What are some good novels where the protagonist is in his/her mid-20s?
April 9, 2013 7:56 PM Subscribe
I tend to like humor, but other genres are acceptable. If this is too broad a category, we can limit recommendations to those where being in one's mid-20s is somehow central to the novel.
To Say Nothing of the Dog: How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis is a humorous SciFi look at Victorian society (amongst other things), and the protagonist is a 20-something university historian.
posted by 1367 at 8:54 PM on April 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by 1367 at 8:54 PM on April 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The Nanny Diaries
Rabbit, Run
The Marriage Plot
Franny and Zooey
Goodbye, Columbus
The Secret History
One Day
On the Road too, although I loved it at 15 and found it deeply annoying by the time I hit my twenties.
posted by aintthattheway at 9:47 PM on April 9, 2013
Rabbit, Run
The Marriage Plot
Franny and Zooey
Goodbye, Columbus
The Secret History
One Day
On the Road too, although I loved it at 15 and found it deeply annoying by the time I hit my twenties.
posted by aintthattheway at 9:47 PM on April 9, 2013
Best answer: Walker Percy's The Moviegoer fits the bill.
posted by oulipian at 10:01 PM on April 9, 2013
posted by oulipian at 10:01 PM on April 9, 2013
Best answer: Hilarious and snide, and the protagonist is a mid-20s, 1950s university lecturer at a provincial college in England: Lucky Jim.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:02 PM on April 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:02 PM on April 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
I agree with Sphinx.
“Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.”
― Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:28 AM on April 10, 2013
“Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.”
― Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:28 AM on April 10, 2013
Best answer: Not a novel but David Sedaris' Naked is a series of stories of jobs he's had, many of which take place when he was in his 20s. He's pretty darn funny.
posted by loveyallaround at 12:29 AM on April 10, 2013
posted by loveyallaround at 12:29 AM on April 10, 2013
Best answer: number9dream from David Mitchell of Cloud Atlas. The protagonist is 20, it is set in Tokyo and is quite humorous.
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 12:49 AM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 12:49 AM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Great Gatsby?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:46 AM on April 10, 2013
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:46 AM on April 10, 2013
The Mezzanine and Room Temperature by Nicholson Baker.
posted by Daily Alice at 4:19 AM on April 10, 2013
posted by Daily Alice at 4:19 AM on April 10, 2013
Generation X wasn't just about this, it ended up defining the generation. Coupland's followup book Microserfs was also about this age group and a fun read.
posted by Mchelly at 4:23 AM on April 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 4:23 AM on April 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
The Dud Avocado
posted by Ideefixe at 7:17 AM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Ideefixe at 7:17 AM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's not fiction, but Beryl Markham's West With The Night is a phenomenal memoir that mostly covers her twenties and early thirties. She was a racehorse trainer (back when women Didn't Do That) is British East Africa in the 1920s and 30s, and then a bush pilot when Women Didn't Do THAT, and then a record-setting aviator. Hung out with Hemingway and the Blixens and co. Total badass, and a phenomenal writer. I'm in my late twenties, and it felt extremely relevant to me.
Also seconding anything by Connie Willis.
posted by you're a kitty! at 7:28 AM on April 10, 2013
Also seconding anything by Connie Willis.
posted by you're a kitty! at 7:28 AM on April 10, 2013
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore!
Now I'm having a mini-existential crisis because I always used to link to Goodreads instead of Amazon on principle and now what do I do oh God
posted by sunset in snow country at 7:30 AM on April 10, 2013
Now I'm having a mini-existential crisis because I always used to link to Goodreads instead of Amazon on principle and now what do I do oh God
posted by sunset in snow country at 7:30 AM on April 10, 2013
Best answer: 2nding Lucky Jim. It took a 2nd reading for me to fully appreciate it, but parts of it have stuck with me for many years.
posted by theora55 at 10:35 AM on April 10, 2013
posted by theora55 at 10:35 AM on April 10, 2013
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There's some comedy in them too.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:09 PM on April 9, 2013 [1 favorite]