Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Complex
The Sound and the Fury
by William Faulkner
Tragic story of the decline of a southern family, exploring the human condition.
The first section of the novel is narrated by Benjamin "Benjy" Compson, a source of shame to the family due to his diminished mental capacity; the only characters who show genuine care for him are ... (Wikipedia)
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
A prince's struggle with grief, revenge, and morality in the face of a corrupt court.
The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet , and nephew of King Claudius , his father's brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King ... (Wikipedia)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
A young woman's struggles against societal expectations, and her journey of resilience and self-realization.
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141439594 . When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting ... (Goodreads)
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
A nobleman's ambition leads to a dark and bloody descent into tragedy.
Three witches resolve to meet Macbeth after the battle. Victory is reported to King Duncan. Duncan is impressed by reports of Macbeth's conduct so transfers the rebellious Thane of Cawdor's title to ... (Wikipedia)
Elric of Melniboné
by Michael Moorcock
Hero's journey to reclaim his kingdom, encountering powerful allies and foes along the way.
Elric of Melniboné is a requisite title in the hard fantasy canon, a book no fantasy fan should leave unread. Author Michael Moorcock, already a major player in science fiction, cemented his position ... (Goodreads)
Forest Mage
by Robin Hobb
A tale of redemption and survival set in the forests of the Six Duchies.
The story picks up where Shaman's Crossing left off. The Gernian Cavalla Academy is recovering from the devastating effects of Speck plague, a disease causing severe dysentery. The disease has run ... (Wikipedia)
Marina
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A young man's mysterious journey of love, deceit and secrets in Barcelona.
The novel begins with Oscar's reasoning about the past. And the main events start at the end of September 1979 in Barcelona. The novel narrates two parallel stories. The principal one is the history ... (Wikipedia)
The Fall of Hyperion
by Dan Simmons
Epic space opera, exploring the consequences of a universe-shattering event.
The Hegemony is an interstellar governmental entity formed by many planets, most of which are connected by instantaneous farcaster portals. Some worlds, like Hyperion, have no farcaster portals and ... (Wikipedia)
Notes from Underground
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A portrait of the struggles of a troubled man, exploring his inner turmoil.
The novel is divided into two parts. Serving as an introduction into the mind of the narrator, the first part of Notes from Underground is split into nine chapters: The narrator observes that utopian ... (Wikipedia)
The Waste Land and Other Poems
by T.S. Eliot
A collection of poems exploring themes of identity, mortality, and spiritual and psychological desolation.
The Waste Land and Other Poems , by T. S. Eliot , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Wasp Factory
by Iain Banks
A disturbed teenage boy discovers startling truths about his family and himself.
The story is told from the perspective of 16-year-old Frank Cauldhame. Frank lives with his father on a small island in rural Scotland , and he has not seen his mother in many years. There is no ... (Wikipedia)
World Gone By
by Dennis Lehane
A former gangster navigates the criminal underworld of 1940s Florida while trying to protect his family. Loyalties are tested and secrets are revealed.
Ten years after the events chronicled in the prior novel,, Live by Night, , Joe Coughlin is working as the consigliere to the crime family headed by his former partner Dion Bartolo. Outwardly, Joe is ... (Wikipedia)
Finnegans Wake
by James Joyce
A dream-like exploration of the subconscious, featuring wordplay, puns, and allusions.
A story with no real beginning or end (it ends in the middle of a sentence and begins in the middle of the same sentence), this "book of Doublends Jined" is as remarkable for its prose as for its ... (Goodreads)
The Mirror of Her Dreams
by Stephen R. Donaldson
A woman's quest to discover her true identity amidst a fantastical world of dreams and magic.
Terisa Morgan opens the series living a vacant life, supported by her father from afar and volunteering at a mission for lack of anything more purposeful to do with her time. She fills her apartment ... (Wikipedia)
The Nix
by Nathan Hill
A middle-aged man's quest to discover the truth about his mother and his own identity.
The Nix is an American epic novel in 10 parts that follows community college professor of English, Samuel Andresen-Anderson who is struggling to find meaning in his life in the years following his ... (Wikipedia)
Sons and Lovers
by D.H. Lawrence
A young man's struggle between his loyalty to his family and his desire for independence.
