Favorite Magical Realism Novels
Magical realism is when magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even "normal" setting.
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One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez    3.87 avg rating — 235,934 ratings
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The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads Author) 3.62 avg rating — 358,864 ratings
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The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Goodreads Author) 3.91 avg rating — 405,076 ratings
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Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel 3.83 avg rating — 133,911 ratings
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The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende  4.10 avg rating — 37,241 ratings
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Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez 3.77 avg rating — 95,044 ratings
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Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (Goodreads Author) 3.99 avg rating — 19,597 ratings
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind 3.87 avg rating — 39,827 ratings
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The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 4.28 avg rating — 30,347 ratings
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Life of Pi by Yann Martel 3.79 avg rating — 215,638 ratings
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Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman 3.72 avg rating — 11,312 ratings
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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón 4.17 avg rating — 64,078 ratings
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Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami 4.06 avg rating — 37,034 ratings
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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami 4.20 avg rating — 41,168 ratings
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Chocolat (Chocolat, #1) (The Food Trilogy, #1) by Joanne Harris 3.79 avg rating — 20,098 ratings
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Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie 4.03 avg rating — 22,544 ratings
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The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (Goodreads Author) 3.93 avg rating — 12,339 ratings
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Blindness by José Saramago 3.95 avg rating — 36,544 ratings
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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 3.67 avg rating — 76,232 ratings
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Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides 3.83 avg rating — 208,305 ratings
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The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie 3.74 avg rating — 13,698 ratings
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Beloved by Toni Morrison 3.67 avg rating — 68,063 ratings
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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 3.74 avg rating — 40,520 ratings
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The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 3.66 avg rating — 501,306 ratings
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Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges 4.47 avg rating — 6,724 ratings
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Orlando by Virginia Woolf 3.78 avg rating — 10,454 ratings
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Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende 3.79 avg rating — 26,475 ratings
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House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Goodreads Author) 4.10 avg rating — 21,377 ratings
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Possession by A.S. Byatt 3.82 avg rating — 18,993 ratings
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The Giver (The Giver, #1) by Lois Lowry 4.11 avg rating — 264,914 ratings
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Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer 3.88 avg rating — 47,749 ratings
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The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx 3.64 avg rating — 32,192 ratings
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The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly 3.90 avg rating — 14,636 ratings
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Little, Big by John Crowley 3.97 avg rating — 2,472 ratings
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Eva Luna by Isabel Allende 3.90 avg rating — 9,074 ratings
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Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino 4.19 avg rating — 9,890 ratings
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Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin 4.13 avg rating — 4,672 ratings
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Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison 3.92 avg rating — 22,607 ratings
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A Zahir by Paulo Coelho (Goodreads Author) 3.51 avg rating — 13,131 ratings
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The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen (Goodreads Author) 3.94 avg rating — 11,441 ratings
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Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins 3.65 avg rating — 20,655 ratings
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The Passion by Jeanette Winterson 4.12 avg rating — 5,736 ratings
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Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 4.18 avg rating — 19,930 ratings
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The Onion Girl (Newford, #11) by Charles de Lint 4.09 avg rating — 2,759 ratings
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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami 4.14 avg rating — 18,046 ratings
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The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 3.84 avg rating — 36,821 ratings
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Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author) 3.91 avg rating — 41,309 ratings
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The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike 3.20 avg rating — 4,607 ratings
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Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver 3.95 avg rating — 20,325 ratings
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The Trial by Franz Kafka 3.94 avg rating — 28,367 ratings
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Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman 3.75 avg rating — 3,142 ratings
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Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya 3.66 avg rating — 6,152 ratings
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Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (Goodreads Author) 3.90 avg rating — 14,298 ratings
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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare 3.91 avg rating — 83,627 ratings
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The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 4.10 avg rating — 543,878 ratings
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Wise Children by Angela Carter 3.91 avg rating — 1,331 ratings
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Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (Goodreads Author) 3.19 avg rating — 33,471 ratings
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The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen (Goodreads Author) 3.81 avg rating — 11,158 ratings
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The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka 4.35 avg rating — 6,522 ratings
