Realistic novels that aren't realistic novels.
May 11, 2012 9:40 PM Subscribe
Novel recommendation filter: family dramas that aren't family dramas. I don't typically like "realistic" novels about people's real world problems, but I love it when stories can sneak in those stories through especially dramatic hooks. For example, the TV show Six Feet Under used the funeral business to tell a family saga, John Le Carré's A Perfect Spy was ostensibly a spy story, and Clive Barker's Sacrament told a personal story through muted fantasy elements. So, with that in mind, what other novels might I like?
I already like many realistic movies. I don't need movie recommendations right now!
I already like many realistic movies. I don't need movie recommendations right now!
Atonement (both the book & novel) tell a family story via World War II. Middlesex is a story about an intersex child and three generations of Greek immigrants.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:54 PM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:54 PM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]
You really really need to read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:56 PM on May 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:56 PM on May 11, 2012 [3 favorites]
Came to suggest Middlesex. Maybe I just read it when I needed to read it, but this novel was it for me. Please read it.
posted by goosechasing at 10:00 PM on May 11, 2012
posted by goosechasing at 10:00 PM on May 11, 2012
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Letham is a coming-of-age story about friendship between two boys in Brooklyn in the 70s, but they also have a magic ring that enables them to fly.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:01 PM on May 11, 2012
posted by shakespeherian at 10:01 PM on May 11, 2012
The Shining
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:11 PM on May 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:11 PM on May 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
I don't know if it's exactly what you're after, but I absolutely loved the family story told in Tana French's novel, Faithful Place. It's a murder mystery, a cop story, the story of a neighborhood, and the story of a family. Not my usual fare, but the book pulled me in and held me through to the end, mostly because of the family story.
posted by Moody834 at 10:17 PM on May 11, 2012
posted by Moody834 at 10:17 PM on May 11, 2012
This may be a little further afield than you want to go, but if you like science fiction, a couple of books spring to mind that involve very unusual family structures that provide a backdrop for the stories they tell. One is Robert Reed's Sister Alice, the other is Alastair Reynolds' House of Suns. Definitely not about "realistic" problems in the sense you describe.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 11:17 PM on May 11, 2012
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 11:17 PM on May 11, 2012
I have not read it for a while but I remember The Time Traveler's Wife (the book not the movie) as being a really good story of the evolution of a relationship, wrapped up in some solid and satisfying science fiction.
Maybe some of Michael Chabon's later stuff.
Bell Canto is a novel about a hostage crisis, but really it is about feelings.
posted by St. Sorryass at 1:41 AM on May 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Maybe some of Michael Chabon's later stuff.
Bell Canto is a novel about a hostage crisis, but really it is about feelings.
posted by St. Sorryass at 1:41 AM on May 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Not entirely sure this is right for you, but Rose Tremain spins a good yarn. Start with The Colour.
posted by ZipRibbons at 2:41 AM on May 12, 2012
posted by ZipRibbons at 2:41 AM on May 12, 2012
Possible strange recommendation: inheritance by (I think) Judith mcnaught. It's a "romance" novel, but set around wine making, and I remember thinking I learned a lot about wine - and drama.
posted by dpx.mfx at 5:27 AM on May 12, 2012
posted by dpx.mfx at 5:27 AM on May 12, 2012
Never Let Me Go is, despite the sci-fi-ish cover story, about relationships and how it's possible to have a life when we're all just going to die.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:19 AM on May 12, 2012
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:19 AM on May 12, 2012
It sounds like you would like We, the Drowned. It's the story of a Danish village and its sailors, focusing mainly on one family, from the 1800s to WWII. One reviewer described it as a Danish One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's a wonderful book.
