I love Marukami, like most that enjoy the genre. I'm struggling to find any books that feel as grounded in reality as his. What I mean is that there's no obvious magic happening, but something's going on in the background that the reader needs to figure out. For example, off the top of my head, Before the Coffee gets Cold is good book but has a very obvious magical system that brings it too far out of reality for what I'm looking for. Time traveling, deals with the devil, that's the sort of stuff I'm trying to avoid.
Hope that makes sense! Thank you in advance for any sugestions.
by jmon8
10 Comments
Banana Yoshimoto usually has a subtle element of magical realism in her novels and short stories.
David Mitchell’s books are grounded, very detailed realism with some surprising supernatural elements showing up too, and he’s incapable of writing a boring sentence. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is well researched historical fiction…and then some very strange things start happening. The Bone Clocks follows a woman from adolescence to old age, with each chapter narrated by someone who loved her (though she narrates the first and last ones), and again it’s very much grounded in the real world, but there’s also a magical/supernatural thread.
Perhaps you might like the books by Yangsze Choo? The Nights Tiger is my favorite and fairly subtle with its magical realism. Her other books are more obviously magical/mythical. Her stories are set in a historical setting.
All the birds singing by evie wyld
The House of the Spirits has some clear magic happening but it’s in small doses so could still fit the bill (Isabel Allende)
Some of the African magical realist novels may fit your criteria. Check out novels by Ben Okri or Helen Oyeyemi. I liked Noor by Nnedi Okorafor.
Kafka maybe ? In Metamorphosis, except the fact Gregor wakes up “changed”, the world stays the same. No magic or anything like that.
nights at the circus by angela carter!
Widdershins by Charles DeLint maybe? I’m unsure if his books are magical realism or alternate-world fantasy but I love them and they are grounded in reality.
The Master and Margarita, extremely grounded, time travel and the devil. A great book.