Rating: 7.0/10. Novel that is a work of Latin American magical realism by Guatemalan author and Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Miguel Ángel Asturias. It is challenging to pinpoint exactly what is happening or what the book is about. Broadly speaking, it depicts the struggles between the indigenous Maya people and the maize-growers from a…
Category: Novels / Fiction
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Rating: 8.0/10. A fairly short novel, about 120 pages, written by a South Korean author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024. It centers around a young woman, Young-hye, and is split into three parts that examine this character from multiple perspectives. It is hard to say what this novel is about, and…
Tangi by Witi Ihimaera
Rating: 7.6/10. A notable New Zealand novel, published in 1973, it is one of the first novels by a Maori writer. It describes a tangi (a funeral), and there is not much plot in the novel, instead it follows the protagonist as he discovers his father has died, prompting him to return to his home…
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
Rating: 7.7/10. This novel is a well known piece of Nova Scotia’s literature, about the Scottish people on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. It starts with the narrator, a successful dentist, visiting his older brother Calum in Toronto: Calum is an alcoholic living in a sketchy part of town and feeling lost from his…
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr
Rating: 8.4/10. Classic science fiction novel, won the Hugo Award, written in the 1950s, portraying the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse that spans several millennia, it has three parts, the first is 600 years after present and each part is another 600 years in the future. The novel explores how humanity undergoes dark ages, a…
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
Rating: 7.3/10. A novel by one of the most famous contemporary Italian writers, Italo Calvino. It is about a boy, Cosmino, who, when he is twelve years old, refuses to eat snails at dinner and climbs a tree, vowing never to come down again. Despite his family’s assumption that he will descend in a few…
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
Rating: 7.4/10. Novel of Norwegian literature, won the Nobel Prize in 1920; it tells the story of a homesteader named Isak in Northern Norway around 1850. The narrative begins with Isak settling in an untouched wilderness, far from any other settlement, where he starts building a home from scratch. Shortly after, his wife, Inger, arrives…
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
Rating: 7.8/10. Work of Icelandic literature that won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955, the novel focuses on a farmer named Bjartur and his quest for “independence,” which he defines as being free from debts and obligations to anyone else. The novel describes Bjartur’s life as a sheep farmer in the harsh Icelandic landscape,…
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
Rating: 8.2/10. Historical novel by a Peruvian novelist about Rafael Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic for 31 years from 1930 to 1961. The book is largely based on true historical events and includes many real historical figures, but also introduces some fictional characters and events. These never conflict with what might have actually…
The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama
Rating: 7.8/10. A historical novel set in Hilo, Hawaii in 1935 and centers around the Japanese community there. The story follows Daniel, a young doctor who returns after a brief trip to the mainland United States. There is not much of a plot, rather the book mostly revolves around Daniel rediscovering his family’s past and…
This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Rating: 7.9/10. A set of 6 short stories that take place in modern Hawaii. The people in each story are different, but all of them depict struggles, sadness, and despair, aiming to dispel the myth that Hawaii is a paradise. These stories showcase the everyday challenges that normal Hawaiians face, even though they may appear…
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Rating: 7.7/10. Fairly short science fiction novel, it begins like a historical novel with a young man settling on Vancouver Island in the early 20th century, which, at the time, was still sparsely populated. The first half of the book jumps between four characters in different centuries in a slice-of-life style, taking place in 1912,…