10 books by modern women writers you might have missed

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The works of Khan Gan, Sally Rooney, Olga Tokarchuk and other authors who are not afraid to experiment enjoy the attention of critics and the love of readers.

1. "Normal People" by Sally Rooney

Irish writer Sally Rooney is called "Salinger for Millennials." She successfully debuted in 2017, at the age of 26, with the book Conversations with Friends. Normal People is the author's second major novel. In the center of the plot is the love story of Marianne and Connell. She is a girl from a wealthy family, but an outcast, he is the star of the school. There is little in common between them, but this does not prevent them from falling in love with each other as much as possible only at 16 - recklessly, touchingly and with the thought that this is forever. Everything will change when yesterday's students find themselves in Dublin and go to college.

2. "Vegetarian", Han Gan

The novel "The Vegetarian" won the 2016 Booker Prize for South Korean writer Han Gan. And this is no coincidence. In addition to the cinematic storytelling with numerous references to Korean culture, the book captivates with the metaphor that underlies the plot. According to the author's idea, the main character's refusal to eat meat is an attempt to resist violence in general: both psychological and physical. If you've never read the works of Korean authors, Han Gan's book is just what you need to form your first impression of contemporary literature in this country.

3. "Runners", Olga Tokarchuk

Despite the fact that Olga Tokarchuk received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2019, the Russian reader knows little about her works. We suggest starting acquaintance with the work of the writer with one of her best novels - "Runners". This is a book consisting of 116 fragments - short stories, essays and notes on the topic of travel and united by one storyteller. They are all about different things, but at the same time about one thing: who we are, where we came from and where we are going.

4. Swing Time by Zadie Smith

Another, along with Sally Rooney, a child prodigy from literature - Zadie Smith. The British writer began publishing her stories while still a student, wrote her debut novel at the age of 25, and was nominated for the Booker Prize for the book "Swing Time".

"Swing Time" is a story of personal collapse, described with talent, with a full understanding of the laws of society and the intricacies of human psychology. The heroine of the novel, a shrewd, reflective, educated girl, fleeing hidden racism and a dysfunctional life, breaks with the past and flees into the world of pop culture, driving herself into a trap, the existence of which she does not even know.

5. "Vongozero", Yana Wagner

“The city was closed suddenly, at night. I remember exactly, there was no alarm yet. It was impossible to imagine that the quarantine would not end in a few weeks, "- this is how Yana Wagner's novel" Vongozero "begins, which in today's reality looks like a terrible prophecy or a brilliant prediction. It's no joke, in the center of the narrative is the world, which was at the mercy of a dangerous epidemic, which at first seemed a trifle, but very soon got out of control. You will read it in one breath.

6. "Kalechina-Malechina", Evgeniya Nekrasova

In her works, the Russian writer and screenwriter Yevgenia Nekrasova often refers to an attempt to pronounce trauma, and the novel Kalechina-Malechina is no exception. The main character of the story is the girl Katya, who lives with her parents in a small town on the 11th floor of an ordinary panel house. The world around Katya is not needed: other children tease her, and the parents do not have enough energy and time for their daughter. The book was highly acclaimed by critics, received several literary awards and reader recognition.

7. The Milkman, Anna Burns

Sad and funny at the same time, Anna Burns' novel "The Milkman" could have been written by Gogol, had he been born a century later and he read Joyce. The entire text is a confession of an 18-year-old heroine who lives at the turn of the 70s and 80s of the last century in Northern Ireland. Her life was unremarkable until the Milkman appeared in her. The heroine has a secret connection with him, which very quickly becomes public knowledge. Now the fate of the girl is being closely watched not only by her relatives and friends, but also by the inhabitants of her hometown and even by the special services.

8. "In memory of memory", Maria Stepanova

Critics call Maria Stepanova's new novel "In Memory of Memory" one of the most important texts in Russian written in recent years. The book is based on an attempt to recreate the history of one's own family, which leads to the question of the very possibility of preserving the memory of the past. This is an analysis of the family archive, which turns into a reflection on the main events of the 20th century. The author expresses the idea that people and their traces disappear, things are deprived of their purpose, testimonies speak in dead languages - and only we remain, one on one with our past.

9. "Man and Woman in the Age of the Dinosaurs," Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is a famous Canadian writer, whose fame was brought by the novel "The Handmaid's Tale", brilliantly filmed in 2017. "Man and Woman in the Age of Dinosaurs" is a new work by the author, the story of which is built around a completely classic love triangle. But, despite the triviality of the topic, Atwood managed to get away from the routine. Her view of family and relationships between people is special, unlike any other. The writer is sure that love cannot be replaced by affection, and all of us, like the heroes of her novel, want to know what we live for.

10. "American", Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's books have won many prestigious literary awards, and her third novel, Americanha, won one of the most prestigious US literary awards in 2013, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and surpassed Donna Tartt's bestseller The Goldfinch. … The thing is that the author raises a painful and significant topic for each of us. Through the story of two adolescents in love, separated by fate, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi addresses the question of how the idea of our homeland and home lives and changes in us, about the shades of parting and returning.

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