Kirkus Prize

[Sam]

James picks up its first win

[Sam]

I'm not overwhelmed by the mix of books featuring familiar names and books getting big commercial pushes. Here is the 2025 fiction finalists.



The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny Kiran Desai

The Wilderness Angela Flournoy

Isola Allegra Goodman

A Guardian and a Thief Megha Majumdar

The Slip Lucas Schaefer

Flesh David Szalay


https://lithub.com/here-are-the-final...

[Rachel]

Hmm, this doesn't excite me much.

[Sam]

Winners Announced:

Fiction:The Slip by Lucas Schaefer

Nonfiction: King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution—A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-an...

I have not decided whether I wish to read these and any personal views from other members would be welcome. Part of the reason is my lack of time. I have committed to other books on both lists and making room for one of these lessens the chance of finding time for a book I want to read.
But a far uglier reason is my own bias that fears these books were selected based on promotional reasons over actual merit. My problem with Slip is the lack of word of mouth popularity among fellow readers I respect. Is the novel that good or is it being chosen because it fits the box of an often rewarded category? Do I want to take a risk on a novel with so few recommendations?

The second book is from a renowned author but the subject of the fall of the Shah of Iran written from an American point of view seems a bit delicate and despite my wanting to read the book, I balk at the possibility of the author's perception of the events becoming the focus of the book and worry about his objectivity. Finally, I fear there may be a linking of perception of the historical events to present day that slants opinion to reinforce a bias that might otherwise be inaccurate.

I dislike these distrustful feelings about books in myself, but find them hard to avoid, so actual member comments on either of these is welcome.

[Rose]

I will confess that I lost interest based on the blurb - "the transformative power of boxing" didn't entice me much.

[Nadine in California]

Rose wrote: "I will confess that I lost interest based on the blurb - "the transformative power of boxing" didn't entice me much."

I started The Slip on audio, and although it was fine, I could see that it was a long, meandering kind of story, like The Nix, and I wasn't in the mood for that, at least on audio, and DNF'ed very early. At least early on, it wasn't about ambitious young fighters, but more about old shlubby guys who hang out in the boxing gym. The book does have a rueful humor to it, and I'm assuming the disappearance of the boy will take center stage over boxing. So not exactly a ringing endorsement, but a guarded recommendation that it could be okay.