Whats the best novel of the last 10 years or so?

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Predictably, perhaps, i go for Underworld by the Don. I found it moving beautiful and audacious. That that beauty is sustained over 800 pages is really astonishing.

how do you call?

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Yuriy Tarnawsky, Three Blondes and Death

― Prude (Prude), Sunday, 11 January 2004 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Off the top of my head I might go for "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. Probably the most depressing novel I've ever read but for sheer storytelling power it just blew me away, I think I actually exhaled when I finished it.

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Sunday, 11 January 2004 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm with you, jed_. As I just made a case for here.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 12 January 2004 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

insane.

my favourite novel of the last ten years is a. l. kennedy's 'so i am glad'. it is a lucky coincidence that the novel i'll probably take to the grave as my favourite was written within the last ten years and so worthy of mention on this thread, eh.

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 12 January 2004 00:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Ten years? Uhmmm. I don't believe I have one. Maybe something by Ishiguro. Go back a bit further, though, and I'd say 'Name Of The Rose' by Eco.

― writingstatic (writingstatic), Monday, 12 January 2004 23:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Ishiguro! he can't write!

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 12 January 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

And what, three-hundred pages about some punk kid getting to a baseball game counts as "writing"? Ishiguro has remarkable talent with beautiful and enjoyable language. Delillo has remarkable talent with being an irritating windbag. As a disclaimer, I did quite enjoy 'White Noise' and even, yes, 'The Body Artist', but 'Underworld' was an unmitigated disaster.

― writingstatic (writingstatic), Monday, 12 January 2004 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I have only read "Remains..." and the writing is terrible; full of cliche's about "englishness" and unconvincing.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 00:25 (twenty-two years ago)

John Berger's To the Wedding, though I have to admit that I'm only about 40 pages into it and that I've probably read 10 novels published within the last 10 years.

― Leee Majors (Leee), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 00:53 (twenty-two years ago)

'Remains of the Day' was a better film than it was novel, I'll give you that. By try 'The Unconsoled', you just might enjoy it.

― writingstatic (writingstatic), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 00:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Being not English but having worked unwillingly in restaurants for as long as I did, I was moved A LOT by Remains, as I took all those cliches to be more about servantness than Englishness.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 03:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Remains of the Day is, in my opinion, an excellent study of a near-perfect classical Taoist.

And my nominee for best/favourite: The Biographer's Tale, by A.S. Byatt.

For those who haven't had the pleasure, it's a much more mature, confident version of Possession, with a good deal of subtle (and not so-subtle) jabs and salutes to/at literary theory and tradition. And extremely clever use of biographemes (which I wrote my "undergrad thesis" on).

― August (August), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 04:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Though I haven't read that many contemporary novels, I think it would be a toss up between Disgrace by Coetzee and Middlesex by Eugenides. My vote might change had I read Crabwalk by Grass, Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? by Moore, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami, Infinite Jest by Wallace, Red Mars/Green Mars by Robinson, or any number of lesser known literary novels that I'm forgetting at the moment. Underworld has its moments, but they are buffeted by at least a couple hours worth of tedium.

― Ryan McKay (Ryan McKay), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 12:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked 'Remains,' don't see that it's particularly cliched in that it's an inversion of classic interwar 'country house' novel a la Ivy Compton-Burnett/Aldous Huxley/Henry Green.

But it was published 1989, so...

― Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

The Rings of Saturn?

― Neil Willett (Neil Willett), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I second Jed and Jaymc on Underworld

― yesim (yesim), Friday, 16 January 2004 11:45 (twenty-two years ago)

i like the movie of remains a lot: the period-drama stuff and the englishness stuff seemed so clumsily and hokily done that it worked to the benefit of the actual drama of the characters..

having thought about it for two or three whole minutes i have no idea what i think the best novel of the past ten years is.

― tom west (thomp), Friday, 16 January 2004 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I admired Ishiguro's control and consistency in executing Stevens as a character, even if he (Stevens) as a character isn't so multidimensional. he (Ishiguro) came close to pulling off the ironically unaware narrator in a fairly natural manner. and I thought the structure of the novel, with each segment of his trip in 'real time' foreshadowing or otherwise resonating with the subsequent flashback, was simple yet effective. but I'm far from sure there isn't a 90s novel out there as yet unread by me that beats Remains and the other 90s novels I've enjoyed.

was anyone else who liked Remains disappointed in When We Were Orphans?

― j. pantsman (jpantsman), Saturday, 17 January 2004 05:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I have no idea what is the best, because I haven't read enough of the contenders. The one I enjoyed most was "Paris Trance" by Geoff Dyer.

