Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Hopelessness
Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
Two migrant workers in Depression-era California, struggling against forces of fate.
Two migrant field workers in California on their plantation during the Great Depression—George Milton, an intelligent but uneducated man, and Lennie Small, a bulky, strong man but mentally disabled ... (Wikipedia)
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
Confronting the identity and mental health struggles of a young woman in a patriarchal society.
In 1953, Esther Greenwood, a young woman from the suburbs of Boston , gains a summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City , under editor Jay Cee; however, Esther is neither stimulated ... (Wikipedia)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Milan Kundera
A story of love and loss in a politically turbulent Czechoslovakia.
In The Unbearable Lightness of Being , Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and ... (Goodreads)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
by Dee Brown
An in-depth account of the displacement of Native American tribes by the US government.
Now a special 30th-anniversary edition in both hardcover and paperback, the classic bestselling history The New York Times called "Original, remarkable, and finally heartbreaking...Impossible to put ... (Goodreads)
Ham on Rye
by Charles Bukowski
A semi-autobiographical novel following a young man's struggles with poverty, violence and mental illness.
The novel focuses on the protagonist, Henry Chinaski, between the years of 1920 and 1941. , It begins with Chinaski's early memories. As the story progresses the reader follows his life through the ... (Wikipedia)
Dubliners
by James Joyce
Collection of stories about everyday life in Dublin, exploring the Irish psyche.
This work of art reflects life in Ireland at the turn of the last century, and by rejecting euphemism, reveals to the Irish their unromantic realities. Each of the 15 stories offers glimpses into the ... (Goodreads)
Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates
An American couple's struggle to stay afloat in suburban conventions and expectations.
Set in 1955, the novel focuses on the hopes and aspirations of Frank and April Wheeler, self-assured Connecticut suburbanites who see themselves as very different from their neighbors in the ... (Wikipedia)
The Clown
by Heinrich Böll
A young man's reflective journey through post-war Germany, exploring the consequences of war.
Hans Schnier is the "Clown" of the novel's title. He is twenty-seven years old from a very wealthy family. At the beginning of the story he arrives in Bonn, Germany. As a clown, he had to travel ... (Wikipedia)
Of Human Bondage
by W. Somerset Maugham
A young man's struggles to find a sense of purpose, despite a series of catastrophic misfortunes.
The book begins with the death of Helen Carey, the much beloved mother of nine-year-old Philip Carey. Philip has a club foot and his father had died a few months before. Now orphaned, he is sent to ... (Wikipedia)
The Return of the Native
by Thomas Hardy
A story of a man's ill-fated love, set against the wild landscape of rural England.
The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath , and, with the exception of the epilogue, Aftercourses , covers exactly a year and a day. The narrative begins on the evening of Guy ... (Wikipedia)
Requiem for a Dream
by Hubert Selby Jr.
A tale of four characters and their struggles with addiction, leading to a devastating climax.
This story follows the lives of Sara Goldfarb, her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion Silver, and his best friend Tyrone C. Love, who are all searching for the key to their dreams in their own ways. In ... (Wikipedia)
The Waste Land
by T.S. Eliot
A modernist poem exploring the social and psychological fragmentation of modern society.
The Waste Land, first published in 1922, is often regarded as T.S. Eliot's masterpiece, as well as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. The ... (Goodreads)
Chicago (P.S.)
by Alaa Al Aswany
A doctor's struggle to find justice in the face of political and social corruption.
يقول الأستاذ جلال أمين عن هذه الرواية المتميزة: ها هى رواية علاء الأسوانى الجديدة «شيكاجو» تستحق بدورها نجاحًا مماثلاً وبنفس القدر من الجدارة كالذى استحقته عمارة يعقوبيان. فرحت عند انتهائى من قراءتها ... (Goodreads)
Marabou Stork Nightmares
by Irvine Welsh
A young man struggles to make sense of the chaotic world around him.
