I have to do a short essay for English that I can relate to the world around me or myself directly. The issue is I don’t have any knowledge on a book that is exactly relatable to me. Does anyone know of any books that I (17M) might be able to relate to based on the themes and topics in the book OR the state of the US government right now? I love reading but I don’t really read books that I remember TRULY connecting to…
by InformationSpecial24
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State of the US government right now: *Mother Night* by Kurt Vonnegut (highly recommend), the commonly-mentioned dystopias (*Parable of the Sower, Brave New World*)
You directly: *Catcher in the Rye* (feels like a stereotype but idk you’ll know best), potentially *Martyr!* by Kaveh Akbar if you’re an immigrant/parents are immigrants and are generally a disillusioned gen z
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Quotes from Mother Night to hopefully convince you:
“I had hoped, as a broadcaster, to be merely ludicrous, but this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate. So many people wanted to believe me!
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.”
“Jones wasn’t completely crazy. The dismaying thing about the classic totalitarian mind is that any given gear, though mutilated, will have at its circumference unbroken sequences of teeth that are immaculately maintained, that are exquitisitely machined.
Hence the cuckoo clock in Hell — keeping perfect time for eight minutes and thirty-three seconds, jumping ahead fourteen minutes, keeping perfect time for six seconds, jumping ahead two seconds . . . the missing teeth, of course, are simple, obvious truths, truths available and comprehensible even to ten-year-olds, in most cases.”
>any books that I (17M) might be able to relate to based on the themes and topics in the book
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman – Even though I’ve never been a teenage buy in Georgia in the 1970s, I totally related to the main character.
>OR the state of the US government right now
[Little Brother series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/81824-little-brother) by Cory Doctorow
Hope this helps.
Superfudge
I work at a bookstore and I find Noah Yuval Harari books are popular. He’s got multiple and can be related to what’s going on right now. Also 1984 is picking up again given the atmosphere.. hard to say what would be relatable but definitely give these ones a chance
**Books that are great for relating to the world today**:
-Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (she was inspired by the Iraq War and reality TV, it is all very much still relevant today)
-Kindred (how slavery still impacts Black lives today, etc.) or Parable of the Sower (rising fascism, economic hardships, etc.) both by Octavia Butler
-Scythe (AI in the world, nature of death and dying etc.) or Dry (how long can society live without water) by Neal Shusterman
-Happy Town by Greg Van Eekhout (it is a middle grade book, so you may not love it, but it is all about corporate America and capitalism and billionaires)
-Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood (the way we process our food, how people can dehumanize people online, economic collapse, environmental collapse)
**Books that would relate to older teens:**
-Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney, or Normal People by Sally Rooney (both books are about relationships and how to navigate them)
-Dear Martin by Nic Stone (navigating relationships, police brutality, and the ethics of nonviolence)
-Agony by Mark Beyer (trying to navigate the world while it feels like everything is going wrong)
solid essay prompt—and yeah, there are books that hit like a gut punch when you’re 17 and trying to make sense of *yourself + the mess around you*
here’s a list that balances personal relatability with bigger societal themes (US included):
* ***The Hate U Give*** **by Angie Thomas** police violence, identity, code-switching, injustice—it’s emotional but sharp if you’re plugged into current events at all, this one will land hard
* ***Persepolis*** **by Marjane Satrapi** yeah it’s about Iran, but the deeper themes of rebellion, growing up in political chaos, and questioning everything? timeless also graphic novel = easy to digest, big impact
* ***The Catcher in the Rye*** **by J.D. Salinger** gets clowned for being basic, but the *alienation, disillusionment, and fake adult world* themes still hit, especially when you feel stuck between “kid” and “real life”
* ***They Both Die at the End*** **by Adam Silvera** mortality, wasted time, identity, trying to matter in a world that feels cold bonus: doesn’t read like an assignment—it flows
* ***The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian*** **by Sherman Alexie** funny, real, deals with racism, poverty, being “between worlds” great if you want something readable that still carries weight
* ***All American Boys*** **by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely** dual POV, police brutality, racial tension, peer pressure—super relevant and accessible
these all hit different angles: identity, justice, growing up, being unheard, dealing with systems that don’t care
pick one that mirrors a *feeling* you’ve had, even if the exact situation isn’t yours