The Rachel Incident (by Caroline O'Donoghue)

When the Tournament of Books longlist comes out, I used to try and guess which books would definitely make the shortlist and read those first, but it's a bit of an exercise in futility. Now I go through and see which books I'm most interested in, grab them from the library, and hope reading them will get me a start on the shortlist when it comes out in a couple of weeks.

This gets me winners like The Rachel Incident, which I otherwise wouldn't have read and deeply enjoyed.  It's like a distilled down version of Sally Rooney, in the sense that it's by an Irish writer and about complex interpersonal relationship - and distilled in that it gets to the point quicker and is a punchier read. It also has as interesting conceit, in that the narrator is writing about it in hindsight and offering commentary on her own choices as a twentysomething.

A great way to kick off the 2024 Tournament of Books! The only other book I've read that made the longlist is Big Swiss, and I'll add the tag to that one. Excited to dive into more.