Roy Strang narrates the book from an (at first) unexplained coma, which he has been in for the previous two years. His life in this state is a miserable affair, surrounded by uncaring doctors and his ... (Wikipedia)
Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy
A tale of struggle and sorrow for a poor, uneducated man amid the rigid conventions of Victorian England.
The novel tells the story of Jude Fawley, who lives in a village in southern England (part of Hardy's fictional county of Wessex ), who yearns to be a scholar at "Christminster", a city modelled on ... (Wikipedia)
The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin
Reflection on the plight of African Americans in a candid and deeply moving essay.
A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James ... (Goodreads)
Man's Search for Meaning
by Viktor E. Frankl
Holocaust survivor's exploration of resilience, suffering and how to find meaning in life.
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Based on his own experience and the ... (Goodreads)
No Longer Human
by Osamu Dazai
A young man's struggles with emotional turmoil and suicidal ideation.
Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human , this leading postwar Japanese writer's second novel, tells the poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a ... (Goodreads)
Poor Folk
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A tale of romance between two unprivileged people, exploring the human condition of poverty.
Varvara Dobroselova and Makar Devushkin are second cousins twice-removed and live across from each other on the same street in terrible apartments. Devushkin's, for example, is merely a portioned-off ... (Wikipedia)
Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton
Tale of doomed romance set against a harsh New England winter.
The novel is a framed narrative . The framing story concerns an unnamed male narrator spending a winter in Starkfield while in the area on business. He spots a limping, quiet man around the village, ... (Wikipedia)
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
A dystopian story about a group of people who were cloned for organ harvesting.
The story begins with Kathy H., who describes herself as a carer, talking about looking after organ donors. She has been a carer for almost twelve years at the time of narration, and she often ... (Wikipedia)
The Brief History of the Dead
by Kevin Brockmeier
Story of a world of souls, living on after death and learning to move on.
The story is set partly in the City and partly in the realm of the living, where Laura Byrd is stranded in Antarctica. The City segments focus on several different people in The City; as the book ... (Wikipedia)
Reasons to Stay Alive
by Matt Haig
A memoir exploring mental illness and its effects on the author's life.
Matt Haig’s accessible and life-affirming memoir of his struggle with depression, and how his triumph over the illness taught him to live. Like nearly one in five people, Matt Haig suffers from ... (Goodreads)
The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
A young woman's struggle to find her place in society, while being held back by her family.
The play is introduced to the audience by Tom, the narrator and protagonist, as a memory play based on his recollection of his mother Amanda and his sister Laura. Because the play is based on memory, ... (Wikipedia)
On the Beach
by Nevil Shute
After a nuclear war, the last survivors in Australia await their inevitable death from radiation poisoning.
The story is set primarily in and around Melbourne , Australia , in 1963. World War III has devastated most of the populated world, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout , and killing all ... (Wikipedia)
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
by David Sheff
An intimate look at a father's struggle to understand and help his son through his addiction.
With a new afterword Now a Major Motion Picture What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong? Those are the wrenching questions that haunted David Sheff’s journey through ... (Goodreads)
Under the Volcano
by Malcolm Lowry
A day in the life of an alcoholic British consul in Mexico, struggling with his inner demons and relationships.
Geoffrey Firmin, a former British consul, has come to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. His debilitating malaise is drinking, an activity that has overshadowed his life. On the most fateful day of the consul's ... (Goodreads)
Skagboys
by Irvine Welsh
A gritty, raw look at the lives of a group of friends in Edinburgh, struggling with poverty and addiction.
Section 1: Tempted In 1984, Mark Renton and his father Davie have travelled to Yorkshire to take part in a picket of the coke plant. After briefly meeting his London pal Nicksy, he gets caught up in ... (Wikipedia)
Junky
by William S. Burroughs
A gritty, autobiographical account of a man's descent into the underworld of addiction.
