I’m looking for a book with a female protagonist who has quiet, mysterious, loner and melancholic vibes. My favourite book is After Dark by Haruki Murakami, so something similar would be nice. Characters that came up to my mind as examples are Mari Asai or Naoko/Midori from Murakami books, Marianne from Normal People, Camilla Macaulay from The Secret History, Miwako Sumida from The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida, and Chen Nian from The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful (Better days movie).
THANK YOU EVERYONE!! There are so many amazing suggestions, I will check them out.
by lilyiris8
25 Comments
*Slewfoot* by Brom?
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Where the Crawdads Sing
Transcendant Kingdom
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab
Smilla’s Sense of Snow
Snare by Lilja Sigurđardóttir
Circe by Madeline Miller
The City of the Dead by Sara Gran
Sun Storm by Åsa Larsson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Damage by Josephine Hart
Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. Fits exactly what you described 🫶.
Property Of by Alice Hoffman.
Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys. You won’t find another more quiet, loner, and melancholic than that.
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
State of Grace by Joy Williams
Outline by Rachel Cusk
The Door by Magda Szabo
God my brain read that as something like “booked with a female proctologist who has quiet, mysterious, loner and melancholic vibes” lol! Like why are you telling us the vibes of your proctologist
I am constantly suggesting “in the house in the dark of the woods” by Laird Hunt, but I feel like you’ll enjoy the vibes
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams
Jane Eyre
The Bell Jar
She’s Come Undone
The convenience store woman by Sakaya Murata
Whisper – Lynette Noni
Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty
Seconding “The Wall” and “Smilla’s Sense for Snow”, which is one of my favourite books.
you’re going to love mieko kawakami’s all the lovers in the night! it has everything you’re asking for (quiet, melancholic female protagonist navigating through feelings of loneliness) and more since it’s written in her point of view. plus points since it’s also asian literature, which is similar to a lot of your other examples
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
The Color Purple
The Memory Police
The MC in The Hunger Games is a moody loner.
Unfinished Portrait by Mary Westmacott (A Christie) is up right there with The Bell Jar.
Lisbeth Salander from Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson
Samantha, in Bunny by Mona Awad!
Prodigal summer