Magical Realism Literature

[lewelma]

DS has just finished The Master and Margarita and LOVED it.  I think it is the magical realism style that he found quite fun.  What other good, classic, reasonably hard books fall under this category?  I keep seeing 100 Years of Solitude listed, but it sounds like it is really hard.  Would you have a *very* well-read 14 year old read it?  If not, what else can you recommend? DS likes deep books!

 

Thanks!

 

Ruth in NZ

[azucena]

How about the stories of Jorge Luis Borges?

 

As I recall, One Hundred Years of Solitude has some sexual content, but not explicit, so you should consider whether that is an issue for you.

[lewelma]

Thanks for the idea!  I'll put it on the list but right now we are looking for a novel as he has just finished two huge short story collections - Mark Twain and Lovecraft.

 

So is the snovel actutally about sex?  or is the sexual content just an aside.  I did read that a man has sex with a 9 year old --  I'm thinking he could skip that part if it is not critical to the story.  He did read Brave New World at age 12, but that would have been an oopsie on my part. :huh:

[lewelma]

Just asked him, and he said I thought my next book was Brothers Karamazov. Eeek if I have to read it too! :eek:   But he did say he wouldn't mind more magical realism.

[raptor_dad]

How about the stories of Jorge Luis Borges?

 

 

I know you said you weren't currently looking for short stories. But, Borges "Ficciones" is excellent.

 

I think your DS would particularly get a kick out of "The Library of Babel"... Wiki can explain why http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Check out this link, it describes a few "classic" books in the genre.  I usually think first of the Latin American writers, like Borges, Garcia Marquez, Allende, Vargas Llosa, etc.  But there is also the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, and the Italian Italo Calvino, besides the Russians.

 

Here's a nice overview of a few:

 

http://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/7-defining-works-of-magical-realism-to-expand-your-literary-horizons.html/?a=viewall

 

Personally I liked Love in the Time of Cholera even better than 100 Years of Solitude. But it's been long enough since I've read that I don't remember the details of the sexual content.  There was nothing super gross or explicit, though.

 

Oh - have him read Blindness by Jose Saramago if he hasn't!  Combines dystopian + magical realism, sort of - it's a tough book but with lots of deep thoughts.

[lewelma]

Blindness sounds like Day of the Triffids!  Minus the human-eating plants. :001_smile:

[Chrysalis Academy]

It's not, really. I don't know exactly what it's like.  Maybe The Plague by Camus?  It sticks with you, though.

[Tsuga]

Salman Rushdie is good but can be explicit. Midnight's Children is an amazing book. Sexually explicit content, IIRC, but in the context of a larger commentary on social norms and growing up, so it's your call. The Satanic Verses is also really good and a bit easier than Midnight's Children. Orhan Pamuk's work is shorter and easier to read (since it's translated). I liked My Name Is Red and The White Castle but I can't remember if the latter was magical realism or not. Rushdie is funnier than Pamuk IMO.

[azucena]

Thanks for the idea!  I'll put it on the list but right now we are looking for a novel as he has just finished two huge short story collections - Mark Twain and Lovecraft.

 

So is the snovel actutally about sex?  or is the sexual content just an aside.  I did read that a man has sex with a 9 year old --  I'm thinking he could skip that part if it is not critical to the story.  He did read Brave New World at age 12, but that would have been an oopsie on my part. :huh:

I do not remember the details but sex / incest is a topic that runs throughout the book - there is a concern that a child born of incest will have a pig's tail and the many, many characters have a variety of sexual experiences.  I don't think it's one incident that you could just have your ds skip.   Do you have time to preview?  It is worth reading (despite my imprecise recollections).

[SanDiegoMom]

Life of PI? My 15 year old's favorite book, hands down. She's been enjoying Umberto Eco recently, (Foucoult's Pendulum) but I don't think it fits the bill. Actually I wouldn't know, since I gave up fifty pages in, it was so dense. But she's been flying through it and says it's very entertaining!

[kubiac]

Another vote for One Hundred Years of Solitude. Just impeccably beautiful writing, and some fascinating insights into human nature and Latin American geopolitics as well.

[lewelma]

Thanks guys!  I'll look into these suggestions.  DS has read Life of Pi and loved that too. As for sexual content, he did read Brave New World at age 12, but don't think it was a good choice!  :eek:   But he is older now, so will check it out.