Before his 1959 breakthrough, Naked Lunch , an unknown William S. Burroughs wrote Junky , his first novel. It is a candid eye-witness account of times and places that are now long gone, an ... (Goodreads)
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
by Andrew Solomon
Exhaustive exploration of depression, its causes, and its effects on individuals and society.
With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, award-winning author Andrew Solomon takes the reader on a journey of incomparable range and resonance into the most pervasive of family secrets. ... (Goodreads)
All My Puny Sorrows
by Miriam Toews
A heart-wrenching story of two sisters as one battles depression and the other struggles to keep her alive.
The novel recounts the tumultuous relationship of the Von Riesen sisters, Elfrieda and Yolandi, the only children of an intellectual, free-spirited family from a conservative Mennonite community. ... (Wikipedia)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
by Katherine Boo
Explores the lives of the people living in Mumbai's slums and the harsh realities they face.
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the ... (Goodreads)
The House of the Dead
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Prisoners of a Siberian labor camp struggle to survive in a harsh and oppressive environment.
Accused of political subversion as a young man, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was sentenced to four years of hard labor at a Siberian prison camp — a horrifying experience from which he developed this ... (Goodreads)
Nothing
by Janne Teller
A group of teens employ shocking methods to prove the meaninglessness of life.
When Pierre-Anthon realizes there is no meaning to life, the seventh-grader leaves his classroom, climbs a tree, and stays there. His classmates cannot make him come down, not even by pelting him ... (Goodreads)
Metro 2034
by Dmitry Glukhovsky
In the south of the Metro , Sevastopolskaya Station relies on regular supplies of ammunition and other goods from the central stations to survive. Without explanation, communication is lost and ... (Wikipedia)
The Walking Dead, Book One
by Robert Kirkman
Post-apocalyptic survival story of a rag-tag group of survivors fighting against hordes of zombies.
This hardcover features the first 12 issues of the hit series along with the covers for the issues in one oversized hardcover volume. Perfect for long time fans, new readers and anyone needing a ... (Goodreads)
The Calm Before
by Robert Kirkman
Survivors of a mysterious virus battle to protect the last vestiges of humanity.
The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility., An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Mountain Between Us
by Charles Martin
Stranded in the snow-covered wilderness, two strangers must work together to survive.
On a stormy winter night, Dr. Ben Payne and writer Ashley Knox are stuck in Salt Lake City International Airport when their flights are canceled. Both are eager to reach their destinations—Ben has ... (Wikipedia)
Zoo Station: The Story of Christiane F.
by Christiane Vera Felscherinow
An autobiographical account of a teenage girl's battle with addiction, amidst a chaotic and turbulent life.
13-year-old Christiane Felscherinow lives with her mother, younger sister, and her pet cat in their small apartment in an unkempt multi-storey, concrete social-housing building in a dull ... (Wikipedia)
Rich Man, Poor Man
by Irwin Shaw
A family saga spanning generations, exploring the power of money and its influence on relationships.
In the early parts of the novel Shaw goes to great lengths to make the point about "Jordache blood" – violent, bitter, resentful. One of the ways he does this is by meticulously describing the ... (Wikipedia)
The Death of Bees
by Lisa O'Donnell
A teenage girl and her young brother struggle to survive after their parents' mysterious disappearance.
After Marnie discovers the dead bodies of her parents, she and her sister decide against reporting the deaths to the police and instead bury their bodies. Reporting the death would mean social ... (Wikipedia)
Hocus Pocus
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A darkly comedic tale of a man's struggle to cope with the absurdity of life.
Eugene is fired from his job as a college professor after having several of his witticisms surreptitiously recorded by the daughter of a popular conservative commentator. Eugene then becomes a ... (Wikipedia)
World Order
by Henry Kissinger
A comprehensive analysis of global politics and the dynamics of international relations.
Henry Kissinger offers in World Order a deep meditation on the roots of international harmony and global disorder. Drawing on his experience as one of the foremost statesmen of the modern ... (Goodreads)
The Rescue
by Nicholas Sparks
A man and woman find love and healing through faith in a story of redemption and second chances.