The refined daughter of a "good old burgher family," Gertrude Coppard meets a rough-hewn miner, Walter Morel, at a Christmas dance and falls into a whirlwind romance characterised by physical ... (Wikipedia)
Death Note, Vol. 7: Zero
by Tsugumi Ohba
A young man's quest to create a utopian world through eliminating criminals with his supernatural notebook.
After a high-speed chase, Light and the task force apprehend the newest Kira. Light regains his Death Note and his memories, and the depths of his cunning are revealed as the plans he carefully put ... (Goodreads)
The Magus
by John Fowles
A man's search for truth, enlightenment and freedom amid a web of deception.
The story reflects the perspective of Nicholas Urfe, a young Oxford graduate and aspiring poet. After graduation, he briefly works as a teacher at a small school, but becomes bored and decides to ... (Wikipedia)
The Blinding Knife
by Brent Weeks
A magical adventure to save the world, filled with powerful forces of good and evil.
The Blinding Knife begins four days after the end of the previous novel. The Prism, 'Gavin'/Dazen, sends Kip back to the Chromeria with Ironfist, instructing him to become a Blackguard. With Karris ... (Wikipedia)
True West
by Sam Shepard
Two estranged brothers reunite and clash over their conflicting lifestyles and aspirations in the American West.
True West is about the sibling rivalry between two estranged brothers who have reconnected. The play begins with brothers Austin and Lee sitting in their mother's house. This is the first time ... (Wikipedia)
The Feast of All Saints
by Anne Rice
Follows a Creole family's struggle with racism and oppression in 19th century Louisiana.
This novel is about the gens de couleur libres , or free people of color , who lived in New Orleans before the Civil War . The gens de couleur libres were the descendants of European settlers of ... (Wikipedia)
Purity
by Jonathan Franzen
A young woman's quest to uncover her identity and family secrets.
The novel tells the intersecting stories of several different people of widely diverging ages and backgrounds. Purity Tyler, who goes by the name "Pip" is 23 and has $130,000 in student loan debt. ... (Wikipedia)
Dirty Red
by Tarryn Fisher
A manipulative woman named Leah Smithson tries to win back her ex-husband Caleb, who is now married to her former best friend.
Dear Opportunist, You thought you could take him from me, but you lost. Now, that he's mine I'll do anything to keep him. Do you doubt me? I have everything that was supposed to be yours. In case you ... (Goodreads)
The Golden Bowl
by Henry James
Exploration of a marriage doomed by infidelity and hidden secrets.
Prince Amerigo, an impoverished but charismatic Italian nobleman, is in London for his marriage to Maggie Verver, only child of the widower Adam Verver, the fabulously wealthy American financier and ... (Wikipedia)
Sanctuary
by William Faulkner
A Southern Gothic story of a man's attempt to escape the consequences of his past.
The novel is set in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County , Mississippi and takes place in May/June 1929. In May 1929, Horace Benbow, a lawyer frustrated with his life and family, suddenly leaves ... (Wikipedia)
The Iceman Cometh
by Eugene O'Neill
A group of alcoholics in a New York City bar confront their delusions and shattered dreams when a former friend visits.
The Iceman Cometh is set in New York in 1912 in Harry Hope's downmarket Greenwich Village saloon and rooming house . The patrons, twelve men and three prostitutes, are dead-end alcoholics who spend ... (Wikipedia)
Watchmen #1: At Midnight, All The Agents....
by Alan Moore
A retired superhero investigates the murder of a former colleague, uncovering a conspiracy that threatens the world.
Watchmen Chapter 1 of 12: At Midnight, All The Agents... ... (Goodreads)
Confess
by Colleen Hoover
Auburn Reed falls in love with an artist named Owen Gentry, but their pasts threaten to tear them apart.
Auburn Reed is determined to rebuild her shattered life and she has no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to become deeply attracted ... (Goodreads)
Astrid and Veronika
by Linda Olsson
Two women from different generations form an unlikely friendship in a remote Swedish village, healing each other's emotional wounds.
Veronika 32, a writer whose boyfriend just drowned in New Zealand, rents a house in a small Swedish village next door to recluse Astrid 81. They share walks, meals, wine, and dangerous memories. ... (Goodreads)
Mrityunjaya, The Death Conqueror: The Story Of Karna
by Shivaji Sawant
The search for the meaning of Being is man's eternal quest and the subject of his greatest creations. Shivaji Sawant's Mrityunjaya is an outstanding instance of such a literary masterpiece in which a ... (Goodreads)
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