Tournament of Books discussion

Space to discuss the 2025 TOB contender James by Percival Everett.

How Orbital beat this for the Booker baffles me.

Tristan wrote: "How Orbital beat this for the Booker baffles me."

Same. Maybe it was too American, though, for this prize. Many of my UK friends here on GR needed to read Huckleberry Finn for the first time, before they could get any sense of what James is about. Most of the meaning and power, for me, was something I discovered in the space between the two novels, vs. in the pages of James all on its own.

Completely agree. Oribital is fjne. That’s the most excitement I can muster for it, even though I’m usually a sucker for poetic novels.

Lark wrote: "Most of the meaning and power, for me, was something I discovered in the space between the two novels, vs. in the pages of James all on its own."

I've been thinking about this too and about how James isn't strictly a rewrite of HF. One of the interesting things Everett does is bring his novel forward about 20 years, setting it in the 1860s. He also places real people in the narrative, and here I'm thinking about Dan Emmett.

James was one of my top reads from 2024 (so was Martyr!). I think this will (should!) go far in the Tournament this year.

I think there was a decent bit of discussion about James over the summer, which is why this topic seems mostly quiet; I think once the Tournament starts, it should breeze through the first few rounds.

Kyle wrote: "I think there was a decent bit of discussion about James over the summer, which is why this topic seems mostly quiet; I think once the Tournament starts, it should breeze through the first few rounds."

I'd like to see Everett do well, and I'm glad =James= has had so much acclaim. (Really, it gives one faith in the whole human endeavor that he has gotten this kind of recognition.)

But my fantasy bracket has =James= knocked out by =Headshot=. (Sorry Phyllis!) I just feel like =Headshot= is doing something new and doing it successfully. The voice and the telling and the story all feel unexpected and fresh, even if unfair to Reno.

=James=, much as I like it, feels less adventurous (maybe because, much as I love the way Everett handles race in his books, I've already seen it a few times, and maybe because I haven't re-read Twain, so the retelling doesn't have the same resonance it otherwise would).

That being said, =Headshot= gets clobbered by =Rejection= in the next round.

I don’t know that I can support you, Tim, in your vote for “Headshot” to reign over “James,” but it is not because of why my widely-known-about fandom for Percival Everett. I think that both of these books are “doing something different.“ I thought they were both good. I do not think “James“ is anywhere near the best I’ve read from Percival Everett, yet I do think it is still a better book than “Headshot” which to me became a little less interesting after the first four bouts/chapters.

In my opinion, James is brilliant. Headshot was my least favorite...a boring book about a boring sport...and no effort on the author's part to make any of it realistic.

Phyllis wrote: "I think that both of these books are 'doing something different.'..."

You don't think =James= is very much in the tradition of =Wide Sargasso Sea=?

But I agree about =Headshot=; I was also worried I was going to get impatient after the first four rounds. That was a pretty challenging format for her to adopt, but she was evolving her focus from the match to the fighters futures as the tournament continued.

I thought she did a great job of communicating the feeling of what it means to care very much about something that no one else cares about, and what it means to one's life when your accomplishments mean nothing to anyone else (sometimes not even to you) despite all the sacrifices. (Surely we've all had something that meant the world to us when we were young that we have never thought about again, since.)

I also really enjoyed the voice of the novel and the way in which Bullwinkel invoked the boxers' future lives to create a different kind of perspective on the matches than the perspective we were getting from the fighters while they were in them.

(And really, who doesn't want to root for someone named Bullwinkel! Writing about girls who would-be Rocky! Come on!)

I have not yet read Wide Sargasso Sea (though it is on my reading list and Jane Eyre is one of my early life-long favorites). But I do agree that it is hardly a new concept to write a novel told from the perspective of a secondary character in a classic. It seems to me that Everett did more than simply rewrite Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective, taking it places we (or at least I) did not expect it to go.

Like you, I admired the depth of the characters that Bullwinkle developed, and I thought she did an excellent job of capturing the intensity and motivations of late adolescence.

As between the two books, though, I would still have to vote for James.

Gwendolyn wrote: "James was one of my top reads from 2024 (so was Martyr!). I think this will (should!) go far in the Tournament this year."

Same, Same

Phyllis wrote: "I don’t know that I can support you, Tim, in your vote for “Headshot” to reign over “James,” but it is not because of why my widely-known-about fandom for Percival Everett. I think that both of the..."

CO-SIGN.

Tim wrote: "Kyle wrote: "I think there was a decent bit of discussion about James over the summer, which is why this topic seems mostly quiet; I think once the Tournament starts, it should breeze through the f..."

I should add: though "James" was my Read of the Year in 2024, I'd be fine if it didn't get the Rooster, because, well ... it got a LOT of (well-deserved) attention, and the Rooster might be the Booster (sorry!) that a lesser known book could use.

Phyllis wrote: "I have not yet read Wide Sargasso Sea (though it is on my reading list and Jane Eyre is one of my early life-long favorites)..."

A) You have to move it near the top of your list then. It's short. It also goes in a direction that maybe one wasn't expecting.

2) The Oregon Shakespeare Festival did a stage adaptation of =Jane Eyre= last year, adapted by Elizabeth Williamson and directed by Dawn Monique Williams. It was pretty terrific, so if it comes your way, don't miss it....

Ok I said I wasn't going to read James because I am not an Everett fan and lort knows I have tried.
Spurred by a short list discuss about actually reading the source material before hand, I listened to Huck Finn as I waited for James to become available via the library.
I had read in many decades ago and figured a brushing up couldn't hurt.
I can't say I enjoyed either really, both are written by men who I think fancy themselves very clever. I know it's difficult to fully unterstand the time and context of Huck reading it now.
James had moments but ultimately I found it meh. There are some interesting reviews on StoryGraph I really enjoyed, one touching on using literacy and "proper" speach as a mark of intelligance that hit a certain note for me.
It also could very well be that I haven't like his other books, though I felt that way about Lauren Groff until Matrix so who knows.
But hey now I'm a completist for this year so go me.

Audra wrote: "But hey now I'm a completist for this year so go me. ..."

Congrats!

Congratulations, Audra, for reading all 18, and especially for reading “James” when you did not want to.

Yay, Audra, congrats on your completion! 🎉💥👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💥🎉

Audra wrote: "But hey now I'm a completist for this year so go me...."

Congratulations! I have a few books to go and so I admire your willingness to tackle that last book.

I'm crushed this is going up against Book Censor's Library since I loved them both. I found this really engaging, interesting, and powerful, especially the second half when we start to stray from Huck Finn. And damn I do love a "burn it all down" ending, much like The Trees.