When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks; but there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: He ... (Goodreads)
12th of Never
by James Patterson
Detective Lindsay Boxer faces a series of seemingly unrelated crimes, including a terrifying threat to her own life.
This book has three major plots and at least two minor ones. The first begins with the birth of police detective Lindsay Boxer's daughter, which had to be at home during a major power outage. The ... (Wikipedia)
American Rust
by Philipp Meyer
The poverty stricken town of Buell and its inhabitants struggle to survive in a post-industrial America.
Isaac English : Nineteen year-old protagonist of American Rust. A recent high school graduate, who, despite his academic potential, does not attend college and has little hope for leaving his ... (Wikipedia)
The Day of the Locust
by Nathanael West
A study of the dark side of the American Dream, exploring the disappointments and struggles of the have-nots.
Tod Hackett is the novel's protagonist. He moves from the east coast to Hollywood, California in search of inspiration for his next painting. The novel is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression ... (Wikipedia)
Drown
by Junot Díaz
A collection of interconnected stories of a young Dominican-American struggling to find his place in the world.
With ten stories that move from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the struggling urban communities of New Jersey, Junot Diaz makes his remarkable debut. Diaz's work is unflinching and strong, ... (Goodreads)
The Walking Dead: Compendium Three
by Robert Kirkman
Survivors navigate a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, facing new threats and challenges.
EXCLUSIVE BARNES & NOBLE EDITION! Found only at Barnes & Noble. This exclusive edition includes a variant cover and poster! Just in time for the new season of The Walking Dead on AMC, the ... (Barnes & Noble)
This Earth Of Mankind
by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
A family saga set in colonial Indonesia, exploring the effects of oppression and injustice.
This Earth of Mankind tells the story of Minke, a Javanese minor royal who studies at a Hogere Burger School (HBS) in an era when only the descendants of the European colonizers can expect to attain ... (Wikipedia)
We Are the Ants
by Shaun David Hutchinson
A coming-of-age story of a young gay man who must make a life-altering decision.
From the “author to watch” ( Kirkus Reviews ) of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving. Henry Denton ... (Barnes & Noble)
A Clean Well Lighted Place
by Ernest Hemingway
Two waiters discuss the loneliness and despair of an old man who frequents their café late at night.
"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway, first published in Scribner's Magazine in 1933; it was also included in his collection Winner Take Nothing (1933). ... (Goodreads)
My Heart and Other Black Holes
by Jasmine Warga
A teenage girl's struggle to cope with depression and the power of unrequited love.
Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose ... (Wikipedia)
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
by Matthew Quick
A teenage boy's plan to take revenge on those he feels have wronged him, and his journey to self-forgiveness.
Today is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather’s P-38 ... (Goodreads)
Dear Theo
by Vincent van Gogh
Autobiographical letters from the artist to his brother, chronicling his struggles with poverty and mental illness.
Each night, Vincent van Gogh put pen to paper and poured out his heart through letters to his brother Theo. Van Gogh's letters lay bare his deepest feelings, as well as his everyday concerns and his ... (Goodreads)
The Child in Time
by Ian McEwan
A father's struggle to come to terms with the sudden disappearance of his daughter.
Stephen Lewis is, by his own admission, an accidental author of children's books. One Saturday, on a routine visit to the supermarket, during a momentary distraction, he loses his only daughter, ... (Wikipedia)
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
by Albert Camus
Philosophical essays on the absurd human condition, questioning the value of life.
One of the most influential works of this century, this is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan, and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a ... (Goodreads)
Book of Longing
by Leonard Cohen
A collection of poetry and drawings exploring love, loss, and spirituality. Cohen's signature wit and melancholy shine through.
