Hello! I am looking for fiction about different complicated relationships among two men (preferably, just friends / mates / best friends).
(This post may contain spoilers, sorry)
I prefer reading classic literature and sometimes YA but not memoirs. Please, without series of books – just single novels. Also I must add that I am familiar with Remarque, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Archibald Cronin, Fitzgerald, "On the road", "A little life", "The Outsiders", "Trainspotting" and other American and German classics.
I'll say right away – it's important that these two characters are the main heroes, or one is the narrator and another is the sick one (anyway, the majority of the book is connected with them).
Let's say that one hero is a healthy supporter and an "anchor" for another (they can be best friends or maybe they had a lot of common in the past. Something like that). Then let me describe his friend (tropes):
1. Alcoholic / drug addict (like in "Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt, "Last Summer in the City" by Gianfranco Calligarich, "Basketball diaries" by Jim Carroll. Another similar thing – Wilson and House from "House M.D."). Probably you met scenes in books where the supportive one grabs the bottle/syringe from the delusional one and talk for a long time with his friend.
2. Mentally unstable – Depression, Bipolar disorder (like in "Fight club"), Insomnia, PTSD, panic attacks, delusions, brain twists, madness, mad genius (the one whose gift is killing him), Paranoia (like in the short novel "The Wind" by Ray Bradbury), Schizophrenia (like in "Shutter island"), Workaholism (in a bad way. When the one is so addicted that he forgets about himself, becomes sick. Stress and burnouts kill them)
3. Physical health disability – cripple (like in "The secret garden"), injured (lost arm, leg, eye. Maybe was subjected to violence forced), ugliness ("The Man Who Laughs" by Hugo"), Asthma, Deafness, Tuberculosis, Heart disease, physical exhaustion (maybe due to the hunger. Have you heard how Franz Kafka died?), Paralysis.
The point is, I wanna see real friendship no matter how hard their lives are. These novels should be dramas or tragedies.
Tags: Support, help, pain, struggles, withdrawal, addiction, found family, substance use, exhaustion, love, alcoholism, chronic illness, genius, despair, friends… And so on.
The probable locations (maybe this list will evoke associations in you) – small cozy villages, big American cities and provinces, psych wards, military hospitals, prisons, slums, dark fantasy setting.
(I am sorry if this request is rude to you. I didn't want to offend anyone)
Thanks for any help!
by book-era