National Book Award 2018 : Fiction Long List Reviewed

Hello Everyone
I have officially read all of the books on the 2018 Long List for the National Book Award Long List 2018! Today I review them all, and then pick my own short list! What made the cut? What did you like?
Lets talk!!
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Books Discussed
1. Florida by Lauren Groff
2. The Boatbuilder by Daniel Gumbiner
3. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
4. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
5. There There by Tommy Orange
6. A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley
7. Gun Love by Jennifer Clement
8. Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson
9. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
10. Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires
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[EricKarlAnderson]

How wonderful to get an overview of this list from you. Thank you! I NEED to get to The Great Believers. And I hope to get to Nafissa Thompson-Spires's stories as well.

[josmith]

How fabulous to have a review of the list by someone who has read them all. You did such an amazing job succinctly reviewing these books Russell, none of which I've read, most of which I'd like to- Heads of the Colored People in particular. Funnily enough I was just looking at which events I'm going to go to at the Portland Book fest and they have one which is An Evening with the National Book Awards and Jamel Brinkley, Lauren Geoff, Daniel Gumbiner and Tommy Orange will all be attending! I'm there!

[andrenuno]

Hi, there. great reviews, great work, great videos. Congrats.

[OlyBliss]

Wow I can’t believe you’ve read all these already well done. It was great to get an overview of them all the great believers sounds the most interesting to me it’s arty, queer, 80s based, Cults -sold

[LauraR]

I also have a hard time getting into short stories for the reason you mentioned, but I'll definitely check out Heads of the Colored People. Great video!

[curioushmm]

that was fun...and i just checked the short list and you named three out of five...and i'm taking your recommendation and putting "the heads of the colored people" on my tbr especially since you were grateful you'd read it.

[renepierre]

I just got The Great Believers in the mail and I am so excited about picking it up! You've made me very excited to start The Friend as well, if it would hurry up and be released here that would be great!

[wtheckJackie]

Currently reading An American Marriage! In complete agreement with you that it’s timely and Celestial and Roy are very real characters. Still need to work through the rest of the list, but this video is so helpful as a guide as to which books to prioritize! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Love your videos so much. :D

[robertelder]

I picked up from the library: Where the Dead Sit Talking, Heads Of The Colored People, There There, The Doll Funeral. Currently reading The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest and The Astonishing Color Of After by Emily X.R. Pan.

[JayneCatherineOnBooks]

Very interesting reviews :-) Catherine

[rainerfussganger]

Very impressive! Are you just reading in your spare time or is reading and writing your job? I have read Jennifer Clement's Gun Love and agree with you that the first halv is far more impressive than the 2nd half. Currently I am dealing with Tommy Orange's "There There". that starts very promising.

[neilhutchinson]

Good review Russell.As you know I read them all but not one stood out as exceptional for me.Many of them were good but not great.I also tended to favour the short story collections particularly Brinkley's I thought, but really there wasn't much between them.

Regarding the novels, 'There There' had too many characters and the ending was lame and predictable but certainly Orange has potential to grow further.Makkai's book was a slog for me.I would have ditched Fiona's narratives completely, there was too much yo-yo-ing of time too.Gumbiner's had promise but was rather lightweight.I enjoyed Hobson's book but again the ending was weak

All the books had good aspects but were also flawed either in character or plot.

I don't think you are too far off the mark with your shortlist prediction.

[Georgesmomsu]

Still haven’t finished The Friend. Taking more time with it - The Great Believers is high on my tbr ... too many books ... not enough time 😕