Novels in Verse for Grown ups
In celebration of National Poetry Month, here are a wide variety of novels-in-verse for adult readers. (Created April 2023)
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What You Want, Or, The Pursuit of Happiness
Beginning with the first line of Dante's Divine Comedy and taking in Disneyworld, the Declaration of Independence and the canon of philosophy in its stride, What You Want is a literary feat: a novel written entirely in verse, depicting life in all its ordinariness. It gives voice to a new Everyman and brings forth an unparallelled modern epic.
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Eugene Onegin
This classic Russian novel in verse follows a young dandy from St. Petersburg as he handles relationships of friendship and love.
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Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish
The characters' lives are linked to each other by acts of generosity or cruelty. A daughter in early 20th century Chicago; a hobo during the Great Depression; an office girl in 1950s Manhattan; the young man reveling in 1960s San Francisco, then later tends to dying friends as the AIDS pandemic hits.
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The Long Take, Or, A Way to Lose More Slowly
Walker, a young Canadian recently demobilised after war and his active service in the Normandy landings and subsequent European operations. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and unable to face a return to his family home in rural Nova Scotia, he goes in search of freedom, change, anonymity and repair.
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The Perfect Nine
This verse narrative, blending folklore, mythology, adventure, and allegory, chronicles the efforts the Gikuyu founders make to find partners for their ten beautiful daughters -- called "The Perfect Nine" -- and the challenges they set for the 99 suitors who seek their hands in marriage.
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Mes coups seront mes mots
Amal, lycéen noir américain, ne vit que pour le dessin, la peinture et la poésie. Il suffira d'une bagarre. Juste une embrouille entre garçons pour que son existence bascule... et c'est la prison pour un crime qu'il n'a pas commis.
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Evergreen
In this rich, shadowy, glittering anthology edited by Sharma Shields and Maya Jewell Zeller, 56 Northwest writers share their singular stories, essays, and poems that center what Shields calls 'the literature of despair.'
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