Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 2018

reasonable

it's probably not even that bad, I just got a bad taste from skimming her previous book and she absolutely seems to totemise the solipsistic, diaristic, What We Are All Doing Now strain in contempo lit. perhaps this is unfair

Normal People is fantastic but I went with Milkman.

I didn't like Normal People - or I didn't like the characters, who needed a good shake. It's a toss-up between Circe and Milkman for me; Kudos also good but not the best of her trilogy, All Among the Barley and Theory of Bastards worthy entries, The Silence Of The Girls was disappointing.

have read the two greek retellings

Circe by Madeline Miller
The Silence Of The Girls by Pat Barker

and many more of their ilk recently (penelopiad, 1000 ships, song of achilles...) and i can't remember which of the iliad adjacent ones i prefer, but Circe (which is more odyssey-adjacent) is probably better than all of them

A Theory of Bastards is amazing and I have ILB to thank for putting me on to it

I've not read Severance, my mom liked it and lent me her copy, I can see it now at the bottom of a pile on my end table

I enjoyed Severance and thought it a great first novel but Theory of Bastards is getting my vote.

Severance is great

Milkman is not for everyone (some people seem really put off by the character names) but I really liked it.

I thought Who Killed My Father was devastating but I haven’t read anything else on the list. I liked Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss a lot.

Oh, definitely voting Milkman. Really evocative of a time period and I identified a lot with the flat affect. With regard to Chris L's comment, I actually found the descriptive names to be much easier to follow than giving people normal names - you know exactly who's being talked about at any given time with "maybe-boyfriend" and "actual milkman", rather than having to remember who Mark or James or whoever was.

Uncharacteristically, I've actually read some of these. To wit: "Normal People", "My Year of Rest and Relaxation", and "Middle England". I also recently finished Sigrid Nunez's "The Friend", which is from this year but not listed. I enjoyed them all to varying degrees. Hard to pick one. Probably between "My Year of Rest and Relaxation" and "Normal People".

I enjoyed Normal People right enough but I think I'll chuck a vote to Melissa Harrison because she has a great book in her and it's not like Sally Rooney needs a boost.

Which is to say, All Among the Barley is great but feels like it has been argued out of the ragged folk horror it could have been.

It sort of passes over from that into psych horror, the epilogue puts it into poignant context. Ofc it is also a Brexit Novel in its own way, but without being remotely obnoxious about it

Moshfegh for me.

i recall liking french exit, the movie vers less so

Xp From what I've read the prologue/epilogue were suggestions that involved a complete rewrite? I could be misremembering.

Of the four I’ve read, easily milkman

I wouldn’t have voted for it but I think daisy johnson’s everything under prob deserves to be here

I agree with every good and every bad thing said about Rooney above, and an artist should have a range, right? Incl. of quality, in some cases---that's what keeps people coming back to Nico, Dylan, Young. Normal People certainly has that, and I enjoyed it more than not, so voted for it (also yet another list where I've only read the one).

Would liked to have known more about and from POV of some other characters, especially the leading guy's mother. Still other characters, mostly some of their friends and associates from Trinity on, were p. 1-D, like the bad boyfriend and the ho friend.

Read quite a few of these and like them all. Circe is perhaps more easily read than some others, but also the one that's stuck with me the most, the world is so delicately and longingly described I want to dive into it forever.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Another three-way! Kind of/and yet not embarrassed to have voted Rooney (that's Rooney for you), but glad to have read y'all's takes on Milkman's affectless clarity and Circe's delicacy x longing, will read them too!

imago's post made Rooney winning a foregone conclusion imo

Not an outright win; I'll be merciful

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 2019