posted by apricot at 7:54 AM on May 12, 2012
posted by apricot at 7:54 AM on May 12, 2012
Pet Sematery
posted by elizardbits at 8:53 AM on May 12, 2012
posted by elizardbits at 8:53 AM on May 12, 2012
True North, by Jim Harrison. One of the most viscerally moving, intensely bittersweet novels I have ever read. Beautiful writing, unforgettable characters, unforgettable fictional family. It left my heart and mind vibrating for a few days after I finished it, and it begins like this:
Father was wailing. I deduced from the morning sun and moving flotsam that we were drifting slowly southward with the force of an unknown current. He slumped on the back seat of the wooden rowboat and I leaned forward grabbing his shirt to keep him from pitching overboard. Both of his hands had been severed at the wrist and the stumps had been tightly bound with duct tape. His normally withered forearms now bulged with an unsightly color. When they had pushed us out from the estuary on a falling tide before dawn I had been given only one oar. When I clearly noted this at first light the humor wasn't lost on me. I was equipped to row in circles with my left hand. The thumb of my right hand was missing and the pain lessened when I raised it high. In the early light I had seen a green a green or loggerhead turtle and took my thumb someone had stuffed in my pocket pitching it toward the beast but the turtle had submerged in alarm misunderstanding my good intentions. By midmorning the shore had arisen and I could see the coastline south of Veracruz. The current was carrying us toward Alvarado. My father woke from his latest faint. His face was too bruised for clear speech and now rather than wailing he bleated. His eyes made his request clear and I pushed him gently over the back of the boat. it was quite some time before he completely sunk. I would study the stinking fish scales and bits of dried viscera on the boat's bottom and then look up and he would still be there floating in the current. And then finally I was pleased to see him sink. What a strange way to say good-bye to your father.
(This, the beginning of the novel, is available on amazon.com in the 'Look Inside!' the book preview, so I figured it would be okay to copy it to here?)
Independent People, by Halldor Laxness.
Bjartur Gudbjartson had a farm. On this farm everything goes wrong, including his family. Early 20th century Iceland, hard bitten winter, extreme bleakness intertwined with dark humor, vigorous discourse on relative value of sheep breeds, and a powerful ending.
Two of my all-time super-elite favorite novels, I think they fit what you're looking for.
posted by TheRedArmy at 10:17 AM on May 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Father was wailing. I deduced from the morning sun and moving flotsam that we were drifting slowly southward with the force of an unknown current. He slumped on the back seat of the wooden rowboat and I leaned forward grabbing his shirt to keep him from pitching overboard. Both of his hands had been severed at the wrist and the stumps had been tightly bound with duct tape. His normally withered forearms now bulged with an unsightly color. When they had pushed us out from the estuary on a falling tide before dawn I had been given only one oar. When I clearly noted this at first light the humor wasn't lost on me. I was equipped to row in circles with my left hand. The thumb of my right hand was missing and the pain lessened when I raised it high. In the early light I had seen a green a green or loggerhead turtle and took my thumb someone had stuffed in my pocket pitching it toward the beast but the turtle had submerged in alarm misunderstanding my good intentions. By midmorning the shore had arisen and I could see the coastline south of Veracruz. The current was carrying us toward Alvarado. My father woke from his latest faint. His face was too bruised for clear speech and now rather than wailing he bleated. His eyes made his request clear and I pushed him gently over the back of the boat. it was quite some time before he completely sunk. I would study the stinking fish scales and bits of dried viscera on the boat's bottom and then look up and he would still be there floating in the current. And then finally I was pleased to see him sink. What a strange way to say good-bye to your father.
(This, the beginning of the novel, is available on amazon.com in the 'Look Inside!' the book preview, so I figured it would be okay to copy it to here?)
Independent People, by Halldor Laxness.
Bjartur Gudbjartson had a farm. On this farm everything goes wrong, including his family. Early 20th century Iceland, hard bitten winter, extreme bleakness intertwined with dark humor, vigorous discourse on relative value of sheep breeds, and a powerful ending.
Two of my all-time super-elite favorite novels, I think they fit what you're looking for.
posted by TheRedArmy at 10:17 AM on May 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin.
posted by oinopaponton at 8:17 AM on May 13, 2012
posted by oinopaponton at 8:17 AM on May 13, 2012
The Godfather, of course.
posted by Addlepated at 5:15 PM on May 13, 2012
posted by Addlepated at 5:15 PM on May 13, 2012
Jonathan Coe's What A Carve Up (which I think is titled The Winshaw Legacy or something similar in the US).
posted by mippy at 8:19 AM on May 17, 2012
posted by mippy at 8:19 AM on May 17, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
Rumer Godden's The Greengage Summer, maybe.
posted by PussKillian at 9:54 PM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]