All Hail the Great American (Family) Novel
The novelist will see you now.
Call me crazy, but I find it hard to believe that the great American novel exists. Maybe in theory or concept, but in practice, it’s an ever-fleeting target that few have managed to capture (Toni Morrison is one, Faulkner is another). But similar to its kissing cousin, the American dream, it’s best left to conversation and debate rather than blind pursuit, lest you find yourself aimlessly wandering in a maze of fruitless disappointment.
(This isn’t to say that folks can’t attain the American dream — whatever that is to them — but with the swarming systemic injustices in this country, I’d be remiss to pretend that it’s within reach for everyone, no matter their talent, drive or work ethic. That’s why success stories are so captivating: They’re about folks who have “made it” despite the towering stack of challenges that could have derailed their ascension.)
Reading all of the attempts to achieve such a title as The Great American Novel, though, is rife with pleasure and enjoyment — and to be clear, it doesn’t make the books that fall short of such a label any less good. Careers have been forged on critiquing such efforts (hi, it’s me, I’m the problem, it’s me). While I experience heaps of joy reading pretty much anything I can get my hands on that *might* be the next great American novel, there’s a subsidiary of this genre (if that’s what we’re calling it) that has no shortage of contenders: the great American family novel.
Dissecting the American family unit as a vehicle for larger examination of the U.S. is, perhaps, one of the most accessible entry points — for the reader, no less difficult fot the writers, I’m afraid — for that conversation. And lucky for us readers, there’s a range of authors who have hitched their cart to the gravy train (yes, that’s a Thanksgiving joke, let me live).
So, as we settle down around the dinner table with our share of triggers, traumas, and loved ones (I kid, I kid!), it made sense to my dysfunctional brain to share this reading list of absolute bangers centered on the American family. Gobble gobble, happy reading.
15 Novels on the American Family
“Bastard Out of Carolina” - Dorothy Allison
“Harlem Shuffle” - Colson Whitehead
“The Virgin Suicides” - Jeffrey Eugenides
“Lot” - Bryan Washington
“The Sound and the Fury” - William Faulkner
“The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois” - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
“We Are the Brennans” - Tracey Lange
“Salvage the Bones” - Jesmyn Ward
“Crossroads” - Jonathan Franzen (honestly, anything by Franzen could qualify for this category)
“We the Animals” - Justin Torres
“them” - Joyce Carol Oates
“Beloved” - Toni Morrison
“White Noise” - Don Delillo
“Little Fires Everywhere” - Celeste Ng
“Tom Lake” - Ann Patchett