Comments on: one novel = one day

Question: one novel = one day

jammy — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:21:17 -0800

Please tell me of good novels you have read where the story all takes place in one day.

Or less. The novel could all take place in an hour, or an afternoon.

Here's some I already know: Ulysses by Joyce, Mrs. Dalloway by Woolf, Saturday by Ian McEwan, Travels in the Scriptorium and Man in the Dark by Paul Auster.

By: mesh gear fox

mesh gear fox — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:22:57 -0800

Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry.
It is quite excellent.

By: mesh gear fox

mesh gear fox — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:25:59 -0800

Apparently there's also a wikipedia entry with exactly what you're looking for.

(I googled "novels that take place in 1 day", it was the first result.)

By: Houyhnhnm

Houyhnhnm — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:27:37 -0800

Ulysses by James Joyce takes place on June 16, 1904.

By: Houyhnhnm

Houyhnhnm — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:28:01 -0800

Oops, you said you already know that one. Sorry.

By: Daily Alice

Daily Alice — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:30:30 -0800

The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker takes place over a single lunch hour.

By: Kirklander

Kirklander — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:30:41 -0800

Seize the Day, great book.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:30:41 -0800

If you could stretch the deadline to 49 hours, there's James Gould Cozzens' By Love Possessed.

By: anderjen

anderjen — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:31:38 -0800

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan takes place over the course of a couple's wedding night, although there are quite a few flashbacks to fill in the backstory.

By: Julnyes

Julnyes — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:34:24 -0800

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

If my memories of high school are accurate - this was a good book.

By: Perplexity

Perplexity — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:37:23 -0800

Ann Patchett's Run.

By: bshort

bshort — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:52:40 -0800

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

By: Gotham

Gotham — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:17:14 -0800

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Not exactly highbrow literature, but...

By: scratch

scratch — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:19:02 -0800

Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles.

Independence Day by Richard Ford (I think).

By: lester

lester — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:19:55 -0800

the floating opera, by john barth. the best part about it is that the author isn't really sure which day it was.

By: Mender

Mender — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:21:36 -0800

Daily Alice mentioned Nicholson Baker. He specializes in this kind of thing. Try Room Temperature.

By: scody

scody — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:33:06 -0800

Embers, by Sandor Marai, takes place over the course of one conversation.

By: chinston

chinston — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:39:40 -0800

Richard Ford's Independence Day does not fit this category, as it actually takes place over three or four days, as I recall.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:41:59 -0800

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, of course.

By: jeather

jeather — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:50:05 -0800

Restlessness by Aritha van Herk takes place over the course of a few hours, with some discussion of flashbacks. If you're ok with multiple single day stories, The Hours, a sort of response to Mrs. Dalloway fits.

By: zerokey

zerokey — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:03:52 -0800

253 by Geoff Ryman.

By: Methylviolet

Methylviolet — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:05:39 -0800

One Night @ the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat
A bestseller in India. I liked it, but not everyone did.

By: slograffiti

slograffiti — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:08:28 -0800

Heart of Darkness takes place in one day, but it is told in retrospect, i believe.

By: Manjusri

Manjusri — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:54:54 -0800

The Rider by Tim Krabbe. It is a stream of consciousness narrative of a fictional european road race told by one of the riders.

By: jammy

jammy — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:44:46 -0800

Apparently there's also a wikipedia entry with exactly what you're looking for.
(I googled "novels that take place in 1 day", it was the first result.)

yes, thank you - I did that google search too - I should have mentioned that

just to clarify: I am looking for good novels that you have read - lists are nice, but I'm really looking for recommendations...

By: jammy

jammy — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:56:33 -0800

um, where are my manners?

many good answers, MeFolk! thanks muchly - keep 'em coming!

it is a great & wonderful thing about our world that there are more books out there, and good books mind you, than you could read in a lifetime...

By: painquale

painquale — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:03:37 -0800

Cees Nooteboom's The Following Story takes place over the course of a few minutes.

Susan Minot's Rapture takes place over the course of one blowjob.

By: mohrr

mohrr — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:30:25 -0800

The DaVinci Code
Angels & Demons

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:57:07 -0800

Heart of Darkness takes place in one day, but it is told in retrospect, i believe.

I don't think Heart of Darkness fits at all. It's framed briefly at the beginning and end with Marlow telling the story on a boat in the Thames, sure, but the action of the actual story he tells takes much more than a day. I doubt it's what the poster is looking for.

I'll third Nicholson Baker - The Mezzanine is a very clever, very fun read.

By: unbearablylight

unbearablylight — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:08:01 -0800

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor.

Very much stream-of-conciousness, almost cinematic. One of my favourite books.

By: DavidNYC

DavidNYC — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:23:42 -0800

Another Nicholson Baker book that fits this category is Vox, which as I recall involves one very extended phone call between two people. I remember liking it a lot and thinking I was oh-so-sophisticated for reading it, but that's probably because I was about 16 and the phone call resulted from two people calling up a phone-sex line....

By: silverstatue

silverstatue — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:02:07 -0800

Oh I immediately thought of Vox too! Why am I always several days behind on these questions! Anyway, yeah the whole book is one big long phone conversation. Very cool set-up.

By: skrike

skrike — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:48:36 -0800

I read this 10+ years ago now, but I remember it being really good. Vertical Run takes place in one day and was a quick fun read.

By: pseudostrabismus

pseudostrabismus — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:15:23 -0800

I've read all the Nicholson Baker books here- I like him a lot- and I recommend only Vox, which is quite nice (and rather steamy). The Mezzanine is too microscopic and I find it gets tedious, and Room Temp is mundane and bored me. The Fermata, however, is the reason why he's famous, and though it's not a one-day book, it is a really fun, ridiculous read.

By: knolan

knolan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:24:11 -0800

Ulysses has been mentioned and I'd also like to recommend it. Certainly some portions of it are difficult, the Nighttown chapter for example, but most of it is very enjoyable and some of it is earth-shatteringly beautiful: Stephen Dedalus in his classroom, Blooms morning, Molly's mental ramblings. Give it a try and skip a chapter if you find yourself struggling. Each chapter is different so while some are tough, others read like a romance novel (Gerty on the Beach).