18 books like Object Lessons

What to read after Object Lessons — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Academy street Mary Costello · 2014 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Moderate "A vibrant, intimate, hypnotic portrait of one woman's life, from an important new writer. Tess Lohan is the kind of woman that we meet and fail to notice every day. A single mother. A nurse. A quiet woman, who nonetheless feels things acutely--a woman with tumultuous emotions and few people to share them with. Academy Street is Mary Costello's luminous portrait of a whole life. It follows Tess… Shares: Irish Americans, New york, Coming-of-age, Families

Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell · 1932 · ★ 3.8 · 1113p · ≈ 37h · Challenging [William V. Lipton][1] from Ann Arbor, MI says: "This is both a coming-of-age novel and a social history. Set during the 1920s and 1930s, it follows Studs as he grows through his teen years in Chicago. It shows the influences on urban children, the stresses on families and the American society during that time. The characters and dialogue are captivating." ([on Flashlight Worthy][2]) [1]:… Shares: Irish Americans, Coming-of-age, Families

Seeds of Yesterday V.C. Andrews · 1984 · ★ 4.2 · 382p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Seeds of Yesterday is a novel written by V. C. Andrews. It is the fourth book in the Dollanganger Series. The story continues from the point of view of the protagonist, Cathy, following her from the age of 52 until her death a few years later. ---------- Also contained in: If There Be Thorns / Seeds of Yesterday Shares: General fiction, Families

The bent twig Dorothy Canfield Fisher · 1915 · 480p · ≈ 16h · Challenging Unlike other young women of her generation, who were "bred up from childhood to sit behind tea-tables and say the right things to tea-drinkers," Sylvia Marshall - the "twig" of this novel - was reared to think for herself and to trust her own instincts and experience. This, coupled with her passionate temperament, makes Sylvia a compelling figure as she resists efforts to mold her with every… Shares: Young women, Families

Wild Swans Jung Chang · 1989 · ★ 4.3 · 729p · ≈ 24h · Moderate "Jung Chang vividly evokes China's sights, sounds, and smells to create what must be one of the grimmest, yet most perceptive accounts of growing up middle-class in the maelstrom that has swept China since the 1920s." - Back cover. Shares: Irish Americans, Families

Cathedral Nelson DeMille · 1980 · ★ 4.2 · 527p · ≈ 17h · Moderate St. Patrick's Day, New York City. Everyone is celebrating, but everyone is in for the shock of his life. Born into the heat and hatred of the Northern Ireland conflict, IRA man Brian Flynn has masterminded a brilliant terrorist act the seizure of Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Among his hostages: the woman Brian Flynn once loved, a former terrorist turned peace activist. Among his enemies: an… Shares: Irish Americans, New york

Candy Terry Southern · 1964 · ★ 3.9 · 224p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Banned upon its initial publication, the now-classic Candy is a romp of a story about the impossibly sweet Candy Christian, a wide-eyed, luscious, all-American girl. Candy -- a satire of Voltaire's Candide -- chronicles her adventures with mystics, sexual analysts, and everyone she meets when she sets out to experience the world. Shares: Young women, Coming-of-age

We Need New Names NoViolet Bulawayo · 2013 · ★ 3.8 · 301p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Whenever foreigners visit Paradise they always ask Darling and her friends to smile for the camera. Here are some of the things Darling and her friends have to smile about: stealing guavas, gifts from NGOs, singing Lady Gaga at the tops of their voices. But they all want to go to the real paradise in America or Britain. Shares: Girls, Coming-of-age, Families

Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt · 1996 · ★ 4.3 · 364p · ≈ 12h · Moderate "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish… Shares: Irish Americans, Families

Belinda Maria Edgeworth · 1802 · 483p · ≈ 16h · Challenging Maria Edgeworth won the admiration of her contemporaries Jane Austen and Walter Scott as well as later writers such as Thackeray and Turgenev. In Belinda (1801) she tackles issues of gender and race in a manner at once comic and thought-provoking. Braving the perils of the marriage market, Belinda learns to think for herself as the examples of her friends prove singularly unreliable. Edgeworth's… Shares: Young women, Coming-of-age

Mockingbird Kathryn Erskine · 2010 · ★ 4.2 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate In Caitlin's world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That's the stuff Caitlin's older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon's dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger's, she doesn't know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she… Shares: Girls, Families

Judith Paris Hugh Walpole · 1931 · 782p · ≈ 26h · Challenging Covering the years 1771 to 1822 and set partly in Revolutionary Paris, and partly in romantic Cumbria, Judith Paris is the story of the two very different men who love Walpole's most delightful heroine. Daughter of Francis Herries and Mirabell Starr, Judith was described on publication as "the most delightful of Walpole's heroines." As impetuous, impulsive and passionate as her father, she is… Shares: Young women, Families

REST OF HER LIFE, THE Laura Moriarty · 2007 · ★ 4.0 · 320p · ≈ 10h · Moderate This incredibly nuanced, beautifully written novel treats moral dilemma with the riveting, character-driven plot of a Jane Hamilton or a Jodi Picoult. This novel looks at one incident and how it changes everything for Leigh, the mother of a pretty, popular high school senior, and their entire family. It’s a novel about mothers, daughters, sisters, and female friends, and the ripple effect that an… Shares: Young women, Coming-of-age, Families

Mona in the Promised Land Gish Jen · 1996 · ★ 3.9 · 303p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Unhappy with her own ethnic group, Mona Chang, a Chinese-American, decides to become a Jew. After all, if one has to live as a minority, choose the best. A witty look at ethnicity, multiculturalism and the melting pot. By the author of Typical American. Shares: Girls, New york

Persepolis 1-4 Marjane Satrapi · 2000 · ★ 4.3 · 352p · ≈ 11h · Moderate From inside front cover: The story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a ... loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private and public life in a coutnry plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming -- both sweet and terrible; and,… Shares: Girls, Families

Lie down in Darkness William Styron · 1951 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Moderate The story is set out in the south. The Loftis family members are waiting for the coffin of their daughter Peyton. The novel goes back in time through flashbacks and recollections uncovering truths and events leading to Peyton's suicide. Lie Down In Darkness is a post-modernist novel, a post-war account of the human state, an age of alienation, decay and meaninglessness. Neither society nor family… Shares: Young women, Families

Our young man Edmund White · 2016 · ★ 3.3 · 304p · ≈ 10h · Moderate 282 pages ; 20 cm Shares: New york, Coming-of-age

Lucy. Roman Jamaica Kincaid · 1990 · ★ 4.5 · 164p · ≈ 5h · Moderate The coming-of-age story of one of Jamaica Kincaid's most admired creations--available now in an e-book edition. Lucy, a teenage girl from the West Indies, comes to America to work as an au pair for a wealthy couple. She begins to notice cracks in their beautiful façade at the same time that the mysteries of own sexuality begin to unravel. Jamaica Kincaid has created a startling new heroine … Shares: New york, Coming-of-age

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