Novels told in an interesting way

130 replies

petronella23 · 08/11/2023 16:57

Can't quite think how to phrase what I mean, but has anyone got any recommendations for books told in an interesting way/that push the format outside the standard way?

I'm thinking for example of The Appeal by Janice Hallet which is a sort of solve-along murder mystery told by setting out all the documents in the case.

So I'm thinking epistolary novels or books that only use dialogue....things like that.

Interested to read something really clever that really works, and doesn't just feel like a gimmick!

OP posts:

GoodOldEmmaNess · 08/11/2023 17:18

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha has a really interesting naive and rather disturbing narration, from the perspective of its central child character. The Tin Drum is similarly interesting and disturbing.

BoldFearlessGirl · 08/11/2023 17:14

CJ Tudor - The Drift.
Anything by Catriona Ward (although Looking Glass Sound pushed the cleverness just a tad too far for me).
Penance - Eliza Clark. Quite grueling subject matter, though.

heldinadream · 08/11/2023 17:10

Aaand again - have a look at Richard Powers' The Overstory, again multiple stories all based around trees and another amazing writer IMHO - look at his other stuff too if you're interested- more conventional formats but amazing writing.

heldinadream · 08/11/2023 17:07

Me again! David Mitchell, not the comedian, has written a number of novels, I haven't read his later stuff but his first and third novels, Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas (which was filmed) are both numerous interlocking stories across time and he is a phenomenal writer IMHO.

heldinadream · 08/11/2023 17:01

Martin Amis's Time's Arrow is a life written in reverse. Was shortlisted for the Booker in the early 90s, I think it was. I thought it was brilliant - won't say any more about it in case you decide to read it!

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