Ordinary Grace was such a book for me. So was This Tender Land, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules, and Lonesome Dove. Each of those novels was beautifully told, but also tragic. What's another novel that combines these elements and that you loved? I'm looking for something gut-wrenching yet beautifully human. A novel that subtlety addresses the complexities of human existence without preaching or the use of saccharine elements (sorry, Remarkably Bright Creatures). Something that feels 100% real and that resonates deeply. All suggestions appreciated. Thanks!
by MigEPie
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The Heart’s Invisible Furies
The Great Believers
You’ll be wanting Barbara Kingsolver.
James by Percival everett made me feel this way. It’s an adaptation of huckleberry finn but from Jim, the slave’s, point of view. Something about how the author writes about certain experiences was quite profound and I think he did a really good job of portraying the little things about being a slave that most people don’t think about.
The Emperor of Gladness, by Ocean Vuong
I know we don’t love Gaiman these days but it’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane for me.
Beautyland by Marie-Helen Bertino. Sucked me in with beauty and ripped my heart out.
Lolita, although I hate to recommend it. It is beautifully written literature about the most vile topic.
Jan Gardem’s Old Filfth trilogy.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara?
Try the brief and wondrous life of oscar wao, isabel allende’s island beneath the sea, and anything by barbara kingsolver.
Phantom of the opera
Jane Eyre
Other Boleyn Girl
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Hamnet or The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, both by Maggie O’Farrell.
The Remains of the Day.
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel