National Book Award: Fiction (7)

The National Book Award nominees were announced today. I haven't even heard of any of the fiction books, shortlist or long. I am resisting the (strong) temptation to jump on the internet and order like crazy. I will, perhaps, act like an adult and check the library first? And so, it will help to have a list (the descriptions are excerpted from the publisher-provided blurbs). The selection committee comprised Ben Fountain, Brandon Hobson, Pam Houston, Dana Johnson, and Michelle Malonzo. I don't think anyone can complain about a lack of diversity in these choices. (11/17 The awards were announced yesterday, and the first entry here was the fiction winner. I must say, it looks intriguing.)

The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty. An online obituary writer. A young mother with a dark secret. A woman waging a solo campaign against rodents — neighbors, separated only by the thin walls of a low-cost housing complex in the once bustling industrial center of Vacca Vale, Indiana. . . . A bitingly funny snapshot of contemporary America, a gorgeous and provocative tale of loneliness and longing, entrapment and, ultimately, freedom.

The Birdcatcher, by Gayl Jones. Set primarily on the island of Ibiza, the story is narrated by the writer Amanda Wordlaw, whose closest friend, a gifted sculptor named Catherine Shuger, is repeatedly institutionalized for trying to kill a husband who never leaves her. The three form a quirky triangle on the white-washed island.
. . . A study in Black women's creative expression and the intensity of their relationships.

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, by Jamil Jan Kochai. Kochai ​breathes life into his contemporary Afghan characters, moving between modern-day Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora in America. In these stories verging on both comedy and tragedy, the bravado of the often young characters is matched by their tenderness.

All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews. Graduating into the long maw of an American recession, Sneha is one of the fortunate ones. She’s moved to Milwaukee for an entry-level corporate job that, grueling as it may be, is the key that unlocks every door: she can pick up the tab at dinner with her new friend Tig, get her college buddy Thom hired alongside her, and send money to her parents back in India. She begins dating women—soon developing a burning crush on Marina, a beguiling and beautiful dancer who always seems just out of reach.

The Town of Babylon, by Alejandro Varela. In this contemporary debut novel—an intimate portrait of queer, racial, and class identity—Andrés, a gay Latinx professor, returns to his suburban hometown in the wake of his husband’s infidelity. There he finds himself with no excuse not to attend his twenty-year high school reunion, and hesitantly begins to reconnect with people he used to call friends. . . . Captivating and poignant; a modern coming-of-age story about the essential nature of community, The Town of Babylon is a page-turning novel about young love and a close examination of our social systems and the toll they take when they fail us.

Longlist (here, for the most part, I am paraphrasing the publisher blurb)

When We Were Sisters, by Fatimah Asghar.  Three Muslim American sisters must raise one another when their parents die.

Shutter, by Ramona Emerson. A Navajo forensic photographer sees the ghosts of crime victims, who point her toward clues the police overlook.

If I Survive You, by Jonathan Escoffery. Linked stories about a Jamaican immigrant family, especially a younger son, searching for a foothold in Miami.

Nobody Gets Out Alive, by Leigh Newman. Stories set in Alaska about women "struggling to survive not just grizzly bears and charging moose, but the raw legacy of their marriages and families." 

Maria, Maria, and Other Stories, by Marytza K. Rubio. "Set against the tropics and megacities of the Americas, Maria, Maria takes inspiration from wild creatures, tarot, and the porous borders between life and death. Motivated by love and its inverse, grief, the characters who inhabit these stories negotiate boldly with nature to cast their desired ends."

Maybe tomorrow I'll present the nonfiction nominees. I have heard of a few of those. They all look interesting. (And I know, I know, all this information is on the NBA website. But will I remember to look there in a month's time? Plus, not every day here has to be about me, does it?)