Magical realism is a genre that would make you fall in love with it within the first few pages. The books of this category have great imaginative abilities that are appreciated especially by the readers that have a wide imagination and need something they can actually relate to, in order to have fun. These books provide a great new world for any reader who is up for it.
The genre tries to accommodate magic and reality into the same book in such a way that the fantasy portrayed becomes a part of the reader’s life and helps the imagination in a very inspirational way. The best thing about these books is that they keep the reader engaged and if you need a book to keep you company for a longer period of time then these are the type of books for you.
10 Awesome Magical Realism Books
#1. The Particular Sadness of a Lemon Cake
This book is written by Aimee Bender. It sounds more like a metaphor but the truth is that it isn’t set that way in the book. It is said in more of a literal and less symbolic sense which is what makes it interesting on a further level. And the concept would definitely boggle you.
It revolves around a young girl who has the ability to eat the feelings of others. This means that every time our young protagonist eats a bit of food, she takes in an experience of feelings of the person who prepared it. And this doesn’t mean just a small taste of it, the complete feelings they are experiencing. This leads to some obvious bad fate which means that when she eats the beautiful lemon cake made by her mother, she figures out that there are some dark moments of despair behind all the cheers and laughter.
#2. What is not yours is not yours
This book is written by Helen Oyeyemi. It is filled with a number of short stories along the way as it tries to point them all into the direction of a single story with a crucial end as a circumstance. The book has a single thread quilling all the stories together into one which is what fascinates the reader the most.
It is one of the best books on magical realism and it definitely provides great insights and a source for fun to any reader that tries it out. It contains a story of a magical and mysterious diary, a library that contains books that are alive, a garden that blooms, and finally a house that has doors that don’t close until we have a look to do so. It is a perfect book to curl up with on the weekend.
#3. Midnight’s Children
This book is written by Salman Rushdie. It is a typical type of magical realism book and most of the readers might have already heard of its name before reading it because of the author and his great work on this book. It is set during the partition of British India and is rooted in actual historical times.
It acts more like folklore and the narrator of this has telepathic powers. This book is great if you really want to know more about this part of history but you also wish to have a literal twist in it to power your fancy. It favors curiosity quite well and will most likely be preferred by a great number of readers.
#4. The Woman Warrior
This book is written by Maxine Hong Kingston. And unlike the other books in this list, it is a memoir. This is why the author is considered a great one as her ability to accommodate seriousness with fiction and would definitely make you respect the author even more.
My interest in this author’s books grew the moment I finished this one and I really felt like it was worth checking out. It has become an American classic where a memoir challenges the very roots of the genre of magical realism because the author provides us a book that represents the story in such a way that it goes through a lot of great turns and overlaps a lot of genres altogether.
#5. Beloved
This book is written by Toni Morrison. It is a book which is read by a lot of people during their school life. It has a great storyline and a huge fan circle. And if it’s the case where you’ve read this in school, pick it up again and give it a go as this will always remain a classic no matter how the circumstances change.
The book tells a ghost story which is just too marvelous to end up in the column of a normal ghost story. It is something that highlights the roots of slavery dug into our society and how its presence is still haunting us throughout the generations. It talks about the rebirth of slavery into the current reality and the way it is eating us up. It is a love story in a fairly a lot of ways.
#6. One Hundred Years of Solitude
This book is written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And it is safe to say that even its title appeals to a reader who would love to read a classic. It would definitely acquire a magnificent amount of space in the library of a devoted reader as it deserves that position in reality. It will be very successful in taking you to a make-belief town in Colombia named Macanudo.
The author creates a magical universe in the beautiful town full of a city made of mirrors, colorful jungles and people who are destined to live for hundreds of years. It’s a book that will bound you to it completely and leaving its grasp wouldn’t be easy. The way it portrays all the events and the magical chaos is just great as it is accommodated right next to the most normal reality that we face every day.
#7. The House of Spirits
This book is written by Isabel Allende. The title itself is a hint on what the book is about and really upholds the appreciation it has received over its many years. It revolves around the Trueba family, accommodating three of its generations and decades of history.
The book is a great representation of the concept of fate and destiny, family bonds and lineage and produces a great storyline in front of the reader that exhibits how even tragedies can turn into miracles. This is why I would definitely recommend you to go through this book as it will definitely amaze you to your core.
#8. The Immortalists
This book is written by Chloe Benjamin. It is a beautiful book set in historical times of 1969 on the lower East side of New York City. It is a very tempting setting and would definitely attract you towards itself. It bases itself on a question we all ponder about, that is, would we wish to know about the day we die if we had some who could predict it for us.
It even plays in the links of family dynamics that span through multiple decades and accommodates various cities. It presents the character of a person with the knowledge of the mystic arts who predicts the death date of four teenage siblings. It even tries to exhibit the ways that these siblings find out how fate exists and how it doesn’t. The way that each of these siblings experiments with half of the information is what keeps the book going.
#9. Autumn
This book is written by Ali Smith and I think that most of you might be familiar with her as she is one of the best writers of our time. Although she is sometimes considered to be ahead of our times as an author so reading her books can be revolutionary to some people. She tries to offer an experimental approach to time, both thematically and formally, which is what most readers love.
The way she represents the stories is remarkable and unique because instead of trying to portray human behavior through a certain point of time, she takes an eternal approach through the lineage of human consciousness that is portrayed through her characters and that’s exactly what this book provides us. This is a series of four books divided by seasons and they provide great storylines to the readers in each of their own ways.
#10. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller
This book is written by Italo Calvino. I have saved the best book according to me for the very last. The way it presents the story that resides in this book is as wondrous as the storyline itself. And if you are fond of a good story with a mixed storytelling perspective then this is just lovely for you.
The book is separated in the form of chapters and each chapter has two different sections that talk about the story. The first part tries to describe everything that you will read in the next chapter and the second part is where the fictional plot of the book lays its soul. It will help you acquire a much bigger perspective by providing you a story that won’t quit and any reader would be blown by the story told in this book due to the way it is presented.
This was a list of magical realism books that might pique your interest and I have already read most of these so I can guarantee a good time to be had by a reader who checks them out. If the content was helpful, please drop a comment below or like leave a like on the post.