swap_horiz Pym Alternatives

1

The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Michael Chabon’s *The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay* chronicles the intertwined lives of Joe and Amos Kavalier, childh...

American 21ST Century Episodic Historical

8.9 Great

2

Middlesex

Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex explores themes of identity and family through the life of Cal Stephanides, an American man...

American Satire 21ST Century Identity

8.7 Great

3

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Junot Díaz’s *The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* explores the complex experiences of an isolated Dominican-American m...

American Satire 21ST Century Diaspora

8.7 Great

4

Portnoy's Complaint

Philip Roth’s *Portnoy’s Complaint* offers a candid, confessional narrative following Alexander Portnoy’s exploration of...

American Satire 20TH Century Confessional

8.5 Great

5

The Sot-Weed Factor

The Sot-Weed Factor is John Barth's 1960 picaresque satire of colonial Maryland and the poet Ebenezer Cooke, marking his...

American Satire 20TH Century Historical

8.4 Great

6

The Eyes of the Overworld

The Eyes of the Overworld is Jack Vance's 1966 Dying Earth fix-up novel, a picaresque fantasy centered on the roguish Cu...

Fantasy Quest American Satire

8.3 Great

7

The Confidence-Man

The Confidence-Man is Herman Melville's 1857 satirical final novel, set on a Mississippi steamboat bound for New Orleans...

American 19TH Century Satire River

8.2 Great

8

The Dog of the South

The Dog of the South is Charles Portis's 1979 comic road novel, following Ray Midge from Arkansas toward Belize in pursu...

American Comic Satire 20TH Century

8.2 Great

9

Solomon Gursky Was Here

Solomon Gursky Was Here is Mordecai Richler's 1989 Canadian novel, tracing a fictional dynasty through the Franklin Expe...

Canadian Satire 20TH Century Family Saga

8.1 Great

10

Illywhacker

Illywhacker is Peter Carey's 1985 Australian novel, a Booker-shortlisted picaresque narrated by liar and confidence man...

Satire Australian 20TH Century Postmodern

8.1 Great

11

Two Serious Ladies

Two Serious Ladies is Jane Bowles's 1943 modernist novel, her only novel, following Christina Goering and Frieda Copperf...

American Satire 20TH Century Surreal

8.0 Great

12

Moon Palace

Moon Palace is Paul Auster's 1989 picaresque novel about Marco Stanley Fogg, linking Manhattan, the U.S. Southwest, and...

Quest American 20TH Century Postmodern

8.0 Great

13

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is Andrea Lawlor's 2017 debut, a Whiting Award-winning queer picaresque about a 199...

American 21ST Century Picaresque Queer

7.8 Good

14

Rubyfruit Jungle

Rubyfruit Jungle is Rita Mae Brown's 1973 debut novel, a coming-of-age account of Molly Bolt notable for its open portra...

American Satire 20TH Century Queer

7.8 Good

15

Baudolino

Baudolino is Umberto Eco's 2000 Italian historical novel, following a 12th-century fabulist linked to Frederick Barbaros...

Italian Satire Medieval 21ST Century

7.8 Good

16

The Slaughterman's Daughter

The Slaughterman's Daughter is Yaniv Iczkovits's 2015 Hebrew historical adventure, translated into English in 2020 and w...

Israeli Satire 21ST Century Historical

7.7 Good

17

A Cool Million

A Cool Million is Nathanael West's 1934 American novel, a bleak parody of Horatio Alger success stories centered on Lemu...

American Satire 20TH Century Parody

7.5 Good

18

The Last Witchfinder

The Last Witchfinder is James Morrow's 2006 historical novel about Jennet, who uses Enlightenment science to challenge E...

Quest American Satire 21ST Century

7.2 Good

19

My Search for Warren Harding

My Search for Warren Harding is Robert Plunket's 1983 debut novel, a comic picaresque about historian Elliot Weiner hunt...

Quest American Comic Satire

7.0 Good

20

The Five Gold Bands

The Five Gold Bands is Jack Vance's 1950 science fiction novel, a space picaresque about Paddy Blackthorn hunting a divi...

Quest American Satire Rogue

6.7 Fair