Books like 'Abeng'
Readers who enjoyed Abeng by Michelle Cliff also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical 20th century action / adventure historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction realistic university coming-of-age bildungsroman
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The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsFrom the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man's life, beginning and ending in post-war IrelandCyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age historical-fiction humor journey lgbtq literary-fiction realistic -
![Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali]()
Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsAvailable in English for the first time, this best-selling Turkish classic of love and alienation in a changing world captures the vibrancy of interwar Berlin. A shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade and discover life in 1920s Berlin... -
![Pather Panchali: Song of the Road by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay]()
Pather Panchali: Song of the Road by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPather Panchali deals with the life of the Roy family, consisting of Harihar, Sarbajaya, Apu and Durga, both in their ancestral village Nishchindipur in rural Bengal and later when they move to Varanasi in search of a better life, as well as the anguish and loss they face during their travels... -
![The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov]()
The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsOstap Bender is an unemployed con artist living by his wits in postrevolutionary Soviet Russia. He joins forces with Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, a former nobleman who has returned to his hometown to find a cache of missing jewels which were hidden in some chairs that have been appropriated by the Soviet authorities...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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![They Burn Thistles by Yaşar Kemal]()
They Burn Thistles by Yaşar Kemal
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis is the story of a bitter war between the poor Turkish peasants of the Taurus Mountains and the Aghas who covet their land. Ali Safa is determined to take possession of the village of Vayvay but its inhabitants will not sell. Then one villager weakens, prepared to part with his land in return for the Agha's best stallion...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book classics -
![Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov]()
Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsRichard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the highly acclaimed translators of and which was an Oprah Book Club pick and million-copy bestseller, bring their unmatched talents to a collection of thirty of Chekhov’s best tales from the major periods of his creative life... -
![This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer]()
This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMinke is a young Javanese student of great intelligence and ambition. Living equally among the colonists and colonized of 19th-century Java, he battles against the confines of colonial strictures. It is his love for Annelies that enables him to find the strength to embrace his world... -
![Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar]()
Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn aspiring photographer follows her dreams and faces her fears in a poignant novel about finding beauty, promise, and love amid the chaos of war-torn Kurdistan.It’s 1979. Olivia Murray, a secretary at a Los Angeles newspaper, is determined to become a photojournalist and make a difference with her work... -
![The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra, Mark Bramhall]()
The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra, Mark Bramhall
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena—dazzling, poignant, and lyrical interwoven stories about family, sacrifice, the legacy of war, and the redemptive power of art.This stunning, exquisitely written collection introduces a cast of remarkable characters whose lives intersect in ways both life-affirming and heartbreaking...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction humor journey literary-fiction realistic 20th-century 21st-century -
![The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright, Pamela Dillman]()
The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright, Pamela Dillman
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSYNOPSIS: Meet the Melendys! Mona, the eldest, is thirteen. She has decided to become an actress and can recite poetry at the drop of a hat. Rush is twelve and a bit mischievous. Miranda is ten and a half. She loves dancing and painting pictures. Oliver is the youngest. At six, he is a calm and thoughful person...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
![Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens, Kevin Stillwell]()
Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens, Kevin Stillwell
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe summer of 1976 is a turning point for 15-year-old Boady Sanden. He's managed to outrun and outwit the bullying seniors throughout his freshman year at St. Ignatius High; he's working multiple jobs for Wally Schenicker's construction company; and he finally makes a friend his own age--Thomas Elgin, son of the only black family on Boady's side of town... -
![Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories by Ghassan Kanafani]()
Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories by Ghassan Kanafani
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPolitics and the novel, Ghassan Kanafani once said, are an indivisible case. Fadl al-Naqib has reflected that Kanafani wrote the Palestinian story, then he was written by it. His narratives offer entry into the Palestinian experience of the conflict that has anguished the people of the Middle East for more than a century...Categorized as:
historical-fiction university colonization realistic fiction politics classics historical -
![A History of Loneliness by John Boyne]()
