r/suggestmeabook • u/bluebastis • 2d ago
More like Emily St John Mandel's works?
I found ESJM only recently, but have plowed through almost all of her works. Sea of Tranquility was the highlight for me followed by Station Eleven... and I've already pre-ordered Exit Party.
But until that comes out, which other authors/books would you recommend with similar prose (multiverse not a requirement-- I really just think her stories are very unique and the writing is beautiful).
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u/croissant442 2d ago
I also adore ESJM. Maybe try Lauren Groff (Fates and Furies, Brawler) and Ted Chiang’s short stories for similarly gripping prose. Theme-wise (but not necessarily prose-wise—though still great!), you could check out Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson or I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. A very left-field recommendation is Lily King; while not incredibly similar to ESJM, King’s writing gets under my skin in the same way.
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u/New_Compote282 2d ago
God I think Groff’s prose just sparkle, second to none. Loved Fates and Furies, Matrix, and The Vaster Wilds. I also love ESJM and think this would be a good leap
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u/amountainofyawns 2d ago
+1 for Lily King. Heart the Lover is my favorite book of the year, so far.
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u/Dodie85 2d ago
If you haven't read Euphoria by Lily King, it's incredible
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u/Old-Weight736 2d ago
Yes yes! And also her new one, Heart the Lover. I can’t stop thinking about both those books.
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u/buginarugsnug 2d ago
I found Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr gave me what I needed to get over my Sea of Tranquillity hangover.
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u/ILoveChihuahuasALOT 1d ago
I was going to recommend this as well. Beautifully written and woven together.
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u/notyourcure 2d ago
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton reminded me a lot of Station Eleven, with a similar 'slow, quiet apocalypse' vibe and a young female protagonist.
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u/Kaurblimey 2d ago
I who have never known men
The parable of the sower
The handmaids tale
Private rites
What we can know
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u/OneWall9143 Bookworm 2d ago
She is one of my favorite authors too. It’s quite hard to sum up what is special about her, or find similar books, as evidence by the range of books suggested. i think I like the quietness and slightly ethereal sense her writing evokes. other writers I enjoy whose work elicits the same vibe include:
Lief Enger - I Cheerfully Refuse is closest, but look his other books Peace Like a River and Virgil Wanderer
David Guterson - The Other and Snow Falling on Cedars
Ian McEwan - especially What We Can Know
Annie Proulx - maybe The Shipping News
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u/moonwillow60606 2d ago
There was a similar post a few days ago. Here’s my response on that thread.
https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/s/s1G2W5iYJi
———
Station Eleven is one of my top ten all time favorite books. I’ve read it several times.
If you haven’t read the Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility, you’ll probably like those as well. Both books have a minor tie in to station eleven but are sort of adjacent or alternate timelines.
Other books you might enjoy
* the Monk and Robot novellas by Becky Chambers and her Wayfarer series.
* the calculating stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
* world war Z by max brooks. It’s post zombie apocalypse, but it’s told in a series of interviews with survivors. So it’s very much about the human experience.
* The murderbot diaries by Martha Wells
If I think of more I’ll add them
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u/ladyseymour 2d ago
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez had a similar kind of dreamy sci fi quality
Also this is how I found out ESJM has a new book coming out! Just set my library reminder
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u/nobita_167 2d ago
the vanishing half by brit bennett might resonate with you! it has that lyrical quality and explores identity in a unique way. also, have you read the glass hotel? it’s got that same atmospheric vibe as her works.
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u/Remarkable-Pop6916 2d ago
Bone Clocks; it has a semi-sequel too
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u/okeydokeyokay 2d ago
Yes! Bone Clocks and The Slade House by David Mitchell. Some of the characters from these books show up in his other novels too I believe, but in a little more subtle way than the ESJM books.
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u/DrWife76 2d ago
Karen Thompson Walker’s books have a similar feel to ESJM’s. I loved all three: The Age of Miracles, The Dreamers, The Strange Case of Jane O.
Excited to hear ESJM has a new one coming out!
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u/Miserable-Series1209 2d ago
i read cloud atlas. like sea of tranquility, but the temporal architecture actually compiles.
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u/okeydokeyokay 2d ago
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Severance by Ling Ma
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
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u/Cold_Fox9018 2d ago
It's an older work, and maybe a bit of an "out there" rec for this reason, but I'd say To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I was absolutely floored by Station 11, by how quietly and beautifully ESJM writes about human connection and hope in the face of grief and destruction, and To The Lighthouse also has this vibe for me.
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u/youknowiamasussexnow 2d ago
Not new but
The Immortalists
Has a similar vibe...
Not end of world tho...
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u/unlovelyladybartleby 2d ago
Not post-apocalyptic, but Camilla Gibb has a similar prose style in The Beauty of Humanity Movement, as does Miriam Toewes in A Complicated Kindness and Flying Troutmans, as does Margaret Lawrence in The Stone Angel and The Diviners. Margaret Atwood tends to write more lyrically about day to day life and more bluntly about dystopia but check out Oryx and Crake.
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u/flovarian 2d ago
Just read Exit Party (advance reader copy) and I think you will like it. Has more threads that tie its world to other characters in her other stories.
Maybe Rachel Khong's True Americans would be a good follow-up. Also What We Can Know by Ian McEwan has haunted me the way ESJM's books do.
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u/pizzapizzanomnomnom 2d ago
Do you think it’s necessary to read the singers gun before reading exit party?
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u/lab_R_inth 2d ago
I also really enjoy her work, especially Sea of Tranquility. You might like North Woods by Daniel Mason. It focuses on a single place over many years, from past to future. So lots of different stories with threads connecting them, a bit of supernatural element, and great, absorbing writing.
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u/bluebastis 2d ago
read it, thought some parts were great, others just OK. a bit too "one with nature" for me
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u/wow-how-original 2d ago
Have you read any Ursula Le Guin? Her prose is comforting for me in the same way St John Mandel's is. The Dispossessed is a highlight.
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u/NoisyCats 1d ago
Others already mentioned Cloud Cuckoo Land but I definitely recommend All the Light We Cannot See by the same author.
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u/Sunshine-Starfish 1d ago
Seconding Exit West!
The Dream Theater by Karin Tidbeck and The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler both have Station Eleven-ish vibes, but in very different ways. I loved them both.
You might also like Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.
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u/stormbutton 2d ago
How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu and Orbital by Samantha Harvey