The 2015 Tournament of Books: Week Three Wrap-Up

The 2015 Tournament of Books: Week Three Wrap-Up

The tournament action so far.

Another week is in the books for the 2015 Tournament of Books. Download your updated brackets here to see what’s left to go in this year’s tourney.


Week three opened with Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State going up against Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and advancing another round. Jessica Lamb-Shapiro said she felt both books were worthy, “but An Untamed State stuck with me.” (I have no knowledge about what’s happening behind the ToB scenes, but An Untamed State is obviously going to win, right? Anyway. Sorry.)

“I wasn’t mad at the style of Redeployment,” wrote Victor Vasquez about Tuesday’s competition, “but also wasn’t really feeling it as a book. And Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay is basically a flawless piece of literature and the clear winner.” That settles that!

Aaaaand we’re in the semifinals! Laura Cogan kicked them off Wednesday by picking Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings over Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests—something that was surprisingly popular with the commenters. Cogan wrote, “Though I appreciate the skill of Waters, I am haunted by the work of James.”

An Untamed State continues its impression of an unstoppable force, as it beat out Elena Ferrante’s Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. J. Courtney Sullivan wrote that she found Those Who Leave to be at a disadvantage because she hadn’t read the first two books in Ferrante’s series. You could also just say it’s Those Who Leave’s fault for being a quadquel.

Friday kicked off our Zombie Round, with Toast co-editor Nicole Cliffe resuscitating Station Eleven over A Brief History of Seven Killings, writing, “Why is [A Brief History] not better than Station Eleven? It was 36 percent too complicated. There were 16 too many people. It was 48 percent too confusing. Station Eleven pleased me 100 percent.”