― R t V (Jake Proudlock), Saturday, 17 January 2004 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

White Teeth, Zadie Smith. At least it was the most impressive novel of the last 10 years that I can think of right now: funny, well written, excellent characterizations, insightful.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Sunday, 18 January 2004 17:37 (twenty-two years ago)

a bit depressing maybe but "the elementary particles" by Michel Houellebecq unbeatable

― Vaudevillian007, Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I prefer his first novel actually but yeah its good, if a little schizophrenic.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Another shout for White Teeth. Not sure about the best book in the last ten years, but certainly the best book about Willesden Green. Ever.

― MikeyG (MikeyG), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought white teeth was a badly, badly written book.. no flow and i also didnt like what the characters were hell bent on doing to themselves

― cheeesoo (cheeesoo), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Waaaaaaaaaaay too long, but she captures the atmosphere of growing up in North London so precisely it's spooky.

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 21:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm inclined to vote for DeLillo's Underworld, but right now I'm wondering about Crace's Being Dead. Or maybe Franzen's The Corrections?

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 23 January 2004 06:42 (twenty-two years ago)

not trying to be a dick or anything,but i thought atomised was really,really bad...
it was like the matrix or something,psuedo philosophical waffle...

― robin (robin), Friday, 23 January 2004 09:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Death and the Penguin.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 25 January 2004 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked The Corrections better than Being Dead. Being Dead was well-written, but it just didn't stick with me the way other recent novels have.

Nothing sticks out in my mind as "best", but maybe that just means I need to read more! I haven't read a lot of what's cited on this thread...

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

*laughing* Sheesh, Julia - now you have me moving Being Dead back down my "Read these soon" pile. (Which isn't a bad thing, 'cause it means I can move another Lethem closer to the top - and for that I thank you *wink*.)

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 08:33 (twenty-two years ago)

(Oh, and, well, I've not read a lot of the books on this list, too, but I feel like I'm in decent company - and I've never been one to be on top of things. So don't fret.)

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 08:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Second the Corrections.
Second Paris Trance.

Atonement by Ian McEwan.
The Human Stain by Philip Roth.

do trilogies/series count, cos if they do :

The Ghost Road trilogy by Pat Barker
The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy

― David Nolan (David N.), Monday, 2 February 2004 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Here's the part where I admit that I haven't read much recent fiction. I guess I'd have to go with Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or True History of the Kelly Gang.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 17:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Is The True History of the Kelly Gang really a stand-out in terms of Carey's work, o. nate? I've read his Oscar and Lucinda, Illywacker, and The Unusual Life of Tristam Smith and thought they were interesting, but didn't quite comprehend the hoopla surrounding his writing.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Thursday, 5 February 2004 11:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't got it handy to see when it was published (I'm pretty sure it's older than 10 yrs) but has anyone read The Journalist by Harry Mathews? Brilliant.

I definitely agree with those who put Underworld down the bottom of the list. But it is interesting in the light of comments by the Bill Grey (?) character in MaoII in which the aging once successful novelist talks about being trapped in a big book that he can't complete because he's been taken over by the endless pattern of the sentences. Sounds like a not too subtle criticism of Underworld.

― David Joyner (David Joyner), Tuesday, 17 February 2004 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The Goldbug Variations by Richard Powers. Pure genius! Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordechai Richler. Also pure genius.

― Jane Tucker, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Wind up bird - murakami was great
Dogs of God - pinckney benedict was pretty good too.
so were a lot of other books.
i liked when we were orphans better than remains or floating world. haven't read unconsoled...yet.
some of this other stuff just isn't that good. and i agree with whoever about underworld. white noise great, libra good, the names okay, underworld overrated i gotta stop typing this topic is inexhaustible

― Linn D., Thursday, 19 February 2004 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I feel a tad dubious about saying this - but one way or another, What A Carve Up! deserves a mention for its range, ambition, intent, humour.

Actually, forget the dubiousness; let that be my nomination.

― the spellfox, Saturday, 21 February 2004 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I have just checked the date and it seems 'Who will run the Frog Hospital' was published in 1994. So it wins.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Saturday, 21 February 2004 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

It does, despite my earnest eager plea above.

― the spellfox, Saturday, 21 February 2004 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Nothing else comes close. Underworld is a crashing bore.

