Some Novels for the Young (and Not So Young)
You often learn more about reality from fiction.
The word is out that college students are reading as little as possible. I won’t even speculate on what’s being read in high school. The preachy and woke titles peddled in many areas may give an inadvertent advantage to the non-readers.
Setting that aside, let’s pretend that we have to recommend reading for a larger audience and the key criterion would be that the novels would have to reveal, in a substantive manner, how the world really works. The novels can address past or current problems, but their insights must be timeless.
These are my choices:
The First Circle by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. How did the Soviet Union really operate? The last few chapters will tell you everything you need to know.
Submission by Michel Houellebecq. Have you ever wondered if an Islamist party could come to power via an election in France? This novel provides the details.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. One of the most jarring summaries of its theme is that the government won’t have to worry about what you read if you don’t read at all. The real villains of the novel are screens. It would be great if copies were distributed on college campuses but then, well, you know. [Bradbury’s book plus Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World may well summarize the greatest dangers of our times.]
Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. Not exactly your usual political novel (although the hero is a villain and a coward), but its lessons about the British withdrawal from Afghanistan should have been pondered in the State and Defense Departments.
Life with a Star by Jiri Weil. A sparse but unforgettable novel by a Holocaust survivor describing what it was like to exist in a conquered nation where the occupying power - “they” - do not want your existence.
The Comedians by Graham Greene. The plot is almost humorous. The main character runs a resort hotel in Duvalier’s Haiti. Ho, ho. That’s the only funny aspect of the book.
The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver has not gotten the attention it deserves, especially with its depiction of a collapse of the American monetary system. If you’ve ever wondered what could happen if the United States repudiated its national debt, check this out.
Finally, Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. At last, a positive novel! This story of the life of a smalltown barber is a beautifully written ode to the importance of community. Its author, who is also a poet and a farmer, went on to write other novels based in the area. Each one is a gem.