[regentrude]

My DD loved 100 years of solitude when she read it at about that age.

[Matryoshka]

My poor dd who is very literal-minded has had a whole year of Magical Realism in her AP Spanish class. 

 

I have heard from many people that 100 Years of Solitude is a slog.  It sits on my shelf and mocks me (along with both volumes of Don Quixote).  Love in the Time of Cholera I did read and enjoy.

 

Isabel Allende has written tons of stuff - my favorites are the three Chilean ones (House of the Spirits and its two prequels), and the Eva Luna books.  All her books have some sexual content, but not overly smutty (I am not a 'romance' novel fan - definitely no Outlander or 50 Shades for me).

 

There's Like Water for Chocolate - really enjoyed that one.

 

I love Italo Calvino.  Another favorite author of mine is Ursula Le Guin, who's not magical realism, but maybe scifi realism? ;)

[Momling]

I remember loving Angela Carter and Jeanette Winterson as an older teen. I'm pretty sure there must be some sexy bits in there, but haven't read either author in years.

 

For no smutty bits at all, and an easy read without high literature pretentions, try something like Nation by Terry Pratchett. I don't think he liked the term 'magical realism', preferring just fantasy. But I like the way he tells a realistic story but in an almost-identical-but-not-quite alternate world.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Oh yeah, Jeanette Winterson definitely qualifies, but her stuff tends to have a fair amount of sex, I think. Some of it disturbing. I went through a phase where I read everything she had written (to date) and enjoyed it all, but I was definitely college age.  Recently I read Lighthousekeeping, which is a twist on Jekyll & Hyde, and it was amazing, I really liked it, but it had a disturbing scene of marital rape and a pretty hot lesbian sex scene.  I also read Weight, which was a retelling of the myth of Atlas and Heracles.  Also lots of sex. I didn't care for it.

[raptor_dad]

For no smutty bits at all, and an easy read without high literature pretentions, try something like Nation by Terry Pratchett. I don't think he liked the term 'magical realism', preferring just fantasy. But I like the way he tells a realistic story but in an almost-identical-but-not-quite alternate world.

 

If you want fantasy with more literary pretensions, Sean Stewart's early stuff is great; "Night Watch", "Resurrection Man", "Galveston", "Mockingbird" are all at least partially magical realist... sadly Stewart switched to writing interactive fiction and games after 2004.

 

If you want fantasy with even more literary pretensions, Gene Wolfe is great and he has famously said "magic realism is fantasy written by people who speak Spanish". Wolfe is often compared to Melville, which should give you a good idea of the pleasure and pain you are in for ;)

 

ETA: If you only want to read one Stewart book. I would recommend "Night Watch", sadly OOP. For Wolfe, I would recommend the "The Book of the New Sun".

[serendipitous journey]

I think Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court might qualify, esp. if he likes Twain. ETA:  just saw y'all did this years ago!!!

 

ETA: has he read Andy Weir's "The Martian" yet?  not a heavy-hitter -- not "deep" at all -- but it has that magical realism feel to me, though it's sci fi. 

[Guest]

I don't know about the magical part, but the books by KJ Parker (I'm thinking of the Engineer Trilogy in particular: Devices and Desires, Evil for Evil, and The Escapement) are set in a time/place that you would immediately think magical...but I can't remember there being any magic in them at all.  Anyways, I enjoyed them.  If he wants to quit (and I did several times) just tell him to make due through the first ~1500 pages because the last part of the last book is where it all starts to make sense, like Bam!

 

From a site that reviewed the books:

 

This is well beyond your typical stableboy/prophecy stuff, and, despite the importance of technology, this shouldn't be confused with steampunk either. Parker is past world-building or fantastical gimmickry.

The setting is an abstracted analogue of the real world and the cultures are deliberately streamlined archetypes. The characters are brilliant - empathetic, fascinating and absorbing - but even they're not the core of the book. This series is a deliberately provocative exploration of what makes people tick.

 

Then again, maybe I'm thinking of a completely different genre than what you're looking for.

[marisolstice]

What about Sherman Alexie's books?

[bibiche]

L'Ecume des jours by Boris Vian. I know it has been translated but I haven't read it in translation. I adored this book when I was young ( though I was probably a bit older than your DS when I first read it).