2024 Tournament of Books: Monstrilio vs The Librarianist/The Bee Sting

In this last round of quarterfinals, I was only half-wrong in predicting the match-up, but half-wrong still is enough to generate

An alternate universe

In my alternate universe, the match-up would be between Monstrilio and The Bee Sting. Both look at complicated family dynamics with plenty of dysfunction to go around, and while I admired the magical realism of Monstrilio, I think the real realism of The Bee Sting made for a more compelling read so it would have been my choice to advance, but meanwhile in 

This universe

The match-up is between Monstrilio and The Librarianist. Here, while I admired The Librarianist, I felt that Monstrilio was the more satisfying book. Meanwhile there’s

My judgment on the judgment

Which is complicated because the original judge, Caitlin Forst, picked a book to advance, but wasn’t able to write up her judgment. In its place was a selection of commentary from the readers of the books (this is apparently the third time this happened). Because of the disconnect between the choice and the commentary, it’s hard to say where Forst went wrong in picking The Libraianist to advance, but there it is.

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