Tournament of Books discussion

thread for Deacon King Kong by James McBride

Surprised this one hasn't gotten more discussion. I'm about 1/4 in and so far I think it's great.

I loved this book. My favorite so far this year (2020).

I just finished this last night! I think my reading mood soured me, what with the state of the world, but I thought it picked up well in the second half, from a bit of a meandering beginning. What an unbelievable cast of characters! And I say “unbelievable” because they felt SO believable.

Honestly, now that I’m writing this, I wonder that it didn’t remind me of the best of Dickens. Funny, sad, socially aware, firmly set in place, lovable cast of characters, occasionally ridiculous events. One for me to reread in a less-fraught era.

I really appreciated the humor and the characters in this book. And the audiobook was great - I really felt connected to all of the characters by the end.

This is one of my top 5 favorite books in the tournament. I loved the characters!

I agree - definitely in my top 5 for the ToB. McBride can sure write characters and plot. Heidi nails it up above in comparing him to Dickens. To me, Chaucer also comes to mind.

My favorite -- by far -- of 2020. The rest of the books in the Tournament are going to have to work pretty hard to beat it for me.

I loved this book so much. It's definitely my favorite of 2020, and 2020 was a great year for books. A lesser writer would have made a mess of this novel, but McBride's voice is amazing.

I loved the female characters, especially. Great book and so refreshingly different from what I've been reading lately; yet still touches on so many important topics.

Just finished last night - it was funny, warm, and clever. Loved the cross-section of people (Elefante, Sportcoat, Deems, etc.) and the little bits of color (the cheese, the ants!) that really made this come alive. Right now it's my frontrunner for the whole shebang.

I see the comparison to Dickens—a full cast of colorful characters (some of which seem a bit like caricatures at times), some humor, some seriousness, a lot of details of daily life, a fairly complicated plot. I can appreciate what McBride has accomplished here, but the book didn’t fully land with me. It felt needlessly complex in ways that didn’t increase the enjoyment for me. Nevertheless, I did like this a lot more than McBride’s previous novel (The Good Lord Bird). I’m glad I read it.

I read Deacon King Kong in tandem with McBride's first book, The Color of Water, a memoir of his white mother. I have had a paperback copy of The Color of Water around, unread, since it came out. The two worked well together since Deacon King Kong takes place where and when McBride grew up. Deacon King Kong was a great read, but I absolutely loved The Color of Water.

I didn't really like it, so I appear to be in the small minority thus far. But I'm just not much on crime novels, which is a lot of what this is, and I didn't feel any real connection to any of these characters. Of course I also read it during the worst 2 weeks of time to be reading fiction, during a freakin' coup attempt and its aftermath, so I'm sure that didn't help!

There is just so much going on with this novel, but I loved every page. It's the first James McBride I have read. McBride's characters are written so well, so real, and at the same time almost cartoonish, and archetypal. Love the sense of humour. I hope this goes far in the tournament. :-)

This was my Zombie vote. I loved it.

I wasn't really looking forward to this one because Good Lord Bird didn't thrill me, but wow, I was completely charmed by it! Definitely my favorite in the tournament so far, but I still have 9 books to go. (Shuggie Bain, please hurry up and finish. What a slog.)

I'm one of the few who also liked Tender is the Flesh so I'm sorry that one of these two will be gone on the first day.

I love this book! It's my favorite in the tourney. I'm a big fan of McBride's characters.

This was too long and I would have liked it more if it were more about the church and the characters from the towers, I did not care about the cop + the various gangsters. The lively parts were really lively though and I loved the audiobook.

I just finished rereading this, after loving it when it first came out...and it might be one of my favorite books ever. It’s a great one to reread because of the many (wonderful) characters and plot threads. I’ve learned from past years the broken heart that can await if you get too attached to a particular ToB outcome, so I’ll just say that if McBride wins the rooster, it would be a fitting honor. PS, @Caroline, I agree on how enjoyable the audiobook is!

Jan wrote: "I’ve learned from past years the broken heart that can await if you get too attached to a particular ToB outcome, so I’ll just say that if McBride wins the rooster, it would be a fitting honor"

If he wins, he would be the first two time winner of the ToB, I think. History making!

I recently received this as a gift. I'd never intended to read it before, but since I now had it, I decided to read a few pages and see what was what. From the moment I picked it up, I could not put it down. I'm 84% finished, slowing down now to savor it. What a ride! I think it works so well because he writes each character from the most virtuous to the most unsavory, with equal humanity. It's impossible not to love them all.

Juliana wrote: "I'm really struggling with this one and think I might put it away for now and come back later to see if I connect with it more. I can't even pinpoint what isn't doing it for me - good writing, some..."

The judgment for 3/9 might connect the pieces for you and cultivate your interest, maybe or maybe not, but it reminded me why I enjoyed this one.