― Left Blank, Saturday, 21 February 2004 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree about Underworld but Infinite Jest? Is less boring? That incomprehensible subplot about the Quebequois separatists? I skimmed about a third of both of those, and while The Tesseract by Alex Garland ("The Beach") isn't quite as "ambitious", it's just really good, and reminded me of the Denis Johnson and Graham Greene. Also, Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis was the best satiric novel of the 90s: stunning, hilarious and appaling.

― Donald, Monday, 23 February 2004 05:26 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

fuck off

― yup, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 05:47 (twenty-two years ago)

The Hunter - Julia Leigh
The Horned Man - James Lasdun

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 07:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I've never been able to make it past the first chapter of Underworld. I intend to give it another go when I have some time and some patience.

I'm a huge fan of White Teeth. It was perhaps the first book that I ever read that felt like it had been written by a contemporary whose cultural moment was so precisely my own. I felt at times as though I was reading my own unwritten work, it was so comfortably familiar. Still, I agree that it's ragged and full of youthful imperfection that take it out of the running for "best".

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay would be one of my nominees. Atonement is up there. The God of Small Things is excellent too.

― mck (mck), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I have it on good authority that The Corrections is the result of Franzen getting a look at DeLillo's Underworld manuscript and thinking, "This is awful, even I could do better."

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 23:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Books I have liked = Disgrace, Whatever, Filth (by Irvine Welsh), Bridget Jones's Diary part 1 and 2, Rachel's Holiday, this book about a New York real estate agent. Probably some others.

― . (...), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 08:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah 'Are You Experienced' by William Sutcliffe. There was another book I thought it was way better than, what was it. I think I thought it was better than 'Lanzarote' by Houellebecq. No 'Platform', I thought it was better than Platform.

― . (...), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Interesting how this has developed into a discussion of Underworld. I'll keep from that and give my vote to At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. And catching up on the earlier idea regarding books/trilogies I have to mention Jan Kjaerstad's books on Jonas Wergeland although I don't know whether they have been published in English yet...well, apparently the first third (The Seducer) has.

― Maria Östbye (maos), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 10:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Maria, alot of threads on here develop into eithe DeLillo or Joyce hate threads.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 10:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I quite liked "the Corrections" as well & Updike's "Seek My Face," which I found quite a bit better than all his famous Rabbit novels from way back.

I just finished "The Secret Lives of Bees" last weekend & I thought that was quite impressive too.

― j c (j c), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm gonna read Underworld because of this thread. But lots of the other novels on this thread I have read eg A.S. Byatt/biographers and I want to argue that I was not being facetious saying 'Bridget Jones's Diary' because that book had the insight/aesthetic flourish of having B.J. put her weight at the beginning of every diary entry - does Don DeLillo achieve similar socio-historical insights -- and I'm not being flippant -- of course everyone knows about the identity problems of modern women but it's not see easy to pass them off with versimilitude. etc etc.

― . (...), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 07:48 (twenty-two years ago)

see = so

― . (...), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 07:48 (twenty-two years ago)

how about martha cooley's the archivist? that book stopped me in my tracks, shut down my life, severed the world until it was done speaking......ahhh I want to read it again.

― slow learner (slow learner), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd second (or third? fourth?) Atonement, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I was pleasantly surprised by the latter.

My own nomination: Victor Pelevin's The Life of Insects.

The Corrections didn't stand up to what everyone built it up to be for me, and White Teeth was great but i don't know if I would call it a classic. I never managed to get to Underworld; I think I will now. What a Carve Up! (or The Winshaw Legacy as it's called here) is coming off the "to read" shelf as well. I really liked The Rotter's Club, so I hope it will be another good read.

― zan, Tuesday, 4 May 2004 17:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Dirt Music - Tim Winton.

― kath (kath), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Infinite Jest.

By a mile - funnier, wiser, sadder, better than anything I've read from the last ten years; than anything I've read.

It has flaws. The ending doesn't astonish (the plot's - not the book's, which does), and the bits in ebonics are embarassing and bad. And maybe I only love it because its rhythym is my internal sentence, because by some freak chance we enjoy some similar cadence. But I think there's more. I really do.

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

This is around 12 or 13 years ago: Sacred Hunger - Barry Unsworth

― BleachYourSpeech, Thursday, 6 May 2004 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

gregory that makes me want to read "Infinite Jest" and that's something i thought i'd never say.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 7 May 2004 00:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Blindness by José Saramago.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 7 May 2004 07:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Mating by Norman Rush
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

And, though it was first published in 1932, it's been long out of print and is now available again, Come Back to Sorrento by Dawn Powell - simple, beautiful.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Saturday, 8 May 2004 08:03 (twenty-two years ago)

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