it from the tourney. It is still showing up on the website brackets.

Along with the resigning Hill William from the tourney comment, he also declares : And fuck Opr..."

Julie, lovely analysis - thanks! I thought he was referring to the brouhaha in 2001 or so when Jonathan Franzen expressed the idea of being tainted as a serious writer by having Oprah pick The Corrections for her book club. :-)

Deborah wrote: "Thanks to everyone who has commented thus far; you've given me a different lens through which to perceive my reaction.

Jan, your comment had me laughing out loud. I haven't finished it yet, but I..."

Haha, perrfect! I wonder if the set of people who loved Tuner and those who loved HW would have much overlap. :-)

Books like Hill William and Long Division are my favorite reason for participating in the TOB. Love them or hate them, I would never have heard of them otherwise much less read them.

Drew wrote: "Books like Hill William and Long Division are my favorite reason for participating in the TOB. Love them or hate them, I would never have heard of them otherwise much less read them."

Exactly.

I actually didn't really like Tuner of Silences or Long Division, and though I did rather like the rawness of Hill William, I can't imagine it winning against something more crafted and refined. Still, I'm actually really glad I read all 3 of these, as I enjoyed the challenge of staying engaged with books that made me say, "Wait, whaaaaat?" WAY more often that I am used to.

Love this quote from ToB vs. the Hill William/Facebook brouhaha:

"Despite parsing it several ways, it's not even clear to me what he meant by his Facebook post. He's not a judge, so he can't 'resign from judging,' " Guilfoile says. "I guess he meant 'withdraw from judgment' but, no, nobody who writes a book can do that, obviously. He might have meant that he was just 'indifferent' to the Tournament of Books, in which case he can join a long list of authors who didn't care that they were on our shortlist, either. We are indifferent to their indifference."

Full article here:
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketco...

I SO want to hang out with Kevin Guilfoile some day.

Haha, for some reason I am really entertained by this "controversy." This is normally the sort of thing that would get my eyes rolling, but I really enjoyed Hill William for all of the brokenness and ugliness of the journey. I have a feeling that McClanahan's social media antics are a joke that's timed poorly enough to not be funny. Yet, I am amused. I wish the LA Times article mentioned that he also said Fuck Oprah AND This is nothing more than a fart in the whirlwind.

With that said, I kind of liked Hill William. I am glad I read it. I normally don't read such dude books about dudes and their broken dude selves! I thought it was interesting. The ending was kind of, "Wait, what?"

Oh gosh, you made me laugh, Jess! Our library doesn't have Hill William so I've been whittling away at the titles that ARE available. As others have commented, I don't think I would have chosen some of these on my own but I'm happy to have read them (I finished The Dinner weeks ago and I'm still thinking about it) and my Readers Advisory list has grown as a result. I suggested Rising Asia to several patrons and they all enjoyed it. Happy dance at the reference desk!

Forgot to say that I'm intrigued by the comments about Hill William. Interlibrary Loan, here I come.

I read Emily's traveling copy of Hill William (from this group). It's on its way to Alissa now, so if you are still intrigued by it after and ILL doesnt work out, maybe she would pass it on to you.

Susan wrote: "Oh gosh, you made me laugh, Jess! Our library doesn't have Hill William so I've been whittling away at the titles that ARE available. As others have commented, I don't think I would have chosen som..."

Or I could send you mine and maybe you could donate it to your library when you're done, Susan. I was thinking about donating to the community college library where I work but I doubt it would ever get read. We don't get many recreational readers here (*SOB*) but the ones we get usually want mystery or romance.

I'm hoping there's some insight to the McClanahan 'resignation' when the judgement is posted (should be any time now). It looks to me like it was a one-off comment by an impulsive young writer who never responded to follow-up questions, perhaps out of shame. But maybe he meant it, who knows?

Or maybe he is just a self-opinionated, egotistical sexist.

Well, I guess Rachel Fershleiser showed me!