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Magical Realism recommendations

59 replies

gingerninja · 13/03/2008 20:42

I'm reading 100 yrs of Solitude and I've read other Gabriel Garcia Marquez and bit of Salmon Rushdie and while I quite like the writing style I'm finding GGM a bit hard going. I think it's because I'm not familiar with South American culture or spanish so get lost with names and cultural / political references.

Can anyone recommend anyone else? Are there any Brits writing in this genre? I'm not familiar with it outside these few books.

OP posts:
toomuchcake · 17/03/2008 14:59

I love Gabriel Garcia marquez but think you have to read 100 years of solitude in a one-er or you get v confused. Angela carter was brilliant too - the magic toyshop and wise children are my other favourites by her. Not sure you would describe them as magic realism but Haruki Murakami's books are fantastic. Would recommend wind up bird chronicle or Kafka on the shore.

FlossieTCake · 17/03/2008 14:16

LaComtesse - was that Irish one The New Policeman (Kate Thompson)? Certainly fits your description.

++ votes for Beloved and Paradise. Never understood why the latter got slated when it was published (but then, I wrote one of my finals dissertations on Toni Morrison so am somewhat biased! Paradise was published in the US 6 weeks before my deadline so I had rather an 'intense' relationship with it....)

Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma has a MR feel to it - strange and improbable things happening in a realistic sort of way.

Kevin Brockmeier - A Brief History of the Dead

Time-Traveller's Wife could arguably be put in this box too. Bit of a love-it-or-hate-it book though.

IorekByrnison · 17/03/2008 11:08

Another vote for Nights at the Circus.

GooseyLoosey · 17/03/2008 10:45

What about Neil Gaiman - American Gods and Anansi Boys. Quite American though.

Rhymenocerous · 17/03/2008 10:38

The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith or other books by Peter Carey

policywonk · 17/03/2008 10:33

Thank you sfx (about Saramago) - I feel comforted! I'll try 'Blindness' if I come across it.

Ellbell · 16/03/2008 21:54

Ooh, I want to read 'Blindness'. It sounds quite harrowing, but good.

What about Calvino? Probably closest to what you're looking for is the trilogy published as 'Our Ancestors' (Baron in the Trees, The Cloven Viscount, The Invisible Knight).

sfxmum · 16/03/2008 21:40

omg Robertson Davies love him all his trilogies and Ghost stories, Marchbanks etc love love love him

fireflytoo · 16/03/2008 21:38

Not sure if this quite fits... Ursula le Guin's "Alwyas coming home" and "Four ways to forgiveness".

Can't remember the author... Life of Pi.

Time traveller's wife

(Vikram Seth - An equal music. Not the genre but such a beautiful book I just had to recommend it)

marina · 16/03/2008 21:32

Robertson Davies, late Canadian writer, wonderful magical realist

LaComtesse · 16/03/2008 21:25

Not sure if Jasper Fforde counts as magic realism or not but they're quite quirky reads.

Bewilderbeast · 16/03/2008 21:20

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
The General in his Labyrinth
Astonishing the Gods
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts
Like Water for Chocolate
swift as desire
santa evita

sfxmum · 16/03/2008 21:04

policywonk no wonder you did not get it probably the very worst to start. it is a brilliant book based on the poetry of Fernando Pessoa (the big cheese - poet) and the writings of Ricardo Reis one of his heteronyms, more of a personae than a pen name (Pessoa had at least 4 of those)
read Blindness it is quite good and unfortunately about to come out as an american movie.

very sorry for hijack again

love Atkinson Carte and Morrison too

policywonk · 16/03/2008 20:30

sfx - I tried to read The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis and found it really unfathomable. However, I'd never heard of RR (I gather he's a big cheese in Portugal?) so that might have made it more difficult!

Oooh, I LOVE Paradise, allegrageller

funnyhaha · 16/03/2008 20:08

Oh, yes Kate Atkinson - although I think she's a love-or-hate sort - has a very distinctive voice. Her short stories (Not the end of the world) are wonderful

allegrageller · 16/03/2008 20:03

Think Toni Morrison counts as a magical realist- have you read Beloved?? And Paradise also vg.

Totally second the Kate Atkinson.

LaComtesse · 16/03/2008 20:02

I read a really good one based in Ireland where time was flyng past and no one knew how to stop it - I'll check my library record and come back to you .

LaComtesse · 16/03/2008 20:00

Atkinson even

LaComtesse · 16/03/2008 19:59

Angela Carter is fabby for MR, Nights at the Circus is a really great read.

Try Kate Aktinson - Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Human Croquet too. She's written some more I think.

funnyhaha · 16/03/2008 19:56

Oh, and where are you up to in 100years, gingerninja - imo it really starts motoring in the last third (after the war...)

funnyhaha · 16/03/2008 19:55

Hugely recommend Angela Carter for a feminist take on MR-Nights at the Circus is my fave, although A New Eve is up their on the weird stakes...

sfxmum · 16/03/2008 19:53

just out of curiosity what did you start reading?

sfxmum · 16/03/2008 19:52

not much gosh about it really as he is a compatriot and I have read him since my teens.
I think he has a special rhythm besides being very funny often in a subtle way.
over the last 15yrs I have mostly read the english translations and they are very very good indeed.
but granted not all his books are that accessible.

love Marguerite Yourcenar too and she is barely known in England

and Jorge is more realism than magic realism but still thought I would recommend

policywonk · 16/03/2008 15:31

Gosh, you've actually read Saramago? I tried once and found it utterly unbearable! Really couldn't get past the first chapter. Mind you, seeing as he's won the Nobel Prize, I guess this says more about me than it does about him.

sfxmum · 16/03/2008 10:38

Jorge Amado Brazilian

Jose Saramago Portuguese

both favourites and brilliant
although JA lots sex don't read if easily shocked