Category: literary-fiction
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The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a Russian literary novel first published in 1880. The version I’ve read, newly translated in 2024, is from Michael R. Katz. I first heard of this novel after having read The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong, in which the main character attempts to read the hefty novel.…
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The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong is a literary fictional novel set in a town called East Gladness in Connecticut. The novel depicts a boy on the verge of ending his own life by jumping off a bridge when he’s saved unexpectedly by an old lady. The story tackles issues such as poverty, drug…
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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is a coming-of-age fiction novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014. It’s a wonderful novel but one that requires patience, being that it is over 700 pages long. It explores the grief and sadness of a young boy as he is forced to grow up having lost his mother…
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Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is a literary novel set entirely on a remote island where a family of four has been tasked by the government to safeguard and protect the seeds of the many species of plants and flowers known to man. The idea is that with climate change getting worse, the planet…
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The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is a refreshing new twist on the popular tale of Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. It’s hard to believe that The Historian is the author’s debut novel, published in 2005. Right at around 700 pages, we can clearly see that she had huge ambitions for this project. Fortunately for us readers,…
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Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a literary fiction novel about four women, around middle-aged and with African heritage, and the exploration of their dreams and what it means for them to be successful based on how they perceive life. It’s an expansive book that explores many themes. This is my first book from…
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Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood is a literary novel on self-reflection and journey, forgiveness, and finding peace while understanding grief. Fans of In This House of Brede will be familiar with the theme of a woman suddenly devoting her life to a nunnery. While Stone Yard Devotional is not as advanced in theme or…
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There There by Thomas Orange is a contemporary novel surrounding a dozen or so members of the Native community and how their lives will inevitably be intertwined and affected. There There, unfortunately for me, is one of the worst novels I’ve fully completed in a while. There are just so many things that I did…
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All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker is a literary psychological thriller novel that deals with one man’s lifelong obsession to find a girl. Through it all, this novel explores romance, heartache, sadness, horror, personal loss and most of all, friendship. Where does one even begin to review this novel? Is this a…
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The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is a literary fiction and award-winning novel that was written in 1989. After having been introduced to this author after having completed Klara and the Sun a few years back, I was instantly a fan. With almost three decades between these two novels, I was curious to…
The Mindless Catalog 