12 Books Like the Before Sunrise Trilogy
Oldies, goodies, and tortured love, right this way
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve revisited the Before Sunrise trilogy, one of my all-time favorites. In case you need a refresher, or *gasp* you’ve never watched them, here’s the skinny: Directed by Richard Linklater, the film franchise opens when two young travelers randomly meet on a train from Budapest to Paris. Jesse, played by a babyfaced Ethan Hawke has about 20 hours to kill before boarding a plane back to the U.S. from Vienna. Struck by the ease of their conversation on the train, he invites Céline, a Parisian played by Julie Delpy, to spend the day together. She does, and the rest is a visceral gut punch to the heart/soul/existence. If you haven’t watched the films (whyyyy), I won’t share any other spoilers.
Followed by two later installments, the film series considers destiny, true love, and a lot of other life shit that most of us encounter at some point in adulthood, whether we like it or not. This got me thinking about books that do the same — there are plenty of novels that take on these heady concepts and theories, but few achieve believable plots and characterization as tools for exploring these themes. Many of these books double as the perfect titles to hunker down with for any upcoming time off you may have planned (and, in some cases, could even work for gifts, just be sure to read the synopsis first).
See you at the train station 😉 .
12 Books Like the Before Sunrise Trilogy
“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” - Gabrielle Zevin
“A Little Life” - Hanya Yanagihara (please don’t gift this to anyone)
“Fates and Furies” - Laura Groff
“This Time Tomorrow” - Emma Straub
“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” - Ocean Vuong
“The Great Believers” - Rebecca Makkai (another one that’s not gift material, unless you love a group cry sesh, in which case, go for it)
“Beautiful World, Where Are You?” - Sally Rooney
“A Visit From the Goon Squad” - Jennifer Egan
“The Candy House” - Jennifer Egan
“NW” - Zadie Smith
“The Topeka School” - Ben Lerner
“Never Let Me Go” - Kazuo Ishiguro