NOX anne carson

from the second book of Herodotus: “So much for what is said by the Egyptians: let anyone who finds such things credible make use of them.”
Herodotus signs off his seventh book with: “That, at any rate, is the story of what happened.” Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t /what happened/, but that’s what I heard.

themorningnews.org/tob/nox-v-lord-of-misrule (opening round) judged by Andrew Womack, tmn founder: NOX is a beautiful look at a life and what comes before and after it, and an enrapturing read from beginning to end.


NEXT jms hynes

On a mission to interview for a new job (his life in Ann Arbor untenable for a number of reasons), Kevin arrives in Austin with many hours to spare. He tries to settle in at a coffee shop, but a fortuitous sighting of the woman he sat next to on the plane—Kelly—sends him stalking her around the city. “Joy Luck,” as he thinks of her, is his ghost of the past: Everything about her reminds him of past loves. The second visitation is from Claudia, who enters as Kelly disappears. Claudia grounds him in the present, briefly: They eat lunch and share secrets. The last is Melody, and I won’t explain how and where they meet because to do so would ruin one of the most shocking and terrific reading experiences you still have ahead of you if you haven’t read the book yet. But I think it fair to say that she serves as his guide to the future. The last chapter is full of terror and sadness ..
themorningnews.org/tob/next-v-so-much-for-that (opening round) judged by Jessica Francis Kane

themorningnews.org/tob/next-v-so-much-for-that-commentary KGuilfoile: It’s a difficult book to talk about without either mischaracterizing it or giving up too much, but the way that Hynes is able to marry the tight human observations that are the slow-burning fuel of the literary novel with the high stakes tension of a thriller is really a show that has to be seen. For me, the ending wasn’t really shocking—I was expecting it, frankly—but as I waited for it to happen I was turning the pages one after another thinking to myself, “Is he really going to do this? Does he really have the balls to do this?”


nxt round, qrtr finals http themorningnews.org/tob/nox-v-next judged by John Wllms: It’s hard to discuss Next in a meaningful way without giving away its ending. I won’t spoil it here, though it’s hardly a Crying Game-level shock when the novel pulls down its drawers. Having read some coy reviews at the time of Next’s publication, I had a pretty good idea of the surprise’s general nature.
The only thing that really bothered me was the way Hynes got me (and Kevin) to the very grand finale. Hynes keeps the reader clued in to certain unfolding events that are miraculously eluding Kevin. For a day-in-the-life book rooted very much in the real, this felt too conveniently manufactured.


semifinals: themorningnews.org/tob/next-v-the-particular-sadness-of-lemon-cake-commentary
-jamesharrigan: Roderick's impatience with Kevin seems to have prevented him from appreciating how the final section (the famous "last fifty pages") alters or at least deepens our understanding of what has come before. In short, Kevin is an unreliable narrator of his own awfulness: he is a better man than he thinks, and than we thought.
and...the final 50 pages are really something. I'll refrain from spoilers, but this is truly fine writing, that elevates a diverting satire to a higher level.
-neighbors73: Can we stop refraining from spoilers? The ending of that book is so strongly foreshadowed from the first page, I really don't know how anyone---except the main character Kevin, of course!---could have failed to see it coming.
I'M BREAKING THE SPOILER BAN...