Relish VS And the Mountains Echoed: Dubuque Tournament of Books, round 2

This week we'll be posting the judges' decisions for the second round of the 2nd Annual Dubuque Tournament of Books. To see an overview of the judges and contestants, check out this blog post. To see why Fran selected Relish by Lucy Knisley in the first round, click here. To see why Marie selected And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini in the first round, click here.

Judges: Fran and Marie
River Lights Bookstore
Relish was a quick read and we both enjoyed its humor and colorful cartoon-like illustrations. It was engaging but, of course, lacking in depth because it dealt with a very young person’s look back at her childhood experiences. We chose And the Mountains Echoed as our winner. The author’s strong storytelling style, the complex structure of the story, and the heartrending choices that the characters must make held our interest. This novel makes you think about family relationships and how they play into decision making. And the Mountains Echoed can’t really be described as an enjoyable novel, but it is certainly thought-provoking.