Tournament of Books discussion

Space to discuss the 2024 TOB contender Big Swiss by Jen Beagin.

I just wish this weren't on the shortie. I felt that it was discussed to death over the summer and if a book from summer camp were to be included, I'd choose The Birthday Party.

I’m with you, Alison.

Agreed; and I actually LIKED Big Swiss.

Alison wrote: "I just wish this weren't on the shortie. I felt that it was discussed to death over the summer and if a book from summer camp were to be included, I'd choose The Birthday Party."

I'll keep repeating until you shout me down.

Summer camp should be selections from the prior year's longlist that didn't make the shortlist.

No danger of spoiling the next ToB and it gives unfairly neglected books a second chance.

Tim, I love that idea.

Tim wrote: "Summer camp should be selections from the prior year's longlist that didn't make the shortlist."

Completely agree. I also am in the boat of, I don't want to see summer camp books in the TOB b/c they've already been analyzed.

My two cents on this book? I liked it, but I felt it wasn't as good as her duology she wrote prior to this, Pretend I'm Dead and Vacuum in the Dark.

I did feel like it kind of dragged in the middle/end.

I just didn’t believe in the relationship, and never felt connected to the characters. And then it started feeling ridiculous, so I just gave up on it. I do want to try more Beagin though, because I think she has potential, but this just didn’t work for me.

Karin wrote: "I liked it, but I felt it wasn't as good as her duology she wrote prior to this, Pretend I'm Dead and Vacuum in the Dark.
..."

I really liked the duology (and she should have been in the tournament for the first one!) so I've been afraid to read this one and find myself disappointed....

Tim, perhaps you could email your summer camp suggestion directly to> Rosecrantz and Andrew, if you’ve not already done so? I think it’s the best suggestion I’ve heard for summer camp, and I haven’t seen anyone in this group disagree with it.

Phyllis wrote: "Tim, perhaps you could email your summer camp suggestion directly to> Rosecrantz and Andrew, if you’ve not already done so? I think it’s the best suggestion I’ve heard for summer camp, and I haven’..."

AGREED.

Yes, Tim, please send that suggestion in, and if you’d like, you could mention that we all love that idea over here in the GR group.

As for Big Swiss, I read it for Camp TOB, and I liked it more than I expected to, particularly the humor. Also, I often forget the details of books soon after reading them, but the details of Big Swiss have stuck with me for some reason. It’s a unique book that’s almost impossible to describe in a way that sounds like it would be good to read, but it worked for me. Not a 5-star book by any means, but a solid 3.5 to 4 star book.

The sex scenes and a lot of the writing were just awful, and the dialogue made me cringe. I would've thrown the book after this, if it hadn't been on my e-reader:

"Her (p-word) looked like advanced origami. A crisp pink lotus flower folded by a master. Greta briefly rearranged it with her mouth. The flower transformed into an acorn. Then a unicorn. Then back again. Greta dragged her tongue over it diagonally three dozen times. Now it resembled two dragonflies languidly mating on a lily pad.”

Seriously? Seriously??

Concept 5 stars, it had potential, and some of the writing actually was okay. But for me execution was 2 stars, and that's pushing it. It had no depth.

Elizabeth wrote: "Her (p-word) looked like advanced origami. A crisp pink lotus flower folded by a master. Greta briefly rearranged it with her mouth. The flower transformed into an acorn. Then a unicorn. Then back again. Greta dragged her tongue over it diagonally three dozen times. Now it resembled two dragonflies languidly mating on a lily pad.”

👀

Elizabeth wrote: "The sex scenes and a lot of the writing were just awful, and the dialogue made me cringe. I would've thrown the book after this, if it hadn't been on my e-reader:

"Her (p-word) looked like advance..."



LOL whaaaaaat??!!! I already didn't want to read this, and now I KNOW I don't want to read this.

Based on that paragraph alone, I expect it to win the Rooster.

Elizabeth wrote: "The sex scenes and a lot of the writing were just awful, and the dialogue made me cringe. I would've thrown the book after this, if it hadn't been on my e-reader:

"Her (p-word) looked like advance..."

Haha, I honestly don’t remember that scene at all. I must’ve blacked out for a few minutes there…

@Kyle hahahaha

I got this out from the library, so it will probably be among my vacation reading that starts next week. Not that excited about it, but I'll try to keep an open mind.

I just realized that for months now I've been conflating "Big Swiss" with "Cursed Bread." They glommed together in my brain like a big cursed Swiss cheese sandwich. One I've read and regretted it. The other one is in ToB.

Tim wrote: "I really liked the duology […] so I've been afraid to seltzer with line read this one and find myself disappointed

I started and finished it today, with some trepidation, but I like the narrator's voice so much! Sure you have that overheated quote above, but then you get brief moments like these:

Stacy chewed his straw solemnly. He was drinking seltzer with lime; Greta, the same, plus tequila.

So dry. A pleasure to read.

I have to go back and read all the summer camp commentary. And maybe read it again to collect up some quotes.

Tim wrote: "Tim wrote: "I really liked the duology […] so I've been afraid to seltzer with line read this one and find myself disappointed

I started and finished it today, with some trepidation, but I like t..."

I'm with Tim. I could take or leave the plot and characters but the VOICE. And the DESCRIPTIONS.

The crumbling farmhouse with a 100 year old beehive in one wall and snow blowing through another?!

A party on a houseboat where attendees dress in Victorian garb?!

The Louis the 14th boudoir-style therapists office?!

The juxtaposition of the rough-and-tumble townie dive next to the painfully hipster cocktail bar?

I want to visit this fictional version of Hudson Valley.