Tournament of Books discussion

space to discuss TOB2022 contender "Nervous System" by Lina Meruane

I thought this was an interesting book, but not what I expected after the first section. I felt like it set us up for something more magical realism. But I might not have finished reading it if I had known from the beginning that it would be about 5 characters' health issues. (view spoiler)[I was disappointed we didn't find out what Ella's issues were. Unless I missed it somewhere? (hide spoiler)]

Also, the book felt quite like Optic Nerve, with its slower pace and introspection.

Bretnie wrote: "I thought this was an interesting book, but not what I expected after the first section. I felt like it set us up for something more magical realism. But I might not have finished reading it if I h..."

Hmmm...Thanks for that. Optic Nerve was one of my favorites of that year, I loved the writing, and the quiet introspection. (This seems so incredibly depressing, though. I don’t know if I can take that in this season of my life.)

Reading this at the same time I'm listening to All's Well and there's some interesting parallels going on between the two. I'm really starting to roll with this one. The protagonist is Ella, her partner is El. This was translated from the Spanish, so the main character is named Her? And the partner is Him...am I understanding this correctly?

Bob wrote: "Reading this at the same time I'm listening to All's Well and there's some interesting parallels going on between the two. I'm really starting to roll with this one. The protagonist is Ella, her pa..."

Yes! I assume it’s because none of the characters are named, but I thought it was an interesting choice not to translate them. Maybe because the translator knew English speakers would assume Ella was her name at first? Or because seeing them as names at first would make this feel more accessible? I’m not sure…I’ve only read around a quarter of this so far, I absolutely loved the language and her metaphors, but I had to put it down for now because it was so unrelenting.

Oh yeah, I'm curious how the novel in Spanish reads with Ella and El. I assume they are capitalized? But in Spanish I imagine that would make the flow kind of interesting when they are talking about other characters - "he was talking to El." Although maybe it's written to avoid that kind of weirdness?

Bretnie wrote: "Oh yeah, I'm curious how the novel in Spanish reads with Ella and El. I assume they are capitalized? But in Spanish I imagine that would make the flow kind of interesting when they are talking abou..."

I just checked the Spanish edition, and yes they’re both capitalized! I guess it might just be to distinguish the main characters from other he and she’s…I don’t know if I’ve ever read a novel in third person with an unnamed narrator. That may be the only way it could make sense.

Elizabeth wrote: "I just checked the Spanish edition, and yes they’re both capitalized!"

Interesting, thanks for checking Elizabeth!

Oof, after a strong start, I DNF'd this one.

I was reading this kind of on autopilot, but about halfway through I felt more invested and ended up liking it very much. All the name substitutions reminded me of Milkman, in a good way, and the bodily pain as a stand-in for (deserved or not) remorse pain was interesting.

El was Ella's partner, unless I REALLY missed something. Firstborn is the brother.

Mindy wrote: "I was reading this kind of on autopilot, but about halfway through I felt more invested and ended up liking it very much. All the name substitutions reminded me of Milkman, in a good way, and the b..."

I'm gonna re-edit my post because I confused myself.

There was a lot of vagueness in the book, no doubt, especially when it came to figuring out where we were in time. I could have done with less of that, frankly, but I still liked it for its other qualities.

For me, this book was maddening and intriguing and, ultimately, really good. I liked how narrative time loops around on itself. It was difficult to keep track of the timeline of this novel, but I went with the flow. The language is similarly slippery and vague, which created a dreamlike feeling while I was reading. I was often confused but also fascinated by the recurring themes (illness, rats, bones, nerves) and the unexpected connections. I found so many layered complexities and interconnections. Reading this was an intellectual challenge that I ended up appreciating. I wasn't always in the mood for the mental effort demanded, though, so it took me awhile to finish.

I found myself just ... reading the words and then doing nothing with them, if that makes sense? I guess I was craving a flow that did more to make me want to go along with it, instead of 'vague reference to a thing from 30 or maybe 3 years ago, followed by reported contemporaneous, or is it?, phone call'

I wanted to have more fun reading. Tried, and tried again, and then DNF at 45% when telling myself 'it's short, you can just plow through' wasn't enough to answer my 'why am I reading this' questions

Finally finished this, but definitely would not have if it weren’t for the TOB and trying to be a completist this year. It didn’t help that I tend to be anxious about medical stuff to start with, but more than that I kept thinking “what is the point of this??” I definitely could relate to Ella’ s pain when it came to the struggle to complete her dissertation, and would have enjoyed more of the academic content and less of the medical stuff and the vague quality. So now, one more to go! On to In Concrete—hope it’s better than it sounds.

Bob wrote: "Oof, after a strong start, I DNF'd this one."

Wish I had.... I bailed on the Awad which had similar body-focused content but at least was more linear! After sticking with this one through the first 3/4 I skimmed the last bit, like, it's really not going anywhere, it's not going to improve, you're still going to randomly italicize four emotion words in the middle of this paragraph, okay.

But now I can say I have completed the shortlist, as much as I'm gonna, considering those I have DNF'd.