Leonard Cohen is one of the great writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Book of Longing is Cohen’s eagerly awaited new collection of poems, following his highly ... (Goodreads)
The Dead and the Gone
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
After an asteroid hits the moon, life in New York City becomes a struggle for survival. Follow the story of a teenage boy and his family.
Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event–an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific ... (Goodreads)
Outer Dark
by Cormac McCarthy
A tale of desperation and violence, as a brother and sister confront the consequences of their forbidden relationship.
A woman bears her brother's child, a boy, the brother leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both ... (Goodreads)
One Year After
by William R. Forstchen
A post-apocalyptic tale of survival, as a small town works to rebuild after an EMP attack.
John Matherson is a professor of history at the local Montreat Christian College . A retired U.S. Army colonel and Gulf War veteran, he had moved to Black Mountain with his family when his late wife ... (Wikipedia)
Ashen Winter
by Mike Mullin
After a supervolcano eruption, Alex must brave the ash-filled landscape to find his parents. Survival is key.
It's been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so ... (Goodreads)
Prayers for Rain
by Dennis Lehane
Thriller about a PI's investigation into a missing girl's disappearance, uncovering a city's criminal underworld.
After the events of the preceding novel,, Gone, Baby, Gone, , Patrick Kenzie is working solo; Angie Gennaro has left their partnership for employment at a large investigative firm, moving out of ... (Wikipedia)
The Last One
by Alexandra Oliva
Reality TV show contestants are unaware of a deadly virus outbreak. One woman must survive alone, believing it's all part of the game.
Survival is the name of the game as the line blurs between reality TV and reality itself in Alexandra Oliva’s fast-paced novel of suspense. She wanted an adventure. She never imagined it would go ... (Goodreads)
The Hour of the Star
by Clarice Lispector
A poor Brazilian girl's life story, illustrating the struggles of the working class.
The novel starts with the narrator, Rodrigo S.M., discussing what it means to write a story. He addresses the reader directly and spends a lot of time talking about his philosophical beliefs. After ... (Wikipedia)
Kuyucaklı Yusuf
by Sabahattin Ali
A young man's struggle to reconcile his idealistic dreams and harsh realities of life.
"Bu manasız ve yabancı hayatta bir tek şeye hakikaten sarılmış, hakikaten inanır gibi olmuştu. Bu da karısı idi. Muazzez'in varlığı Yusuf için büyük, boşlukları dolduracak mahiyette bir şey değildi, ... (Goodreads)
In the Country of Last Things
by Paul Auster
A dystopian journey through a post-apocalyptic world, filled with desperation and hope.
The novel takes the form of a letter from a young woman named Anna Blume. Anna has ventured into an unnamed city that has collapsed into chaos and disorder. In this environment, no industry takes ... (Wikipedia)
Burying the Honeysuckle Girls
by Emily Carpenter
A young woman returns to her family's haunted plantation in Alabama to uncover the truth about her mother's disappearance and the curse that plagues her family.
Althea Bell is still heartbroken by her mother’s tragic, premature death—and tormented by the last, frantic words she whispered into young Althea’s ear:, Wait for her. For the honeysuckle girl. ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Last Star
by Rick Yancey
A quest to save the world from extinction, amidst an alien invasion.
The enemy is Other. The enemy is us. They’re down here, they’re up there, they’re nowhere. They want the Earth, they want us to have it. They came to wipe us out, they came to save us. But beneath ... (Goodreads)
The Dark and Hollow Places
by Carrie Ryan
In a post-apocalyptic world, Annah searches for her lost sister while facing danger and betrayal.
There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face before Annah left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the Horde as they swarmed the ... (Goodreads)
The Death of Bunny Munro
by Nick Cave
Bunny Munro, a sex-addicted salesman, takes his young son on a road trip after his wife's suicide. Darkly humorous and disturbing.
Set adrift by his wife's sudden death and struggling to keep a grip on reality, Bunny Munro does the only thing he can think of - with his young son in tow, he hits the road. An epic chronicle of one ... (Goodreads)
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