As someone between the age of 18 and 30 who reads a decent amount of contemporary literary fiction, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the rise in popularity of plotless books about anxious women. I’ll provide a sampler so you get what I’m talking about:
– *Nightbitch* by Rachel Yoder
– *My Year of Rest and Relaxation* by Ottessa Moshfeigh
– *The Odyssey* and *Supper Club* by Lara Williams
– *Woman Eating* by Claire Kohda
– *All’s Well* by Mona Awad
– *Hex* by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
The above list is by no means exhaustive, nor entirely “plotless,” but you get it. On to the request. I’m looking for books like this, but specifically like *Big Swiss* by Jen Beagin. Ideal areas to hit:
– Queer sexuality
– Sex that’s only nebulously erotic OR
– Sex that isn’t erotic at all
– The relationship between sex and the self
– Sprawling discontent
– Beauty and repulsion
Any takers?
by weirdironthrowaway
10 Comments
Not really my thing but it sounds like the first five chapters of any Grady Hendrix book before he gets around to revealing whatever horror is going to distract his protagonist from the quiet desperation her has become *before* the monster attacked.
{{Southern Book Club Guide to Vampire Slaying}}
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{{We Sold our Souls}}
Sorry, he does tend to put the plot in eventually.
I’m not sure these will fit, but I thought of them so who knows…
-Everyone in this room will someday be dead by Emily Austin
-Little Fish or A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett (less anxiety specifically, but definitely some mental health things going on here)
The New Me
Jillian
Eileen
Schmutz
The Roxy Letters
Nothing to See Here
The All Night Pharmacy
Milk Fed
Pisces
Death Valley
Come and Get It
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead
Mostly Dead Things
Sweetbitter
Pizza Girl
Look at Me
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
I have to say, Nightbitch does not at all fit (to me) the other books you gave as examples, but here are some unhinged/overworked/overtired mom thrillers that I relate to NB:
The Push
The Whispers
My Murder
Cutting Teeth
Mothers’ Instinct
The Need
Edit: Also, not super similar, but I think you’d love it none the less- Shit Cassandra Saw
You might like The Idiot by Eliot Batuman and its sequel, Either/or
uh? Normal People. literally just finished reading that. i wouldn’t say it’s pointless – but I find Sally Rooney’s works as no plot just vibesss. it’s not queer, but definitely fits a few other criterias.
Not quite plot less but:
Bunny, Mona Awad
When Women Were Dragons, Kelly Barnhill
Jennifer Egan and Claire Messud?
Not quite sure if it fits but a lot of Margaret Atwood deals with self/relating to others through sex and gender identity. The Edible Woman would fit the best I think? The Heart Goes Last also.
Cackle is magical realism or fantasy, and I really enjoyed the meander through women’s thought processes and sense of identity.
Hysteria by Jessica Gross. One of the reviews on Goodreads calls the genre “disaster women” and it fits
Animals Eat Each Other by Elle Nash could be a good fit!
The Gloaming by Melanie Finn