 Welcome back to my channel, I hope you're all doing really really well. Today I'm going to be bringing you five literary fiction book recommendations. I feel like I haven't done one of these five book recommendation videos in a long time and I really want to get back into doing them for you. Today I'm going to be doing a literary fiction version and then I've got a historical fiction version and a classics one and a poetry collections one all lined up as well. And if you want to go and watch some five book recommendations videos that I've done in the past, then I will link the playlist around. So jumping straight into the recommendations, the first one I have for you today is When I Hit You by Meena Kandasami. This novel follows a unnamed protagonist, a young Indian woman, when she falls in love with and agrees to marry a university professor. Once they are married it becomes clear that the marriage is much more about control and ownership for the husband rather than the partnership that the protagonist was expecting. The husband quickly starts bullying the protagonist into being his idea of the perfect wife and as our protagonist resists this ever-growing abuse it only heightens. There are trigger warnings that come along with this book including rape and physical and emotional abuse. So the structuring in this book is really really interesting and really clever. When the book opens the protagonist is already out of her abusive marriage and she explains that she wants to share her story with us, of meeting her husband to be and the few months that she spent in the marriage. But while our protagonist is in the abusive marriage she also imagines that she is writing the situation of her story as well with her playing the lead role. This is a coping mechanism for her which allows her to distance herself from the situation somewhat as well as allowing herself to feel not completely out of control. So throughout the novel we have this multiple layering technique of the protagonist narrating her own story in order to gain some kind of control over what happened and I found this technique to be really unique and really powerful. Not only is this novel brilliantly structured and generally very well crafted I also found it to be incredibly insightful and very emotionally powerful. As well as providing a commentary on a marriage in modern-day India this book is also just generally a very powerful feminist text. It explores themes of love and trust and male ego and control. Themes of politics and poetry also crop up in this book placing it really firmly in the present day and making it very relevant and culturally rich. I think this is such a powerful and fierce and beautiful book. Everything in here is executed so well. I couldn't recommend it more highly and I think more people should read this. The next book I'm gonna recommend today is Nutshell by Ian McEwen. This novel is a retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet but with the twist of a very unique viewpoint. This novel is narrated from the perspective of an unborn baby from inside the womb. It is just as bizarre as it sounds. Throughout the novel we get to hear the fetuses mother and uncle plot to kill the fetuses father in their grand decaying Georgian townhouse as well as getting to hear all of the fetuses thoughts and musings. So this novel is pretty short. It's very odd but I found it to be undeniably clever and engaging. So in one sense this book is a thriller. There is a murder planned and built up to throughout and there's definitely quite a lot of tension in here and it keeps you turning the pages. The familiar story of Hamlet gives this book a really strong forward momentum and a little nod to the original text throughout are really really nice. Although I will say that you don't need to know Hamlet that well to get on with the book. I didn't know it particularly well when I read it and I got on with it okay. But of course the standout aspect of this book is the point of view of the protagonist. Reading from the perspective of a fetus was definitely a unique reading experience for me. Your witness to what is going on in the book has no sense of sight. They cannot do anything in response to what's going on in the novel and they literally live in a uterus. The fetus is also super smart because of his mother's podcasts and radio for habits. There's mentions of philosophy and ethics in here and science and literature and history and world affairs. Of course this book is very tongue-in-cheek, it's very humorous, it's witty and intelligent and I would totally recommend this if you enjoy Ian McEwen or Shakespeare retellings. It's a pretty fast read. The next book I'm going to recommend today is The Gathering by Anne Onright. This novel is set in Dublin and it follows the story of the nine hegeti siblings who all go home to their family home for the wake of their brother Liam. So the exploration of family and family relationships is central to this novel and it is by far this novel's biggest strength. Parent-child relationships, romantic relationships and sibling relationships are all presented in here and they all come across so realistically and persuasively. Anne Onright captures family dynamics so well in this novel. While I was reading I was constantly shocked and impressed. This is the kind of book that has those passages in it that you just get, those passages that capture something so accurately and you feel like they really get something that is really specific to you. The writing is also lovely in this book, it's very beautiful in a very simple and elegant way and I think it captures the storyline perfectly. I don't really want to say much more about the plot in this one because it isn't really the point, I feel like you just need to read this novel to know what it's about. This is just such a me-book and if you love literary fiction, has lovely prose and a focus on human relationships and families then it will be a you-book as well. Anne Onright is as solid a writer as they come. The fourth book I'm gonna talk about today is Nightboat Tangier by Kevin Barry. This book focuses on the lives of two men, Maurice and Charlie, who are longtime drug smuggling partners. When the novel opens the two men are waiting at a ferry terminal in Spain for Maurice's daughter to turn up. Throughout the novel we get to witness this present-day timeline as well as learn about these two men's histories of romance and violence and betrayals through alternating chapters. Firstly the characters in here are great. Maurice and Charlie in particular are so well drawn, such interesting and believable male characters. I loved reading about their relationship with one another. It's very complex and very traditionally masculine and their dialogue with one another is great. It is so sharp and witty and just a delight to read. This book also has a really great tone throughout. It's very dark and dry in its sense of humor. There is definitely a sense of mystery and intrigue in this novel. The storylines end up piecing together to reveal why the characters are in the situation they're in. But I would say that this novel is much more about its characters and their stories and their relationships than the plot, and I think that is just right. If this book sounds interesting to you at all then definitely give it a go. Kevin Barry is such a great writer and this book provided me with a really good reading experience. And the final book that I'm going to be recommending today is They're There by Tommy Orange. This is a multi-generational novel telling the story of 12 different characters, all of Native American descent who are all planning on attending the big Oakland powwow. So once again, character is a huge focus in this novel. Throughout the book we get to focus on a recovering alcoholic, a young teenage boy who is teaching himself Indian dance for the first time through YouTube, and another young man who is dealing with the loss of his uncle, among many other people. If you enjoy novels that are told through multiple characters' perspectives, then you will absolutely love this. This is an own voices book. Tommy Orange is of Native American descent himself, and so I found a lot to learn in here. There is a lot of information about this kind of community and their traditions and their beliefs. This novel also explores a wide range of really hard-hitting and pertinent themes such as violence and identity and recovery and loss. This book definitely has more of a driving plot to it and some good pacing to it compared to some of the others on this list. The book builds up to a relentlessly fast-paced ending which really added to this idea of inevitability and feeling out of control. This isn't a perfect novel by any stretch. It definitely reads like a debut at times. There's a lot of really great groundwork in here that isn't always used to its best potential. I would definitely recommend this book. I found it to be really fresh and unique and I think more people should give it a go. So those are my five literary fiction book recommendations for you today. I hope you enjoyed hearing about them. I hope you're looking forward to me doing more five book recommendation videos again. I'm really looking forward to filming them. If there's any specifically you'd like to see then just let me know down below and I'll see what I can do. As always I'd love to hear your recommendations to me as well. This works both ways. If any of you have any really good literary fiction recommendations then pop them down below in the comments and we can all learn from each other. Thanks for watching everyone. It means a lot and I'll see you soon with another video. Bye!