National Book Award Nominees in Fiction Lack Humor

Posted on November 12, 2004

In a new article in the New York Times, Caryn James grumps about the uninspiring National Book Award nominees in the fiction category. As an example of the inanity of some of the finalists, she presents an entire chapter excerpt from Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's Madeleine Is Sleeping: "Madeleine stirs in her sleep." Ok, that is a really short chapter. Ms. James complains that none of the books are funny, they're all too short and none of the (all female) authors are famous. The finalists are: Florida (Triquarterly) by Christine Schutt, Madeleine Is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (Harcourt), The News From Paraguay (HarperCollins) by Lily Tuck, Our Kind by Kate Walbert (Scribner) and Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber (W.W. Norton).