Books like

Books like We Do Not Part

12 books with a reading profile close to We Do Not Part by Han Kang. Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

1

The Sea

by John Banville

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

Max Morden, a retired art historian, returns to the Irish seaside town of Ballyless following the death of his wife, Anna.
2

Middlesex

by Jeffrey Eugenides

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

Callie Stephanides grows up in mid-century Detroit as a girl, unaware that she carries a rare genetic mutation inherited from her Greek grandparents.
3

The People in the Trees

by Hanya Yanagihara

Also deep and open-ended · dense, narrative

Norton Perina, an ambitious young immunologist, travels to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in 1950 to investigate a lost tribe.
4

Sula

by Toni Morrison

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

In the segregated neighborhood of Medallion, Ohio, Nel Wright and Sula Peace share a girlhood bond that fractures as they enter adulthood.
5

The Complete Stories

by Flannery O'Connor

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

This 1971 collection brings together thirty-one stories set largely in the rural American South.
6

Song of Solomon

by Toni Morrison

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

Macon "Milkman" Dead III grows up in a wealthy but emotionally stifled Black household in Michigan, isolated from the struggles of his community and the history of his ancestors.
7

4 3 2 1

by Paul Auster

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

Archie Ferguson is born in Newark in 1947, the son of a Jewish furniture-store owner.
8

The God of Small Things

by Arundhati Roy

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

Set in Ayemenem, Kerala, during the late 1960s, the story follows fraternal twins Rahel and Estha as they navigate a rigid social hierarchy.
9

We need to talk about Kevin

by Lionel Shriver

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

Eva Khatchadourian writes a series of letters to her estranged husband, Franklin, following a mass murder committed by their teenage son, Kevin, at his high school.
10

Atonement

by Ian McEwan

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

On a sweltering English day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis observes a series of adult interactions she lacks the emotional maturity to interpret.
11

NW

by Zadie Smith

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

NW focuses on four Londoners—Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan—who grew up in the Caldwell council estate in the NW6 postcode.
12

American Pastoral

by Philip Roth

Also deep and inward-looking · dense, narrative

Seymour "Swede" Levov represents the fulfillment of the mid-century American dream as a successful Newark businessman, star athlete, and family man.

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