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2022 TOB The Tourney > TOB22 Quarterfinals

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message 1: by Amy (last edited Mar 18, 2022 11:40AM) (new)

Amy (asawatzky) | 1743 comments space to discuss the Quarterfinal decisions of the TOB 2022
QF1: In Concrete vs. Intimacies
QF2: Matrix vs. The Trees
QF3: No One is Talking About This vs. When We Cease to Understand the World
QF4: Nervous System vs. The Echo Wife


message 2: by Amy (new)

Amy (asawatzky) | 1743 comments In Concrete vs. Intimacies:
https://themorningnews.org/tob/2022/i...


message 3: by Kyle (new)

Kyle | 912 comments Matches 2 and 3 are gonna break my heart, no matter who wins.


message 4: by Kyle (new)


message 5: by Amy (new)

Amy (asawatzky) | 1743 comments Man I really thought this judge would go the other way!


message 6: by Bretnie (new)

Bretnie | 717 comments Ah, I'm so sad The Sentence is officially out of the zombie running! Sigh. It's fine. Let's go Trees!


message 7: by Phyllis (new)

Phyllis | 789 comments Amy wrote: "Man I really thought this judge would go the other way!"
Amy, I've noted that you pretty consistently seem (here) to not favor The Trees; or perhaps you just really loved Matrix. I'm curious about your basis?


message 8: by Amy (new)

Amy (asawatzky) | 1743 comments No One is Talking About This vs When we Cease to Understand the World: https://themorningnews.org/tob/2022/n...


message 9: by Amy (new)

Amy (asawatzky) | 1743 comments Hi Phyllis - while I admired the work, the mash-up of slapstick with horror/revenge fantasy really didn’t work for me. I don’t mind either by themselves (though I have a limit to my tolerance of the former) but together it just really hit the wrong note. And the ending felt very (purposefully) messy in a way that my brain couldn’t just let be.


message 10: by Kip (new)

Kip Kyburz (kybrz) | 552 comments Really on the all-time shortlist for best judgments and commentary was fantastic today as well. What a blessed ToB day. RIP to my favorite though.


message 11: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth Arnold | 1314 comments Kip wrote: "Really on the all-time shortlist for best judgments and commentary was fantastic today as well. What a blessed ToB day. RIP to my favorite though."

I agree! I wrote this in the commentariat, but I feel like this year we've had the best judgments we've ever seen, and this was my absolute favorite. (For anyone who hasn't read Headley's The Mere Wife, I recommend it so highly, it was brilliant.)


message 12: by Amy (new)

Amy (asawatzky) | 1743 comments Elizabeth wrote: "(For anyone who hasn't read Headley's The Mere Wife..."

adding it to the list w/the TOB rec tag! :) (but also because she just seems great and so so smart!)

Tomorrow's QF includes our last 3rd & 4th seed books left in the tourney... which means the only real chances for decent upset points in the brackets competition! Opening Rounds saw a lot of upsets but QF winners so far are all 1st and 2nd seeds.


message 13: by Isaac (new)

Isaac Miller (isaac7985) | 65 comments Thanks, Kip. It was a great ego-boost to be complimented on my commentary, but the real star was that judgment! I'll certainly be checking out Maria Dahvana Headley's Beowulf: A New Translation and its modern retelling The Mere Wife.


message 14: by Elizabeth (last edited Mar 24, 2022 06:59AM) (new)

Elizabeth Arnold | 1314 comments The little depressing book that could...

https://themorningnews.org/tob/2022/n...


message 15: by Phyllis (new)

Phyllis | 789 comments Shout out to Heather C, who is stomping us all into the ground in the brackets competition. Heather C has called it right in 10 of the 13 rounds so far. I am in awe, particularly as this was a year when everyone's predictions were all over the boards.


message 16: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Oertel | 1401 comments Phyllis wrote: "Shout out to Heather C, who is stomping us all into the ground in the brackets competition. Heather C has called it right in 10 of the 13 rounds so far. I am in awe, particularly as this was a year..."

Wow, congrats, Heather!


message 17: by Phyllis (new)

Phyllis | 789 comments Amy wrote: "Hi Phyllis - while I admired the work, the mash-up of slapstick with horror/revenge fantasy really didn’t work for me. I don’t mind either by themselves (though I have a limit to my tolerance of th..."

Thank you, Amy. I suspect a lot of readers have a similar response. I rarely ever get the laugh out of slapstick, and in fact most comedy rarely works for me. I was surprised that I could appreciate it in this novel, yet I think it was what made the overall telling something I could take in.


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