Tournament

Did I just find my new favorite author? Too early to know since I’ve only read one novel and one third of his civil war trilogy, but I love the way Foote tells a story. His knowledge of the south, southern thought and ways is amazing and his ability to communicate it in his special way makes reading......more

In his preface to the 1987 reprint of "Tournament," author Shelby Foote describes it as a "young man's novel," and a foreword by Louis D. Rubin Jr. notes the influences of Marcel Proust and William Faulkner on Foote, a Mississippi novelist like the great one. Rubin says "Tournament" owes more to Pro......more

Tournament is Shelby Foote's first novel. In the preface he explains that his publisher put him off, but he ultimately rewrote much of the book and pushed ahead with its release. It is a tale of a Mississippi planter during the period of the Civil War to the early twentieth century. Foote explains t......more

I really had difficulty deciding how to evaluate this book. It didn't have that much of a point to it, much less a plot. I was tempted several times to quit before I finished. But, ultimately I stayed with it and am glad I did. I finally decided not to evaluate it as a traditional novel, but rather......more