Bethany's Pick: Final Round of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

It's the final round of the 2014 Dubuque Tournament of Books, and the judges are weighing in on the final match-up. Will it be And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell?

Judge: Bethany
Finding Pins and Needles

Excerpt from Bethany's review of And the Mountains Echoed on Goodreads.
I have to give Hosseini props for orchestrating an intricate book; the number of characters, over many generations made the story very complex and a mystery of sorts. I respect a story teller that can devise a novel of this depth. Here comes the BUT... but in my eyes his talent is a double edged sword, or at least this particular execution of it. Half the time I was playing a "Guess Who" game. Who is this character? How do they relate to the story? By keeping so many of the character's relationship to the story obscure for such a lengthy amount of time, I found myself asking, "Why do I care about you?". Once I'd get comfortable with Who/What/When/Where, never-mind Why, Hosseini would move on to a new character and/or a different decade with no direction. My least favorite part of reading, is having to establish those basics at the start of a book, I want to be comfortable so I can delve into the meat of the story. I want to be entertained by a story (so sue me), and I didn't like being yanked around, having to restart without a compass. Less work, more play please.

Most importantly, with such a complexly orchestrated story, I expected a strong culmination, a crescendo to sum up the story. I wanted an "Aha!" moment, to make all the confusion worth while... or at minimum, a twist. Sadly, all I gleaned was a meandering of details that slowly and loosely tied together the characters by the end.

Bethany's review of Eleanor & Park on Goodreads.

Raw.
This story is raw. I felt like I was catapulted back to my teen years and the author exposed every insecurity, every thought process and every tiny wonder that is discovering love.

I haven’t read any reviews on this book, but I can’t be the only one who picked up on the Romeo & Juliet foreshadowing. In the story, the characters making such a deal of the ridiculousness and artificialness of Romeo and Juliet's love affair. There was such a parallel, not the death, but the tragedy of it all. This story is REAL tragedy. Sadly this tragedy is far more common than anyone wants to believe and far more authentic than the two star crossed lovers.

Besides being honest, I thought it was funny. A quote that made me laugh out loud, "He put his pen in his pocket, then took her hand and held it to his chest for a minute. It was the nicest thing she could imagine. It made her want to have his babies and give him both her kidneys." Stinkin' adorable.

The dialogue was poignant and gritty, I feel privileged to be let in on this secret love affair of Eleanor and Park.

My vote is for Eleanor & Park. 

Charleen's Pick: Final Round of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

It's the final round of the 2014 Dubuque Tournament of Books, and the judges are weighing in on the final match-up. Will it be And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell?

Judge: Charleen
Cheap Thrills 

When I finished Eleanor & Park, I just sat there, wondering...

Did I read the same book everyone else did?

Am I broken?

In the interest of full disclosure, I don't typically read contemporary YA; it's just not my thing. But I did really enjoy both Attachments and Fangirl, so I was expecting Rainbow Rowell to pull me in and make me love her characters yet again. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Everyone else is saying how the book will make you think of your first love, and I guess it did that for me. I was a misfit. I know what it's like not to have friends. I know what it's like to suddenly have a boyfriend and wonder how it happened. I know what it's like to be so caught up in those new emotions. I remember all that. But the thing is, I felt like I was substituting my feelings and my memories of first love for theirs. I couldn't seem to care about Eleanor or Park, separately or together. I was moving through their story, but I couldn't get caught up in it.

I should have been a lot more invested in this book. It was so much closer to my own experience, and yet it didn't make me feel the way And the Mountains Echoed did. Hosseini's novel, as complex and challenging as it was, grabbed hold of me and didn't let go. And as much as I hate to say it, Eleanor & Park just fell flat for me.

My vote for the final round is for And the Mountains Echoed.

Sue's Pick: Final Round of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

It's the final round of the 2014 Dubuque Tournament of Books, and the judges are weighing in on the final match-up. Will it be And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell?

Judge: Sue
Clarke University

Boy, I wrestled with my decision all weekend.  I liked both books for different reasons.  Eleanor & Park was not a struggle to read at all and I could identify with it.  It was well written and interesting.  And the Mountains Echoed was a good read but at times a struggle to follow all the different story lines.  But, it was also a captivating story.  I had never read either authors before so I cannot compare either book with previous works.

That said, I am picking And the Mountains Echoed not because it was easy to read or follow but because I was able to experience a very different world through this book.  I felt like I was “there” with them at times.  I did have trouble figuring out how all the characters were connected which would be the main issue I had with this book.

At the heart of this book is a story about loss, tragedy, healing, and reconciliation.  And, how good intentions sometimes have catastrophic results.  Afghanistan is a sad place and stories like this where someone is so desperate for money he would sell a child, is not uncommon.  I am sure other children sold suffered far worse fates.  The desperation of the story is what touched me about this book and why I chose this one as the winner.

Bob's Pick: Final Round of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

It's the final round of the 2014 Dubuque Tournament of Books, and the judges are weighing in on the final match-up. Will it be And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell?

(Warning: Bob's review includes spoilers for And the Mountains Echoed)

Judge: Bob
Dubuque 365 Ink

My dear departed Irish Mother used to say that if I didn’t have anything nice to say then I should just shut the hell up. So, I won’t say too much about And the Mountains Echoed. The book was very well written but what he was trying to do with the structure was  very badly executed. Except for the first 50 pages or so, I was confused by all the characters. It’s a much different book than his first two. I have said this before in reviews I’ve done for 365inc; I DON’T LIKE SUICIDES AS A PLOT DEVICE. It’s pretty much a deal breaker for me. It tells me that the author can’t figure his way out of a corner he wrote himself into so let’s just kill her off. Nope. I’m not buying it.

And the Mountains Echoed had some stiff competition in Eleanor & Park so I have no sorrow in contributing “ATME” to the circular file.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, on the other hand, is a terrific book. I surprised myself by liking it as much as I did considering it’s an YA book and I don’t read too many of them. It’s the love story between two high school teenagers, both misfits and subject to abuse and bullying both at home and at school. 

Some of the reviews mention that it will make you think of the first time you fell in love. It did that for me but my situation turned out a lot different than the one in the book. My girl was very pretty and she turned out to be a viper, more commonly referred to by me as the Ice Witch From Hell. Well, it rhymes with “witch.” I got over it.

I had almost nothing in common with these two kids when I was in High School beyond the almost universal feeling of alienation felt by most kids their age. Catcher In The Rye was more like my story except I never knew anyone who killed themselves and I was never in a mental institution. But all that angst, you bet. I like very much how Eleanor and Park handled all the razzing at school, especially one incident that will make itself plainly evident when it occurs.

The story had to be constructed the way that it was to elicit the proper emotional response from an adolescent reader.  I generally don’t need to be beaten over the head with plot motivation. However, this was written, as I understand it, for the Young Adult reader who might need to have the obvious pointed out here and there. James Joyce and Thomas Pynchon don’t work their magic on most 16 year old high school students. Some yes, most no. For what it is, it’s almost perfect. Well written, three dimensional characters that I was rooting for all the way through the book, and the plot, such as it was, was real not contrived. I loved it.

I thought Eleanor & Park was a wonderful book consequently my vote goes to Eleanor & Park.