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    Book Suggestions

    Gay Novels (adult fiction) that has “artistic” merit (I’m sorry for the irritating pretentiousness)

    I know the title sounds extremely pretentious, but after reading Maurice by E.M Forster and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, and thinking about gay novels that are popular right now, I’ve realized that I lean more towards the former two. I’m looking for adult gay novels that evoke elegance, subtle titillation and, above all, are “artistically” complex. (I’m an English Major, so that must explain my annoying perspective.) I like the idea of gay historical fiction, the secretiveness of a love affair, but stuff like Call Me By Your Name is also quite appealing to me

    by palsdrama

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    41 Comments

    7. rhibot1927 on

      Sarah Waters is wonderful. Definitely what you’re looking for if you want literary lesbian fiction.

      I preferred Fingersmith, but Tipping the Velvet is probably more famous.

      Edit – just realised you’re looking for male stories. My recommendation still stands, you’ll just enjoy the glorious storytelling and beautiful prose.

    9. pleasantrevolt on

      Our Lady of the Flowers – Jean Genet

      Cereus Blooms at Night – Shani Mootoo

      Red X – David Demchuk

      Monstrilio – Gerardo Samano Cordova

    11. cowboy_mouth on

      >Later I would think of America as one vast City of Night stretching gaudily from Times Square to Hollywood Boulevard—jukebox-winking, rock-n-roll-moaning: America at night fusing its dark cities into the unmistakable shape of loneliness. Remember Pershing Square and the apathetic palm trees. Central Park and the frantic shadows. Movie theaters in the angry morning-hours. And wounded Chicago streets. . . . Horror movie courtyards in the French Quarter–tawdry Mardi Gras floats with clowns tossing out glass beads, passing dumbly like life itself. . . Remember rock-n-roll sex music blasting from jukeboxes leering obscenely, blinking many-colored along the streets of America strung like a cheap necklace from 42nd Street to Market Street, San Francisco. . . .
      One-night sex and cigarette smoke and rooms squashed in by loneliness. . . .
      And I would remember lives lived out darkly in that vast City of Night, from all-night movies to Beverly Hills mansions.
      But it should begin in El Paso, that journey through the cities of night. Should begin in El Paso, in Texas. And it begins in the Wind. . . . In a Southwest windstorm with the gray clouds like steel doors locking you in the world from heaven. – ‘City of Night’ (1963) by John Rechy.

    13. Not_Cleaver on

      “This is how you lose the time war” is a fun read. Though it’s a bit of a spoiler for me to mention it on this list.

      I’m not gay, but I’m still a bit annoyed that I haven’t read more gay fiction. As someone else mentioned “Less” is great, but you’ve read that already. The sequel is on my list, but I’ve had a tougher time getting in to it. The basic premise about why he is traveling isn’t as appealing to me as the original one was.

      I wonder if The Haunting of Hill House would qualify. Maybe, maybe not. Definitely has artistic merit, but no character is pointedly described as being a lesbian.

    14. killingmenotsoftly on

      Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart won the Booker prize a few years ago. He has another book called Young Mungo, which has a romance subplot. They are adult literary fiction novels, but follow adolescent protagonists; both are also quite bleak.

    15. the_palindrome_ on

      Swimming in the Dark – historical fiction about a gay relationship in Cold War-era Poland. Not so similar in plot but the atmosphere kinda reminded me of CMBYN. I see someone already recommended Giovanni’s Room and I’d suggest reading that first because it is referenced in this book quite a lot.

    18. SignificantCall0 on

      The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr is worth a read, in the vein of James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.

    19. InfinitePizzazz on

      The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida won the Booker last year, and I think it inarguably has artistic merit. Not sure I’d consider it a gay novel, but the main character is gay and that plays into the plot. It’s a beautiful novel.

    21. honeycombeek on

      The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

      Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

      Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

      Lie With Me by Phillipe Besson

      Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

      In Memoriam by Alice Winn

    23. alexinwonderland212 on

      It’s YA but I do feel a lot of artistic merit in terms of its prose being beautiful I would recommend Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

      I also recommend Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. It’s a Chinese epic fantasy about a love story than spans 800 years

    26. ultimate_ampersand on

      * 100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell
      * And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu
      * Army of Lovers by K.M. Soehnlein
      * Brickmakers by Selva Almada
      * Brother and Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella
      * The Charioteer by Mary Renault
      * Edinburgh by Alexander Chee
      * Enter the Aardvark by Jessica Anthony
      * The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
      * Greenland by David Santos Donaldson
      * Let’s Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih
      * Memorial by Bryan Washington
      * No One Dies Yet by Kobby Ben Ben
      * Real Life by Brandon Taylor
      * The Sea Elephants by Shastri Akella
      * Speech Team by Tim Murphy
      * The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

    27. germaphon on

      Since many of my suggestions are already listed, I’ll share something a little more obscure called The Naked Civil Servant. Not a novel, but a memoir by Quentin Crisp, a gay man who came of age during WW2 in Britain. It’s basically a tragedy told as a hilarious comedy, because Crisp deals with the insane adversity he faces with skillful indifference and humor.

      The City and the Pillar is not obscure by any means (hugely scandalous and praised when it came out), but tends to get missed by reddit due to it’s age and not having the staying power of something like Maurice. I think because it’s a particularly unhappy and tragic novel, even by historical gay novel standards, which is saying something. In terms of literary merit though? As well written a book as I have ever read.

    29. AnFaithne on

      The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White

      The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt

    31. Dazzling-Ad4701 on

      one of iris murdoch’s novels features an established gay couple with a complex and strongly-felt relationship. it’s called a fairly honourable defeat.

      they are not exactly the main characters – the main couple is probably this sort of metaphysical dyad of good-versus-evil, embodied in two other people. but they have a complete story of their own and it is told completely within the course of the book as a whole. i’d love to say more but i feel like i’d spoil something. i’ll just say that i rooted so hard for them that it hurt in places.

    32. Viclmol81 on

      I agree with Giovanni’s room and The Hearts Invisible furies, i can see these have already been suggested.

      I would like to add The Charioteer also.

      I, too, enjoy more literary fiction, and after reading Maurice, I was on the same quest as you, well written gay fiction. I hope you enjoy these if you do read them.

    33. alleyalleyjude on

      Took me a bit to get into it, but now that I’ve stuck it out I’m really enjoying The Sleeping Car Porter.

    34. clawhammercrow on

      The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern is fantasy, but I would consider it well written and somewhat complex.

    35. GjonsTearsFan on

      Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjon is Icelandic fiction and very artistically meaty and complex

    38. mikripetra on

      The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. One of my favorites, and not just because I’m a queer Classics major.

    39. Fun-atParties on

      OK, I may get flack for this since it’s a pretty polarizing series, but I think Captive Prince by CS pacat is quite interesting from a literary perspective >!There are 2 reads you can take about what the story is, and who the main character is. In the more interesting read, the main character is not the PoV character, and in fact the PoV character is biased against him for much of the story, giving you the least charitable interpretation for his actions. Then there’s the fact that the PoV character is a bit slow, so you as the reader have more information about the story than he does, and you have to figure out what’s going on without a narrator to hold your hand.!<

      >!Also, I really like all the double speak and prose. I found I had to look up a word about every other page. But judging merit from that perspective is much more subjective!<

      But be warned, it does have pretty dark themes, so check content warnings first.

    40. Tinysnowflake1864 on

      – Giovanni’s Room
      – Swimming in the dark by Tomasz Jedrowski(!!!)
      – On earth we’re briefly gorgeous by Ocean Voung
      – The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
      – These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

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