Tournament of Books discussion

space to discuss one of the commentariat's favorites & worry about what other darling it will face in the tourney!

The first time I read this book was also because of the Tournament of Books. And I really disliked it at the time. I thought Ozeki was trying to do too many things that didn't make sense, I did not approve, I was annoyed. This time I'm listening and I don't know if that makes a difference but I'm finding I'm enjoying it quite a bit more.... part of it is the partial setting of the PNW which is deep in my heart and I have been to BC since the last time I read it.

Also I started teaching my Reading Experience class that I teach sometimes in our May term, and this year I have 21 students! I had each person introduce themselves with their favorite book. I always say Cloud Atlas when pushed, but it occurred to me, which Ozeki recently in my head from my shower listening time, that there are a lot of similarities between how Mitchell approached that book and how Ozeki is approaching this one, down to the spirituality factor. I'm not even 1/4 of the way in to the reread, but I thought I'd share how it's going differently.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "The first time I read this book was also because of the Tournament of Books. And I really disliked it at the time. I thought Ozeki was trying to do too many things that didn't make sense, I did not..."

Lovely! I do wonder if the TOB books that didn't land well with me can be attributed to how fast I was trying to read to be a completist. I am glad I was able to take the time with Ozeki on this book. I am admiring more and more as I think about the story and am putting it on my to-be-reread-someday list.

Care wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "The first time I read this book was also because of the Tournament of Books. And I really disliked it at the time. I thought Ozeki was trying to do too many things that..."

I would not be surprised at all if my way of speeding through books doesn't lead me to a place of dissatisfaction at times. I always have "read less and with more intention" on my reading goals and never do it.

I remember that I liked it, in general, but the ending did not land for me. I can't really give more detail than that - it's been too long since I last read it - but the portion about the Japanese girl was definitely compelling.

Kyle wrote: "I remember that I liked it, in general, but the ending did not land for me. I can't really give more detail than that - it's been too long since I last read it - but the portion about the Japanese ..."

Until your comment, I didn't even remember there being a part of the story outside of the portion about Nao. But I do remember liking the book.

Kyle wrote: "I remember that I liked it, in general, but the ending did not land for me. I can't really give more detail than that - it's been too long since I last read it - but the portion about the Japanese ..."

Kip wrote: "Kyle wrote: "I remember that I liked it, in general, but the ending did not land for me. I can't really give more detail than that - it's been too long since I last read it - but the portion about ..."

Kyle, I agree about the ending. I would have liked it to end with the great grandmother story. I still liked it better in this read.

I don't even remember the ending really...I guess it was confirmation that their worlds were linked?

But I liked this book quite a bit, I remember it haunting me for awhile, although I think the Ruth sections fell a little flat for me. I actually can't really remember them at all, tbh, but I remember thinking the way Ozeki intertwined the storylines, the two main characters, the grandmother and the kamikaze pilot, Buddhism and suicide, was brilliant...And I do remember the Nao sections, which were more engaging.

Maybe my issues with Ruth's sections came from having listened to the audio version, which was read by Ozeki...I don't know that she was the best narrator, kind of robbed the characters of personality. (I also think there were images in the book that couldn't translate to audio, so I may reread this in paper before Sept.) I wouldn't call this a favorite, but overall, there were so many things I admired about what she did here.

Add to that the narrator named Ruth who can't finish her novel, it's interesting to have her as narrator.

I just finished reading this for the first time. I think what Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote about there being too much going on is what allowed me to like it. What I mean is, I feel like there's a lot of opportunities to find things to dislike, but none of them dominate the book.

For instance, personally, I'm sick of reading novels about authors and books and writing, but there's more here than just that.

I've seen several people write that the ending didn't work for them, and I agree with that. I was happy with the mystery of maybe magical realism/maybe hoax/maybe dementia of the bulk of the text and didn't need or want that wrapped up in a neat quantum bow, which seemed to me to come out of nowhere. But I'm trying to accept the end as a metaphor to remind me that I don't have to pin down the "reality" of the book and can just enjoy the superposition of possible interpretations. I'm trying to overlook the feeling of being beaten over the head with the point.

I also want to mention that I really enjoyed the discussion of the ethics of computer/human interface design. A book "about" that would have been tedious, but after decades of being told that violence in media and video games is a danger, I thought the book made a very interesting point, even though it added yet another thing.