swap_horiz John Updike Alternatives

1

Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy is a prominent American novelist known for his stark depictions of human existence often set in the Amer...

American 20TH Century Dark Literary

9.1 Excellent

2

Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison was an American novelist primarily known for *Invisible Man*, published in 1952. This groundbreaking novel...

African American American 20TH Century Literary

9.0 Excellent

3

James Baldwin

James Baldwin was a significant 20th-century American novelist and essayist. His writings, such as *Go Tell It on the Mo...

African American American 20TH Century Literary

9.0 Excellent

4

J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger is a prominent 20th-century American novelist best known for *The Catcher in the Rye*. This classic work e...

Classic American 20TH Century Coming Of Age

8.8 Great

5

Philip Roth

Philip Roth was a prominent American novelist known for his insightful portrayals of Jewish-American life and experience...

American Contemporary 20TH Century Literary

8.5 Great

6

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was an American novelist and anthropologist whose work significantly contributed to the Harlem Renais...

African American American 20TH Century Literary

8.5 Great

7

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was a prominent 20th-century American novelist and memoirist. Her work, particularly *I Know Why the Caged...

African American American 20TH Century Literary

8.5 Great

8

Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty was an American author and photographer known for her literary portrayals of life in the American South. Sh...

Classic American 20TH Century Literary

8.5 Great

9

Richard Wright

Richard Wright was a significant 20th-century American novelist primarily known for his exploration of African American...

African American American 20TH Century Literary

8.4 Great

10

Harper Lee

Harper Lee was an American novelist best known for her 1960 debut novel, *To Kill a Mockingbird*, which won the Pulitzer...

Classic American 20TH Century Coming Of Age

8.4 Great

11

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow was a prominent American novelist of the 20th century. He achieved international recognition for his complex...

American 20TH Century Literary Nobel

8.3 Great

12

Truman Capote

Truman Capote was a prominent 20th-century American novelist recognized for his distinctive writing style and investigat...

American 20TH Century True Crime Literary

8.3 Great

13

Bernard Malamud

Bernard Malamud was an American novelist and short story writer whose works of literary realism often explored the strug...

Classic Realism American 20TH Century

8.3 Great

14

Willa Cather

Willa Cather was a prominent 20th-century American novelist known for her evocative portrayals of life on the prairie an...

American 20TH Century Literary Pulitzer

8.1 Great

15

Carson McCullers

Carson McCullers was an American novelist of the 20th century whose work is recognized for its exploration of profound l...

American 20TH Century Dark Literary

8.0 Great

16

Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist whose fiction scrutinizes contemporary American middle-class life...

Realism American Contemporary Social

7.8 Good

17

W. Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist, and short story writer known for his clear, unadorned prose...

Classic Realism 20TH Century British

7.8 Good

18

Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer was an American novelist, essayist, journalist, and public intellectual whose work moved between fiction,...

American Controversial 20TH Century Literary

7.5 Good

19

Margaret Laurence

Margaret Laurence was a Canadian novelist and short story writer born in 1926. She is best known for her Manawaka sequen...

Classic Realism Canadian 20TH Century

7.3 Good

20

Edna Ferber

Isaac Parker was a United States federal judge who served as judge of the Western District of Arkansas from 1875 to 1896...

Classic Epic American 20TH Century

6.3 Fair