Books like

Books like I'll Be Right There

12 books with a reading profile close to I'll Be Right There by Kyung-Sook Shin. Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

Drown

by Junot Díaz

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Drown is a debut short story collection told mostly by Yunior, who grows up between a poor neighborhood in the Dominican Republic and the industrial towns of New Jersey.
2

Indian Horse

by Richard Wagamese

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Saul Indian Horse is an Ojibway man telling the story of his life from a treatment centre.
3

The Thing Around Your Neck

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2009 collection consists of twelve stories documenting the experiences of Nigerians navigating life in their home country and as immigrants in the United States.
4

We the Animals

by Justin Torres

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Three brothers, the youngest of whom narrates, grow up in upstate New York with a Puerto Rican father and a white mother who love them fiercely and also hurt them.
5

Another Brooklyn

by Jacqueline Woodson

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

In the 1970s, August moves from Tennessee to Bushwick, Brooklyn, after the death of her mother.
6

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

by Deesha Philyaw

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Deesha Philyaw’s short story collection centers on the private lives of Black women navigating the tension between traditional Christian morality and their own physical desires.
7

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

by Kate Atkinson

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Ruby Lennox begins her story at the moment of her conception in 1951 in York, and narrates her family's history through her own eyes.
8

Dream Count

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

The novel centers on Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer living in America during the pandemic, as she examines the intersections of her past romances and her current desires.
9

French Braid

by Anne Tyler

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

The Garrett family of Baltimore are followed over several decades, starting in 1959 when Mercy and David Garrett go on a family vacation to a lakeside spot.
10

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

by Sherman Alexie

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Sherman Alexie's linked stories follow Native American characters on and around the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State.
11

Breathing Lessons

by Anne Tyler

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Maggie and Ira Moran, a married couple in their fifties in Baltimore, drive to the funeral of a friend's husband in Pennsylvania.
12

The little disturbances of man

by Grace Paley

Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, literary

Set in the cramped apartments and bustling streets of mid-century New York City, these short stories focus on the domestic lives of Jewish women navigating family friction and romantic disappointment.

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