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Round 4: Homegoing v. There There judged by Maggie

For me, transparency is one of the core values of the ToB, and I want to be true to that ideal. Therefore, I begin with some background on how I set up the brackets, and how came to be judging this particular match.

How I made the brackets: I seeded the 16 books that made the tournament into groups of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th seeds based on how many votes they got in the poll. Then I used a random number generator (random.org) to assign the pairings taking that seeding into account. Each branch of the bracket contains a 1st vs 4th match and a 2nd vs 3rd match, but the actual pairings are random.

How I assigned the judges: Judging for each round ran over about a month, starting back in the spring. In a pre-tournament survey, I asked all the potential judges when they were available to do a judging assignment. Thankfully, I was able to give everyone their first or second choice. Within each round, I again used random.org to assign a judge to each match. I made one trade from the initial random assignment for a judge who had admitted that they couldn’t give a fair reading to a particular book, but that switch was also driven by the random number generator. Each round has judges that were assigned based on availability, but beyond that, the assignments were random.

Except…my own assignment. I cherry picked. I was to be a first-round judge, and in the first round there was one match for which I hadn’t read either book. I gave it to myself and randomly assigned the rest. I want to reiterate that the matchups were created randomly. It was pure chance that there was such a pairing, but because it existed, I couldn’t resist claiming it. Forgive me commentariat, for I have sinned.

How exactly had I avoided reading these two books for so long? I can’t completely explain it. There There was a major player in 2019, and the only book that kept me from completist status that year. I started it during the tournament, but I got distracted and fizzled out, putting it down less than 20 pages in. Homegoing was a finalist in 2017, but I was an intern that year and only a casual observer of the tournament in the face of 80-hour workweeks. Still, I already owned both books, in hardcover, in large part because of the role that they’d played in tournaments past. A lot of hype surrounded each. Homegoing was perhaps a bit of a favorite (I adored Transcendent Kingdom last year) but I went in with a pretty open mind, very excited about the assignment I’d given myself.

I read Homegoing first. I found each individual section of Homegoing beautiful and riveting. Not once did I put the book down mid-chapter, even for a bathroom break. But between the sections, I found myself adrift. I lost the flow of the overall narrative and had to refer back to previous chapters to keep track of the relationships across generations. I’m usually good at keeping track of characters, but about halfway through Homegoing, I knew I needed help. I stopped to draw myself a little chart, and thereafter I paused after each section to add to it. In the end, with the help of my notes, the arc was clear and impressive. I felt awed by the variety and emotional impact that Gyasi managed to cram into a what is only a medium-length book, but I missed the joy of a continuously immersive reading experience. My last note for Homegoing reads, “impressive, but beatable.�

I give myself a couple days of short story palate cleansers before I picked up There There. Orange starts with a few pages of truly stunning non-narrative writing, then launches into what is ultimately a small-world story with a very very large and intricately interconnected cast. Diagrams were again required, but I found the making of them not overly burdensome or intrusive, and I was able to stay in the story throughout. Orange’s writing is a true achievement. The language is lovely, the sentences immaculate. Yet despite the fine writing and feeling like I was keeping track of the thrust of the story better than I did with Homegoing, I also found myself less invested in the outcome. From the first pages, it is obvious that There There is going to be a tragedy. Cognitively I was dreading the inevitable, but emotionally I didn’t feel that dread.

Overall, I was impressed by both books. As a pair of debut novels these two give us much cause for optimism about the future of American fiction. But both also suffered a little from that classic first-novel flaw: over-ambition. The polyphonic structures of these novels gave their authors ample opportunity for some stunning feats of wordsmithing, but both books strained under the weight of so many characters and subplots.

It was close. Ultimately, despite being at times more disjointed, Homegoing was the book that packed a more powerful emotional punch. There There just didn’t sufficiently embody it’s myriad narrators. On a sentence-by-sentence level, There There may be the more accomplished work, but I am a reader who demands an emotional wallop from the whole, no matter how lovely the parts. With my attention and affection stretched just a little too thin, There There left me feeling not-quite-enough attached to any of the characters to be invested in their fate. I wasn’t all that moved by what should have been a devastating ending.

I can’t wait to see what Tommy Orange does next, but it won’t be winning this match.

I’m advancing Homegoing.

Thanks Maggie! How fun to realize you were coming to these somewhat 'fresh!' I had forgotten that these were debuts (though I think TOB loves a buzzy debut for their shortlists!) and I agree with the resultant first-novel flaws. I would have chosen the same despite being so impressed with There, There. The non-fiction portions hit the hardest (and have stuck with me the longest) while the fictional characters were beautifully drawn but not coherent enough across the story for me. If I had to compare it to something in a similar time/cast model (also a debut!) that was successful, I would look at Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist which follows a range of very different characters during a single day of the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999. Somehow the throughline pulled it together with aplomb.

I'm glad to know I'm not alone in making character diagrams. I have a little notebook for that exact purpose.

Maggie wrote: ". . . I begin with some background on how I set up the brackets, and how came to be judging this particular match. ... I can’t wait to see what Tommy Orange does next, but it won’t be winning this match."
Thank you, Maggie, for all the time you gave up for so many months to make this ToF happen for all of us here. I personally do not believe you committed any transgression in claiming this match-up for yourself, but consider yourself absolved either way!

I would vote exactly as you have. I was considering this round yesterday, wondering how it would turn out, and thinking about the generational native American story told by Orange and the generational black American story told by Gyasi. Both books broadened my awareness of cultures not my own, and like you I want to read more from both authors. I just felt that Homegoing, for me, gave me more.

I have attempted a couple of times to read Homegoing and just can't get into it. There There is one of my favorite books of all time. Your decision should inspire me to finally get Homegoing read.

Thank you for your judgment and all of your hard work organizing this.

Maggie, on a side note, when the ToF is concluded, would you share with all of us the original vote counts at least for the 16 that ended up in the tournament (and for the book stats throughout the process, if you're willing and have it to hand)? I can't speak for everyone, but I am geeky about loving book stats.

Oh yes! I am also a book stats nerd and there will be a process and stats post at the end. Feel free to let me know if you have specific questions that you want me to answer!

Great judgment Maggie! Agree with every bit of it. I didn't want to re-read Homegoing because of how my re-read of GWO went. I don't want to retroactively like a book I've loved a little less. Your character maps digression gave me a small business idea--character maps. Print-on-demand character maps for readers. Maybe a downloadable PDF. Maybe a physical document with scratch off sections for times when characters are born or revealed later in the novel.

I’ve only used other people’s character maps/notes for the truly epic reads like The Wheel of Time. But that’s certainly in part because that’s the only worlds for which they are available. You might find yourself a market, especially in the fantasy world or interconnected single author universes (e.g., Stephen King, David Mitchell).

Bob wrote: "... a small business idea--character maps. Print-on-demand character maps for readers. ..."
Bob, you are always coming up with these great book-adjacent ideas! The novel Crossings, by Alex Landragin, is one that comes to mind where I know many GR folks tried to create one for themselves.

Maggie, thanks so much for writing all you did. Your decision making and your reading responses were so much fun to read. There There was a hard one for me because the first section was so powerful and direct that the later sections felt less so to me simply because they are written in the voice of complicated and contradictory people.

Maggie, thank you. For your work to put this together (fascinating look at the process and, like Phyllis, I can't wait to see the nerdy stats) and for this judgement which I very much enjoyed. I agree with it, too. Homegoing transported me; There,There not quite as much.

I liked "Homegoing", and was astounded by "There, There", so I would have called it the other way. I only read "Homegoing" recently, and I already have difficulty remembering much about it, except that I found the story engaging, if depressing, and that I liked it MUCH better than her second novel, the name of which I can no longer remember.

I did not re-read "There, There" and yet there are so many scenes that have never left my memory. It's on my All-Time Favorites list, and I am so excited to see what this author gives us next.

Bob wrote: "Maybe a physical document with scratch off sections for times when characters are born or revealed later in the novel..."

I'd totally buy scratch-off character maps! What fun!

