Books like The Sorrows of Young Werther
12 books with a reading profile close to The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
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1
White Nights
Also deep and inward-looking · romance, psychology
Set during the luminous summer twilight of Saint Petersburg, the story follows a lonely narrator who lives almost entirely within his own imagination.
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2
Confessions of a Mask
by Yukio Mishima, Meredith Weatherby
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
The novel chronicles the internal struggles of its narrator, Kochan, as he navigates his adolescence and young adulthood in post-war Japan.
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3
The Meek One
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
A middle-aged pawnbroker ponders the corpse of his young wife, who has just committed suicide by jumping from their window while holding an icon.
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4
The Lover
Also deep and inward-looking · romance, literary
Set in 1930s French Indochina, the narrative centers on a fifteen-year-old French girl from a financially destitute family who begins a clandestine affair with a wealthy Chinese heir.
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5
Passing
by Nella Larsen, Matthew Hodgson
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
Set in 1920s Harlem and Chicago, the narrative follows the unexpected reunion of two childhood friends, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry.
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6
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
Set on a Mississippi Delta cotton estate, the narrative centers on the Pollitt family during Big Daddy’s sixty-fifth birthday.
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7
A Doll's House
by Henrik Ibsen
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
Nora Helmer lives as a pampered wife and mother under the strict domestic authority of her husband, Torvald.
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8
The End of the Affair
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
Set in London during and after the Blitz, the novel follows Maurice Bendrix, a novelist who begins a physical relationship with Sarah Miles, the wife of a civil servant.
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9
The Seagull
by Anton Chekhov, Laurence Senelick
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
Konstantin Treplev, an aspiring playwright, stages an experimental outdoor performance to impress Nina Zarechnaya, a young actress whom he loves.
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10
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Edward Albee
Also deep and inward-looking · psychology, literary
Middle-aged history professor George and his wife Martha return home after a campus party and invite a younger couple, Nick and Honey, for late-night drinks.
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11
Love in the Time of Cholera
Also deep and inward-looking · romance, literary
In the twilight of the nineteenth century, Florentino Ariza falls into a lifelong obsession with Fermina Daza, a woman who eventually rejects his youthful advances to marry Dr.
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12
If Beale Street Could Talk
Also deep and inward-looking · romance, literary
Set in 1970s Harlem, the story follows nineteen-year-old Tish Rivers and her fiancé, Fonny Hunt, an aspiring sculptor.
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