Tournament of Books discussion

Space to discuss the 2023 TOB Contender, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach.

I just finished the novel and for the most part loved it. I loved the humor and emotion, particularly the first half. I was surprised and a little disappointed by the ending, though, which left me feeling a little blah about the book. I'm sure with a little time I'll let go of the ending and remember the book for the parts that I loved, particularly anything to do with having two vaginas.

Bretnie wrote: "I just finished the novel and for the most part loved it. [...] I was surprised and a little disappointed by the ending, though, which left me feeling a little blah about the book. [...]"

I just now finished it, although I have to admit, I peeked at your comment when I was at about the half-way mark in the book, so my reading of the ending was colored by your disappointment.

I agree with you about the strength of the first half of the book, but I'd like to hear more about your ambivalence toward the ending. I was afraid from your comment we were going to get something a little more heavy handed and clumsy than we did.

Just about to start the audio.

Bretnie wrote: "…particularly anything to do with having two vaginas."

I was going to skip this one, but now of course I have to read it.

Tim wrote: "Bretnie wrote: "I just finished the novel and for the most part loved it. [...] I was surprised and a little disappointed by the ending, though, which left me feeling a little blah about the book. ..."

Ah sorry to have influenced your reading! I'll put my thoughts on the ending in spoilers to avoid influencing others!

(view spoiler)[Mainly I was just surprised and disappointed she ended up with Billy in the dramatic rain scene at the porch. I thought the direction the book was going in was that she would grow out of her obsession with him as she learned to live without her sister. I'd hoped she'd find her own life and not keep living in that world with her parents and the town that couldn't let go of Kathy. (hide spoiler)]

Bretnie wrote: "Ah sorry to have influenced your reading!"

Not at all! That's why I come here! To be influenced by all you fine readers. (But I shouldn't have peeked before I finished.)

Since you put it in spoilers, I will too.

(view spoiler)[I was just surprised and disappointed she ended up with Billy

Yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot. I mean, apart from the fact that they find each other at the eye of the storm - Hurricane Kathy giving them her blessing (just a little over the top for my taste) - I'm ambivalent, too, about their coming together.
I can't decide whether they have really found each other, or whether they've found a totem for the person they've lost. After all, Sally doesn't really know Billy anymore. She didn't know him when he was re-inventing himself at Villanova, and she didn't know him when he was having his crisis of faith. She only knows him as a damaged high school kid, and the last connection she has to her sister.

That feels like it is a relationship doomed to end badly.

Maybe that's an opportunity for a sequel. =Notes on Our Sudden Dissolution=
(hide spoiler)]

Bretnie and Tim, y'all are making me think I've got to re-read the ending. In my recollection: (view spoiler)[they only got together one time and then moved on with their lives. To me, this was a sort of resolution that allowed both of them to place Kathy more in their past. (hide spoiler)] But perhaps I've rewritten the ending in my own mind.

Phyllis wrote: "Bretnie and Tim, y'all are making me think I've got to re-read the ending."

Okay, follow-up under the spoiler tags again.

(view spoiler)[ In my recollection: they only got together one time and then moved on with their lives. To me, this was a sort of resolution that allowed both of them to place Kathy more in their past.

At the end of the novel, Billy and Sally meet and acknowledge their mutual feelings for each other while upstairs in the house, the fiance is sleeping and the parents are finally reconciled with Billy. As they do this, Billy welcomes Kathy to take vengeance on him, but Hurricane Kathy stops raging, they are in the calm of the eye of the storm. Sally says to her sister "I know I will love him forever."

I suppose there is enough ambiguity there to think that Billy goes home from there at peace, and Sally goes back to her fiance and recommits to him. But I'm not sure that's what the author means.
(hide spoiler)]

Tim wrote: "Okay, follow-up under the spoiler tags again."

Ah, now I remember. And I see how each reader could interpret differently what might happen after the book ends.

Oh gosh, I really appreciate these different interpretations and like them better! Hmmm.....

Tim wrote: "Phyllis wrote: "Bretnie and Tim, y'all are making me think I've got to re-read the ending."

Okay, follow-up under the spoiler tags again.

In my recollection: they only got together one time and ..."

I interpreted the ending as Tim does. And didn't love it (or the entire second half of the novel, to be honest).

This was a snoozer for me. Didn't care for the characters and what little story there was.

Audra wrote: "This was a snoozer for me. Didn't care for the characters and what little story there was."

Same for me, Audra. The first half held my interest. The second half was ... oof. And the ending, for me, was ... not good. But, I will look forward to hearing the perspectives of those who loved it. I know that some I've really liked so far are books that others didn't care for much.

whoa! I just yesterday read the part about the 2 vaginas! Will temper my expectations before I keep reading... and will come back to read these spoiler thoughts when I'm done. But yes, so far, quite good.

Just finished. I thought the narrator was pretty endearing, though the "after she grew up" section was, agreed, less engaging than. the teenage version of her. It still did a good job of mixing the funny/silly/lighthearted aspects with the depressing parts.

Holy shit. I also have a hard time saying “real world.”

Bob wrote: "Holy shit. I also have a hard time saying “real world.”"

How are you at handling the remote?

Tim wrote: "Bob wrote: "Holy shit. I also have a hard time saying “real world.”"

How are you at handling the remote?"

Oh...there's a joke in this exchange about two vaginas I'm not going to make...But, I suppose I've now just made it.

Re: the ending. It was a little bit hokey, I'll grant, but when they make a movie out of this book, and Timothee Chalamet is confessing his love for Sydney Sweeney in the eye of a hurricane, I think I might just bawl.

Is Timothee a Billy Barnes type, though?

Kyle wrote: "Is Timothee a Billy Barnes type, though?"

This version was: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3sxRAeh8f7w/ma...

Bwhahaha. Excellent point. I thought it was a really enjoyable read, even without being Literature. Sally’s voice is incredibly strong. Also, the author must know lawyers IRL because those scenes were spot-on.

I just finished this and found it a disappointment…slow and overly long, and the insights on grief and family dynamics seemed fairly shallow. (I would say they were YAish, but I’ve read YA novels that were far more moving and thoughtful.)

Same, Jan. This one was not my cup of oolong. The first half had some nice moments and then … just, NO.

I liked this one but didn’t love it. Middle of the pack for me this year.

Read this in less than 24 hours and LOVED it. Thank goodness, because I was about to give up on the TOB books this year having not rated anything over 3 stars (admittedly, I've only read 8 so far). I agree that everything past graduation for Sally felt a bit incomplete compared to the fully-realized first half of the book, but I took that to be a side effect of Sally living a half-life at that point. Going through the motions but still unsure of herself and what she wants. I also liked that it gave her and Billy enough time to mature and spend a lot of time apart. Is it really a healthy relationship? Probably not. Did it satisfy the romantic in me - you betcha.

I may also have had such a strong reaction because I am close in age to the characters, so the nostalgia was humming as she wrote about the family computer in the living room, etc. Espach's writing reminded me a lot of a book I loved as a teenager, Ferris Beach by Jill McCorkle.