Maggie, thank you so much for all your hard work (and your transparency, although I agree you've done nothing to apologize for, at all!) This is so fun to watch, exactly the distraction I need this year, and I'm sad I was so swamped with life this spring/summer that I couldn't participate.

(If the stats are easy to find, do you think you might be able to list the top 3 books or so that just missed being chosen? I remember you saying some were close!!)

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who didn't love There, There. I was so disappointed reading it, because I was sure it would be right up my alley, but I think all the hype just made it impossible for any book to live up to. I didn't think the writing was anything special, there was so much anger, and not much humor to lighten it. A very male book. The characters were well drawn, but there were just too many, and I didn't find myself caring about any of them.

Forgive the stereotypes, but if There, There was masculine, Homegoing definitely felt like it was written by a woman, so poetic, so beautifully crafted and with so much heart. Some of these stories were so powerful I still think about them. Good writing and heart are the two elements a novel needs to work for me.

I did wish she'd spent more time with some of the characters, maybe included fewer, that was probably my only issue, it felt more like short stories than a novel. I came at this also with such high expectations that I'd love it (which I have to stop doing!) and I ended up, I guess, liking it quite a bit. Gyasi has to be one of the most talented authors living today.

Thank you again, Maggie, for your well-reasoned judgment, and for all the work you've done to make our fall a little brighter!

Maggie, I too want to thank you for putting TOF together. This is so much fun reading everyone’s judgements and thinking about these books again. I wish I had time to reread all of them. I read both Homegoing and There There when they were released and I know I didn’t find either of them thrilling reads but I might get more out of a second read, especially of There There. Homegoing was a type of book I almost never like. It was a saga with no real plot. I remember writing in my review that it was more a history of slavery than anything. There’s nothing really wrong with that. It’s just not what I look for in my reading life.

Risa wrote: "I liked "Homegoing", and was astounded by "There, There", so I would have called it the other way. I only read "Homegoing" recently, and I already have difficulty remembering much about it, except ..."

Risa - I've heard from Tommy Orange himself during a Zoom that it will be a sequel to 'There There'!

Thanks Maggie for all your work and explaining the process - I was wondering that today! And I also think you made a great decision to judge two books you haven't read yet! I would have chose the same way - both of these books are admirable, but I still stand what I originally thought on 'There There' -- it seemed like it had been rushed to publishing... I was noticing flaws, but maybe that's me. 'Homegoing' is a gem. I agree - those polyphonic books are risky for first novels but both of these books have HEART.

C wrote: "Risa wrote: "I liked "Homegoing", and was astounded by "There, There", so I would have called it the other way. I only read "Homegoing" recently, and I already have difficulty remembering much abou..."

Ooo - that's great news about the sequel! When did you get to meet Tommy? I'm super excited to be in his writing workshop next week, even though I'm crushed it was moved from a nice place in Tomales Bay to zoom because of the pandemic. :sob: I listened to There There the year it came out and enjoyed it, but couldn't keep track of the characters. I re-read it in print a few months ago for one of my work book clubs and LOVED it. I frequently flipped back to that character list at the beginning to keep the characters straight and it helped. I'm eager to learn from him and am thrilled to hear there will be more to that story.

I also listened to Homegoing the year it came out. I remember being quite moved by it, and gave it five stars. I don't remember any details now though. I intended to re-read these favorites before the tournament started, but unless a book happened to line up with my various book club commitments (like There There did), I can't fit in too many more print reads each month since those are slower than my audiobook completion pace.

Another thank you to Maggie for organizing, and for this judgment. While I'm a huge fan of There There, I'm happy to see Homegoing move forward.

C wrote: "Risa wrote: "I liked "Homegoing", and was astounded by "There, There", so I would have called it the other way. I only read "Homegoing" recently, and I already have difficulty remembering much abou..."

SO excited for the There, There sequel. Thank you for being the bearer of those great tidings.

I enjoyed There, There very much. Unfortunately have not read Homegoing yet, but I need to add it to my list since it won. And I'm happy to hear there will be a sequel to There, There. Nice informative judgement on these two. Thank you!