ToF 2025 - Round 2!

[EmilyP]

Kicking off Round 2, we have Kyle's decision for Poor Deer vs. The Safekeep:

"I appreciate a book that knows what it’s doing.

Presented with both of these slim volumes, I had two truly well-written books that had serious issues they were trying to talk about. However, it seemed to me that only one of them actually had that goal in mind.

The Safekeep is a book about a house - the title gives this away, though the story itself takes some time to get to it. A family home in the Netherlands, inhabited by Isabel, our protagonist, takes center stage. Isabel thinks of it as hers, though her brother has the legal claim to it. However, as the first chapter of the book suggests, she’s hardly the first person to live here - and perhaps her family’s claim to it is shakier than she suggests. This interesting interrogation of ownership in post-WWII Europe could have been stronger, perhaps, if this idea hadn’t been subsumed in sapphic longing. See, Isabel is forced to play host to her brother’s girlfriend Eva, and it isn’t long before their mutual dislike transforms into lust. Now, I’m not so much a romance reader--not denigrating it, just not really my bag--but a lot of the focus of the book is on hot-and-heavy scenes, and it isn’t until the last third of the book that the real plot is revealed. I definitely liked that third of the book, but its impact was lessened by the sweatiness of the preceding 80 pages.

Poor Deer, on the other hand, is a book about trauma. It is legitimately hard to read at times; as a parent, I was glad that I read this once my kids were past the stage where this could happen. Margaret, our protagonist, does her best to gloss over the day when she was 4 years old and her best friend died--she remembers it differently, tries to paint over it with shiny but false memories, but a manifestation of her guilt (a ungulate-headed apparition called Poor Deer) won’t let her forget or forgive herself for the fact that she was responsible for her friend’s death. Now a teen, Margaret is adrift, staying at a hotel with a relative stranger and her daughter, and Poor Deer is urging her to suffer for her sins, even if that ends up hurting her new friends.

My vote here goes to Poor Deer."

[Alison]

I didn't like The Safekeep, although I know many people here found it deeply moving. I did adore Poor Deer, so I would have agreed with your decision regardless of your reasoning, but even if I'd disagreed with your choice, I wouldn't be able to argue with your reasoning.

[Chrissy]

Sorry I’ve been asleep at the switch this week, work has been nonstop!

[Lauren]

No worries, Chrissy!

I definitely agree with this judgment. Thanks Kyle, and go Poor Deer!

[Kyle]

Yeah, I have not been entirely silent about how The Safekeep didn't work for me. There were fine moments, it was fairly well-written, but just didn't gel. That being said, I fully understand how people who didn't like my favorite, "I Cheerfully Refuse", were feeling when that one was dominating the summer tournament.

[Bryn]

I’m not sure which way I would have gone in this match. I really liked reading the sex parts of The Safekeep. Both books look at trauma of different kinds and both do it really well.

[Care]

Alison wrote: " I would have agreed with your decision regardless of your reasoning, but even if I'd disagreed with your choice, I wouldn't be able to argue with your reasoning.."

I really admire how you phrase this and I totally agree.

[Care]

EmilyP wrote: "lessened by the sweatiness..."

I admit I laughed at this wording! yeah, I did feel that that The Safekeep had distinct sections and I wasn't prepared well for the very interesting final third after all that sweat.

[Chrissy]

Our second matchup is between Two-Step Devil and I Make Envy on Your Disco, judged by DJones.

"Two-Step Devil kept me engaged and wondering what comes next, even if it did go off the rails a little and lacked foundation for the devil stuff. But it held my interest. I Make Envy bored me to death with it's navel-gazing narrative. By the end, I could not have cared less about the narrator."

Decision goes to Two-Step Devil!

[Chrissy]

This match-up was the hardest one for me, because I really loved both books!

But lucky for me, and evidently for many others, I can now announce that our zombies are I Make Envy on Your Disco and I Cheerfully Refuse!

The zombies will be paired up with our remaining contenders, Poor Deer and Two-Step Devil, next week.

[D Jones]

Kindly allow me to issue an apology for the brevity of my judgment. It's been a long, difficult summer and I read the books early on. By the time I got to seriously focus on my written judgment, I couldn't recall many details and didn't have time to re-read, so I boiled it all down to the heart of the matter. I know a lot of you really liked Envy so I am sorry if I was too hard on it but it was my experience.

[Care]

D Jones wrote: "Kindly allow me to issue an apology for the brevity of my judgment. It's been a long, difficult summer and I read the books early on. By the time I got to seriously focus on my written judgment, I ..."

No worries. Valid judgement in my opinion. Happy ToF!