A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsPropelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly respected, and Odran believes that he is pledging his life to "the good."Forty years later, Odran's devotion is caught in revelations that shatter the Irish people's faith in the Catholic Church... -
![Small Country by Gaël Faye]()
Small Country by Gaël Faye
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratings‘A luminous and poignant novel about childhood, war, exile and identity…this is literature at its most powerful’ Le Parisien Magazine Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expat neighbourhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister, Ana, is something close to paradise... -
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![Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories by Ghassan Kanafani]()
Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories by Ghassan Kanafani
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis collection of important stories by novelist, journalist, teacher, and Palestinian activist Ghassan Kanafani includes the stunning novella Men in the Sun (1962), the basis of the The Deceived. Also in the volume are "The Land of Sad Oranges" (1958), "'If You Were a Horse.. -
![The Third Wedding by Costas Taktsis, Κώστας Ταχτσής]()
The Third Wedding by Costas Taktsis, Κώστας Ταχτσής
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe German Occupation, the Civil War and life itself seen through the eyes of two Athenian women... -
![This Is Happiness by Niall Williams, Shashi Martynova]()
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams, Shashi Martynova
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAbout This Is HappinessThe most enchanting novel you'll read this year, from the acclaimed author of Man Booker-longlisted History of the RainChange is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn't changed in a thousand years.For one thing, the rain is stopping. Nobody remembers when it started; rain on the western seaboard is a condition of living... -
![The Diviners by Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood]()
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Diviners is the culmination and completion of Margaret Laurence's Manawaka cycle.This is the powerful story of an independent woman who refuses to abandon her search for love. For Morag Gunn, growing up in a small Canadian prairie town is a toughening process – putting distance between herself and a world that wanted no part of her... -
![My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, Azar Nafisi]()
My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, Azar Nafisi
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA teenage boy makes the mistake of falling in love with the much-protected daughter of his uncle, mischievously nicknamed after his hero Napoleon Bonaparte, the curmudgeonly self-appointed patriarch of a large and extended Iranian family in 1940s Tehran... -
![The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta]()
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNnu Ego is a woman who gives all her energy, money and everything she has to raising her children - leaving her little time to make friends... -
![What the Day Owes the Night by Yasmina Khadra]()
What the Day Owes the Night by Yasmina Khadra
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings'If a woman loves you, Younes, if she truly loves you, and if you have the wisdom to appreciate this great privilege, then there is no god to touch you.'As a young man Younes' life is irrevocably changed when he leaves his broken home for the vibrant, colourful and affluent European district of Río Salado... -
![Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima, Michael Gallagher]()
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima, Michael Gallagher
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTokyo, 1912. The closed world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders - rich provincial families, a new and powerful political and social elite.Kiyoaki has been raised among the elegant Ayakura family - members of the waning aristocracy - but he is not one of them... -
![Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi]()
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsUrsula Hegi draws parallels between groups of outsiders in this dramatic audiobook set in Germany. Trudi Montag, the town librarian, feels dissociated from society because she is a dwarf. In her role as librarian, Trudi meticulously archives secrets, stories, and history, all of which become her source of power when the townspeople allow Jews to be mistreated during World War II... -
![An Instant in the Wind by André P. Brink]()
An Instant in the Wind by André P. Brink
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe year is 1749, when the Boers ruled South Africa. And so it has come to his Baas's final command to his Hottentot slave Adam, to flog his mother, because she refuses to prune the master's vineyard in order to attend her own beloved mother's funeral. And when he refuses to do so, and his Baas smashes his face with a piece of wood, Adam turns on him, and beats him almost to death...Categorized as:
colonization historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book drama -
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![The Autumn of the Ace by Louis de Bernières]()
The Autumn of the Ace by Louis de Bernières
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLouis de Bernières is the master of historical fiction which makes you both laugh and cry. This book follows an unforgettable family after the Second World War.Daniel Pitt was an RAF fighter in the First World War and an espionage agent for the SOE in the Second. Now the conflicts he faces are closer to home...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction colonization coming-of-age fiction historical war audiobook -
![The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth]()
