Tournament of Books discussion

Space to discuss the 2024 TOB play-in contender The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza.

Nobody else yet? Okay, then. I’ll go first. I read it this morning with some anticipation. And again, it was … fine. But it didn’t feel like a contender to me. I was looking forward to all the Melville this year, but…. I’m going to save most of this for the tournament, but I was again disappointed by the execution. The changes in voice and perspective and focus felt sloppy, and it kept slipping in and out of an "antique" diction that never felt quite right. Also, the pleasure in a good allegory is feeling it emerge slowly - like solving a puzzle. But here, big neon signs were set out to make sure I wouldn't miss the point. Meh.

Hey Tim, I finally read this! I liked this better than I expected to. Usually I dislike writing about writing, and having already read Dayswork, I wasn't excited to hear more about Herman Mellville, but maybe my low expectations made me appreciate it more than if I'd read it earlier.

Maybe I just enjoyed the big neon signs with the point. Or I was fresh off of disliking a few other more vague books.

I listened to this last week, and found it ok but pretty slow. I think I missed some things… the conversation about the big issues felt timely but was there something else that felt like the Point?

I weirdly love this so far? I mean yes, there’s a bit too much on the nose-ness politically, but I’m rooting for all the awkwardness and hopeful for a writers showcase showdown, if not all-out brawl, with the Confederate general. I dunno. It’s an easy, totally fun read that I look forward to picking up at the end of the day. Bee Sting which I respect the hell out of, but it was a slog, and The Librairianist, which I adored…this is a tough round.

Karen wrote: "this is a tough round..."

I agree, I think this is an unfortunate trio to have as a play-in. I wouldn't have minded if maybe =Brainwyrms= and =Boys Weekend= and =Cold People= had to vie for a spot and all three of those others got a seed.

That said, =The Auburn Conference= was fun, but felt a little slight to me - like it never really fully played out most of the threads it was working with. I'm going to save most of this for the show, but for example, was there a point to Emily Dickinson appearance other than a wink to the readers? (Am I just not getting the resonance? I'm not really a poetry reader, so all I really know about her is her reclusiveness and her name....and that Death kindly stopped for her.)

So I finished last night and this is no longer a tough 3-way round, as this one bows out.
To me, this was a plaintive love letter to America and Democracy and Writing and an "oh my god, how are we in this mess again and can Art/Novels/the Humanities/the humanity therein save us?" I mean, fine. I liked the conceit of it, but there was too much distraction to enthrall me.

But gosh are we on the precipice. Sigh.

I've already forgotten about this book.

This was such a flop for me. Maybe if I had been a literary major in school I would have cared more about all the work Piazza put in to recreate these characters. But I wasn't, and I didn't. I didn't care about any of them.

I became very hung up on the mention that Stowe & Mark Twain were taking the train from Connecticut to Auburn NY, and for some reason went past Watertown? I dont' know if that was Watertown NY or Watertown MA, but either way, that's a NO. That would be going in the wrong direction. So if Piazza got that simple detail wrong, what else was he getting wrong? And if he was getting details wrong, in this novel of details, then what was the point?

And why did he set the stage with a generous handful of real people, plus two made up authors? why did he have to make up a romance author? Why didn't he take the time to find a real one? If his point was that romance gets no respect, then yes he proved that by ignoring the real authors and making up a character.

Nadine in NY wrote: "And why did he set the stage with a generous handful of real people, plus two made up authors? why did he have to make up a romance author? Why didn't he take the time to find a real one?..."

I think this points exactly to what I didn't like about the novel. He had a bunch of potentially interesting ideas, but it really felt like he didn't do the work to realize any of them fully.

I'm reading it now, and it's generally fairly charming, but I have to say it requires a decent amount of huevos to put words into the mouths of Melville, Twain, Douglass, Whitman, and all.

Kyle wrote: "I'm reading it now, and it's generally fairly charming, but I have to say it requires a decent amount of huevos to put words into the mouths of Melville, Twain, Douglass, Whitman, and all."

I agree! I assumed this must have been a real event, but I learned from Google that it is entirely fictional. That does take courage! I did study all of these authors in school, so I am intrigued by Piazza’s attempt to capture all of their personalities and create new interactions for them. I’m only about a quarter of the way in, but this is starting to feel like an MFA writing exercise rather than a real novel. I’m curious to see where it goes…

My take away is to locate a copy of Melville’s Benito Cereno and read it. I not heard of it and it looks less intimidating than the Whale.