Hi everybody.
I’ve been enjoying Southern Gothic novels quite a bit lately, but now want a change of scenery; to leave the South for a while and explore how life was back in the day in other parts of the U.S.
Anything that is set in either the Northeast, Midwest or West in the time period roughly between 1840s and 1930s. No Westerns please (I have a long list of them already:) ).
I mentioned Faulkner in the title because he’s kind of the quintessential writer of the South. I guess I’m looking for something similar but for other regions. Books that would show me the regular people and how they got on with life, whether it be about a banker in the old-day Chicago, or a drunkard somewhere in Oregon lol. Books that have that immersive quality about them, that pull you right into the story, like you yourself have walked the streets in the city and listened to the traffic and smelled the smoke in the air. Bonus points if the book has pessimistic undertones.
by foggy_november
21 Comments
John Steinbeck is your next stop.
Steinbeck and Hemingway were Faulkner’s contemporaries. Steinbeck is quintessential writer of California. Winter of our Discontent , Steinbeck’s last book takes place in Sag Harbor New York.
Cormac McCarthy is possibly Faulkers spirit twin, most stories are set in Texas.
John P Marquand
Dorothy Parker
Theodore Dreiser
Booth Tarkington
Sinclair Lewis
Irwin Sinclair
Sinclair Lewis wrote novels in the 1920s that were often critical of American capitalism. He was from Minnesota so his settings were often fictional Midwestern towns. Among the more popular are *Main Street* and *Babbitt.*
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. Set in Boston in 1918/1919, it immerses you in the lives of characters with different perspectives in the context of events like the aftermath of WWI, Spanish Flu, racial and labor tensions, the Boston police strike, baseball, etc.
Marilynne Robinson. Housekeeping is set in Idaho, the Gilead books are set in Iowa. One of the only living American writers who can compare to Faulkner for prose.
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. Pacific Northwest logging culture.
I’ve only read one of his books but I think Harry Crews should be considered. Ditto with Larry Brown.
Russell Banks for rural Northeast!
Try *The Sweet Hereafter* and *Cloudsplitter*. The second one is a fictionalized version of the life of John Brown, the abolitionist.
The Midwest had some fantastic writers that I think are the equivalent of Faulkner for the region – you have Winesburg, Ohio; you have Booth Tarkington’s books, especially The Magnificent Ambersons; and Edgar Lee Master’s Spoon River Anthology.
Willa Cather wrote a lot about the farming families on the great plains, My Antonia is a classic.
thank you everybody for commenting, a lot of new names for me, adding them all to my list! keep ’em coming 🙂
Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow — New York City in the early 1900s
Days Without End, by Sebastian Barry — various parts of the US, 1850s-1860s
You need to read the John DosPassos USA Trilogy:
* *The 42nd Parallel*
* *1919*
* *The Big Money*
These will take you to several US regions during the early to mid-20th c..
For whalers “getting on with life”, there is, of course, Herman Melville’s *Moby Dick*. (Yeah, it is a psychological novel, but you will understand the average 19th c. whaler’s life by the time you are done, for sure). You can’t go wrong with Mark Twain (not all his works were set in the south), Helen Hunt Jackson *Ramona* (19th c. CA), Willa Cather *My Antonía* and others (early 20th c. NE), and Jack London, *Call of the Wild* and *White Fang* (AK, turn of the century).
Upton Sinclair’s *The Jungle* looks at the immigrant experience in early 20th c. Chicago. Betty Smith’s *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* gives you early 20th c. NYC from a kid’s perspective. A different perspective on 20th c. NYC appears in the novels of Chaim Potok (*The Chosen*, *The Promise*, *In the Beginning* are a few.)
For more recent looks at “ordinary Americans” try Barbara Kingsolver. Her *Demon Copperhead* is set in Appalachia (border south), but *The Bean Trees* and *Pigs in Heaven* are set in mainly in Arizona and Oklahoma.
I could go on and on …
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck – A totally immersive book set in 1930’s rural Illinois (apparently it’s based on Peck’s childhood to a certain extent). It’s a middle grade book but absolutely hilarious and enjoyable for adults. In fact, I think that in some ways, namely how it makes no concessions about explaining period details, it might even be a better adult book than a kids’ book. Anyway, it’s a fun and really interesting read.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith — A classic, moving slice of life look at living in Brooklyn in the 1910’s.
*Deep River*, by Marlantes … Finnish immigrants in SW Washington and NE Oregon in the mid to late 1800s. He is a very good writer.
And I very much agree about Willa Cather.
*Angle of Repose*, by Stegner, about mining in the American west in the earliest days. A wonderful writer!!
I see a lot of my recommendations have already been listed but just for emphasis:
My Antonía by Willa Cather
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Additions I haven’t seen yet:
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
The Dollmaker by Harriette Simpson Arnow
Honorable Mention by not exactly what you asked for:
A Thread that Runs So True by Jesse Stuart
What My Heart Wants to Tell Verna Mae Slone
Not what you asked for but Mala Nunn wrote a series based in apartheid south Africa. She literally takes you there. They are really well done. First in the series is called A Beautiful Place to Die.
Barkskins by Annie Proulx
Louisiana bayou country is culturally pretty distinct from other southern areas, so I’ll recommend Jesmyn Ward. Profound sense of place in her writing set there.
Snow Falling on Cedars. -David Gueterson
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. (Pacific Northwest)