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsConsidered by critics to be Barth's most distinguished masterpiece, The Sot-Weed Factor has acquired the status of a modern classic. Set in the late 1600s, it recounts the wildly chaotic odyssey of hapless, ungainly Ebenezer Cooke, sent to the New World to look after his father's tobacco business and to record the struggles of the Maryland colony in an epic poem...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Paper Wife by Laila Ibrahim]()
Paper Wife by Laila Ibrahim
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of Yellow Crocus comes a heart-wrenching story about finding strength in a new world. Southern China, 1923. Desperate to secure her future, Mei Ling’s parents arrange a marriage to a widower in California. To enter the country, she must pretend to be her husband’s first wife—a paper wife.On the perilous voyage, Mei Ling takes an orphan girl named Siew under her wing... -
![Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, René Huigen]()
Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, René Huigen
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsBig, generous-hearted Benny and the elfin Eve Malone have been best friends growing up in sleepy Knockglen. Their one thought is to get to Dublin, to university and to freedom...On their first day at University College, Dublin, the inseparable pair are thrown together with fellow students Nan Mahon, beautiful but selfish, and handsome Jack Foley...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction humor journey literary-fiction realistic university 20th-century -
![Mollie Peer: or, The Underground Adventure of the Moosepath League by Van Reid]()
Mollie Peer: or, The Underground Adventure of the Moosepath League by Van Reid
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the second hilarious adventure of the Moosepath League, Mollie Peer, the feisty society columnist for the Eastern Argus, follows up on a lead she hopes will win her that elusive promotion to reporter... -
![Island of Shattered Dreams by Chantal T. Spitz]()
Island of Shattered Dreams by Chantal T. Spitz
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFinally in English, Island of Shattered Dreams is the first ever novel by an indigenous Tahitian writer. In a lyrical and immensely moving style, this book combines a family saga and a doomed love story, set against the background of French Polynesia in the period leading up to the first nuclear tests...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey colonization fiction 20th-century indigenous-mc poc-mc historical -
![A Book of Memories by Péter Nádas, Imre Goldstein]()
A Book of Memories by Péter Nádas, Imre Goldstein
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis extraordinary magnum opus seems at first to be a confessional autobiographical novel in the grand manner, claiming and extending the legacy of Proust and Mann. But it is more: Peter Nadas has given us a superb contemporary psychological novel that comes to terms with the ghosts, corpses, and repressed nightmares of Europe's recent past...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey lgbtq literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
![The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart]()
The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis is an intoxicating tale of love and wonder, mothers and daughters, spiritual values and the grim legacy of slavery on the French Antillean island of Guadeloupe. Here long-suffering Telumee tells her life story and tells us about the proud line of Lougandor women she continues to draw strength from... -
![Around the World with Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III]()
Around the World with Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEncore, Encore! The brilliant sequel to the smash bestseller Auntie Mame is back and the reviews are in ..Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction humor lgbtq literary-fiction satire 20th-century action-adventure -
![Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta]()
Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA poignant story of a resourceful Nigerian woman who overcomes strict tribal domination of women and countless setbacks to achieve an independent life for herself and her children... -
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![Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare, Arshi Pipa]()
Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare, Arshi Pipa
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMasterful in its simplicity, Chronicle in Stone is a touching coming-of-age story and a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit. Surrounded by the magic of beautiful women and literature, a boy must endure the deprivations of war as he suffers the hardships of growing up. His sleepy country has just thrown off centuries of tyranny, but new waves of domination inundate his city... -
![The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper]()
The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMichelle Cooper combines the drama of pre-War Europe with the romance of debutante balls and gives us another compelling historical page turner.Sophia FitzOsborne and the royal family of Montmaray escaped their remote island home when the Germans attacked, and now find themselves in the lap of luxury...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age historical-fiction humor journey lgbtq realistic 20th-century -
![I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal]()
I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFirst published in 1971 in a typewritten edition, then finally printed in book form in 1989, I Served the King of England is "an extraordinary and subtly tragicomic novel" (The New York Times), telling the tale of Ditie, a hugely ambitious but simple waiter in a deluxe Prague hotel in the years before World War II...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor journey literary-fiction satire 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![Solar Storms by Linda Hogan, Gary Issacs]()
Solar Storms by Linda Hogan, Gary Issacs
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom Pulitzer Prize finalist Linda Hogan, Solar Storms tells the moving, “luminous” (Publishers Weekly) story of Angela Jenson, a troubled Native American girl coming of age in the foster system in Oklahoma, who decides to reunite with her family... -
![Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord by Louis de Bernières]()
Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord by Louis de Bernières
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIn this iridescent gem of a novel, Louis de Bernieres returns to the territory he mapped so well in The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, a South American country of resplendent eccentricity, gargantuan corruption, and terrifying violence, where the ordinary machinery of government has rusted and the only thing that works is magic...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor journey literary-fiction satire 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, Claire Morgan]()
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, Claire Morgan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsArguably Patricia Highsmith's finest, The Price of Salt is the story of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department-store day job, whose salvation arrives one day in the form of Carol Aird, an alluring suburban housewife in the throes of a divorce...Categorized as:
bildungsroman coming-of-age historical-fiction journey lgbtq literary-fiction realistic university -
![The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck, Susan Shillinglaw]()
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck, Susan Shillinglaw
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsEthan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island’s aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide... -
![Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III]()
Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis, Edward Everett Tanner III
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWildly successful when it was first published in 1955, Patrick Dennis' Auntie Mame sold over two million copies and stayed put on the New York Times bestseller list for 112 weeks. It was made into a play, a Broadway as well as a Hollywood musical, and a fabulous movie starring Rosalind Russell...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction humor lgbtq literary-fiction realistic satire 20th-century -
![Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga]()
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA modern classic in the African literary canon and voted in the Top Ten Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, this novel brings to the politics of decolonization theory the energy of women's rights. An extraordinarily well-crafted work, this book is a work of vision... -
![Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif, عبد الرحمن منيف]()
Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif, عبد الرحمن منيف
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSet in an unnamed Persian Gulf kingdom in the 1930s, this remarkable novel tells the story of the disruption and diaspora of a poor oasis community following the discovery of oil there. The meeting of the Arabs and the Americans who, in essence, colonize the remote region is a cultural confrontation in which religion, history, superstition, and mutual incomprehension all play a part...Categorized as:
colonization historical-fiction journey literary-fiction satire 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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![Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai]()
Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA marvelous first novel, about growing up gay in Sri Lanka...from a brilliant new writer whose next book cannot arrive here quickly enough (Kirkus Reviews)...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction humor journey lgbtq literary-fiction realistic university -
![Broken April by Ismail Kadare]()
Broken April by Ismail Kadare
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the moment that Gjorg's brother is killed by a neighbour, his own life is forfeit: for the code of Kanun requires Gjorg to kill his brother's murderer and then in turn be hunted down. After shooting his brother's killer, young Gjorg is entitled to thirty days' grace - not enough to see out the month of April.Then a visiting honeymoon couple cross the path of the fugitive...Categorized as:
historical-fiction journey literary-fiction realistic 20th-century action-adventure adult book -
![The Sorrow Of War: A Novel of North Vietnam by Bảo Ninh]()
The Sorrow Of War: A Novel of North Vietnam by Bảo Ninh
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBao Ninh, a former North Vietnamese soldier, provides a strikingly honest look at how the Vietnam War forever changed his life, his country, and the people who live there... -
![Henna House by Nomi Eve]()
Henna House by Nomi Eve
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn evocative and stirring novel about a young woman living in the fascinating and rarely portrayed community of Yemenite Jews of the mid-twentieth century, from the acclaimed author of The Family Orchard.In the tradition of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent, Henna House is the enthralling story of a woman, her family, their community, and the rituals that bind them... -
![A Dry White Season by André P. Brink]()
A Dry White Season by André P. Brink
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAs startling and powerful as when first published more than two decades ago, André Brink's classic novel, A Dry White Season, is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition, and the heavy price of morality.Ben Du Toit is a white schoolteacher in suburban Johannesburg in a dark time of intolerance and state-sanctioned apartheid... -
![Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer]()
Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShortlisted for the Booker Prize, Under the Frog follows the adventures of two young Hungarian basketball players through the turbulent years between the end of World War II and the anti-Soviet uprising of 1956...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor journey literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult book
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