Eric J. Matluck

"You can't win unless you're judged." Mary Sorabi is a young woman who is half-Indian and half-Chinese. She is a classical pianist who loves to play music from the 20th century, even though most people hate it. When she wins a prestigious competition, her life changes dramatically. Suddenly, everyone is judging her, and she feels like she can't do anything right. She begins to question her identity and her place in the world. The Judges is a haunting and surreal story about prejudice, being different, and pleasing others versus pleasing yourself. The novel follows Mary as she struggles to cope with the pressures of fame and the expectations of others. She encounters a narrator who knows her but never reveals who he or she is, a man who may be a newspaper reporter and conducts a strangely twisted interview with her, and, of course, the inscrutable and disturbing judges themselves. The novel explores the themes of identity, prejudice, and the pressure to conform. It is a powerful and thought-provoking story.