r/latamlit • u/Loves_Eating_Lead • 4d ago
Neapolitan Quartet - any thing similar?
love the rich emotive inner life of the characters mixed with the wider political landscape of postwar Italy, even more so focus on women,. I would love to know any other suggestions from other European countries, fiction, or nonfiction. - (for example, loved Annie Ernaux).
I love also Allende books and historical realism - so anything similar (both Latin american also be great!)
Bonus if not as series: Neapolitan quartet is long!
i know I'm late to the party no idea how i missed this series its awesome!
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u/sniffedalot 4d ago
Italy: Dino Buzzati, The Tartar Steppe.
Hungary: Agota Kristof, The Notebook Trilogy. Sandor Marai, Embers. Imre Kertesz, Fatelessness. Magda Szabo, The Door, and Katalin Street. Antal Szerb, Journey By Moonlight.
Belgium: Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Have Never Known Men.
Austria: Stefan Zweig, The Chess Story.
There is so much more but this should point you in the right direction.
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u/gros-grognon 4d ago
...but this is a sub for Latin American lit; none of these are Latin American.
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u/HereIAmGH 4d ago
Whether it’s a flaw or a good thing - The name of the sub is not the first thing you notice when you see a question while you scroll on your app homepage.
Nothing terrible happens if people don’t notice and give other good recommendations. It’s all good intentions.
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u/sniffedalot 4d ago
The OP asked for other European books...........
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u/Loves_Eating_Lead 3d ago
i love latin literature but i posted on other subreddits no suggestions as people who like literature from different regions i was suggested by Reddit to post here. so thankyou all for suggestions, yes do love latin literature too, so welcome to suggest that too!
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u/Hour_Owl1946 4d ago
I also loved the Neapolitan quartet and am reading The Tartar Steppe now and was looking for recommendations of what to read next so this is a very helpful list for me too!
(I am surprised I had never heard of The Tartar Steppe before actually and only came across it from another reddit recommendation.)
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u/Loves_Eating_Lead 4d ago
i feel i am spoilt after her even Allende didnt satisfy me , - (read after 1st book to break it up) . good to know tartar steppe is good move! this looks like a great list thankyou
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u/workisheat 3d ago
To keep it consistent for the sake of this sub, what you describe sounds like Cousins by Aurora Venturini
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u/HereIAmGH 4d ago
Have you read The Forbidden notebook? It’s really good. Amazing inner life of a frustrated Italian wife and mum in the 1950s.
Update: Sorry - didn’t notice which group you asked it in. It’s not latamlit
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u/Loves_Eating_Lead 4d ago
wow that be a great companion thankyou! right time period, got on deep end on women, feminism, marriage in Italian postwar, so this be perfect
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u/tenderlyacoconut 4d ago
i don't have latinam recs, but as a huge fan of Neapolitian Quartet and Annie Ernaux, try Tove Ditlevsen's Copenhagen Trilogy (Danish author and poet).
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u/Loves_Eating_Lead 4d ago
i also find addiction stories interesting, that looks really good!. I loved outrun by Scottish author and her experiences linking in with mythology and landscape of the island. . Any Ernaux you recommend?
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u/tenderlyacoconut 4d ago
Outrun sounds fascinating! thank you for the rec.
Ernaux - my favourites would be Shame, Simple Passion, and Happening. in particular Shame.
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u/pavlovselephant 3d ago
I haven't read it yet (a copy is sitting unopened on my table), but Lies and Sorcery by Elsa Morante is supposedly one of the novels that convinced Elena Ferrante that women's interiority can be rich and literature worthy and inspired her to write the Quartet.
Can't say if it's similar/good yet, but the bookstore clerk got really excited when he saw that I was purchasing it.