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The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk 4.23 avg rating — 1,573 ratings
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Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella 3.91 avg rating — 2,613 ratings
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All the Names by José Saramago 3.83 avg rating — 3,601 ratings
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Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar 4.22 avg rating — 3,655 ratings
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Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter 3.93 avg rating — 1,741 ratings
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Gospel According To Jesus Christ by José Saramago 4.19 avg rating — 3,073 ratings
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Twilight (Twilight, #1) by Stephenie Meyer 3.67 avg rating — 842,553 ratings
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Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author) 4.10 avg rating — 58,861 ratings
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The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo 3.96 avg rating — 34,338 ratings
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The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman 3.43 avg rating — 5,369 ratings
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If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino 4.09 avg rating — 14,333 ratings
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The River King by Alice Hoffman 3.64 avg rating — 3,474 ratings
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The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien 4.00 avg rating — 3,518 ratings
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The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea (Goodreads Author) 4.12 avg rating — 2,766 ratings
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The Temple Of My Familiar by Alice Walker 3.96 avg rating — 4,116 ratings
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Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado 3.93 avg rating — 1,211 ratings
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Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez 3.48 avg rating — 12,876 ratings
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The Milagro Beanfield War by John Treadwell Nichols 4.01 avg rating — 1,838 ratings
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Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie 3.79 avg rating — 4,003 ratings
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A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (Goodreads Author) 4.17 avg rating — 73,697 ratings
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Franz Kafka's The Castle by David Fishelson 3.92 avg rating — 5,933 ratings
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Mama Day by Gloria Naylor 4.12 avg rating — 2,407 ratings
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Lucky by Alice Sebold 3.66 avg rating — 28,146 ratings
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The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (Goodreads Author) 3.13 avg rating — 16,720 ratings
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Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić 4.18 avg rating — 1,046 ratings
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Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert 3.56 avg rating — 754 ratings
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In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez 4.12 avg rating — 13,903 ratings
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Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block 4.28 avg rating — 3,820 ratings
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The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe 3.58 avg rating — 15,021 ratings
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Enchanted, Inc. (Enchanted, Inc. #1) by Shanna Swendson 3.83 avg rating — 2,827 ratings
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Amerika by Franz Kafka 3.63 avg rating — 3,805 ratings
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Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo 3.99 avg rating — 3,895 ratings
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Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar 4.18 avg rating — 1,366 ratings
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A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1) by Libba Bray (Goodreads Author) 3.76 avg rating — 53,257 ratings
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Someplace to Be Flying (Newford, #8) by Charles de Lint 4.26 avg rating — 1,822 ratings
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The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier 3.69 avg rating — 750 ratings
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The Tin Drum by Günter Grass 3.94 avg rating — 7,633 ratings
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The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova 3.66 avg rating — 65,479 ratings
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The White Hotel by D.M. Thomas 3.80 avg rating — 1,229 ratings
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Tent of Miracles by Jorge Amado 3.87 avg rating — 178 ratings
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Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez 3.90 avg rating — 7,795 ratings
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Comments (showing 1-34 of 34) (34 new)
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I disagree with Anne Rice being on the list. She's not magical realism because there is no realism in her novels. I'm not putting her down; I like the Mayfair Witch series alot, I'm just saying, techinically, I disagree that she uses magical realism.
Also, Matt, I hope you're kidding....
The new novel by Joshua Mohr is not exactly magical realism but something similar. The narrator has post traumatic stress disorder and imagines himself going through a trapdoor in the bottom of a dumpster to visit his past. He also meets his inner-child.
I added Midlesex.. and prepared to be challenged as im no expert. To me this was magic realism - narrated as the story of a gene through generations by someone who couldnt possibly have known the details, also exemplified by narrating the story from within the womb
Alice Hoffman and Isabel Allende are my favorite magic realists and I'm glad they are on this list. The way I feel about magic realism, is that its just a hint or a small touch of magic or something mystical in a realistic setting. Its not overwhelming the story. So I agree that Anne Rice isn't magic realism, because its about the supernatural. The same for Elsewhere: great teen novel, but its about the afterlife. Although my favorite of Alice Hoffman's that's not on this list is Illumination Night.I'm not too sure if I agree with Middlesex being on this list. I understand what you're trying to say, but to me it was more of a complicated coming of age story. Great novel, but not magic realism (but that's just my opinion). I'm also a little on the fence about The Time Traveler's Wife, but I voted for that one.
Too difficult to choose one, I love Alice Hoffman's gift of story but I also love Gabriel García Márquez for his lush narrative. When reviewing the list I noticed 3 books that I have but haven't read yet. There just aren't enough hours for reading...I can't decide.
I wish the witch of Portobello was mentioned. A live display and rendering of its protagonist - was much more entertaining and enlightening than reading something in print and voting for it. Then I would vote for Haroon & the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. However, I have not read most names mentioned here and so The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho bcomes choice!
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle A NovelI am not sure if this qualifies but it was certainly a magical book to me...and an amazingly well-written story.
Kathleen
Jon wrote: "I added Midlesex.. and prepared to be challenged as im no expert. To me this was magic realism - narrated as the story of a gene through generations by someone who couldnt possibly have known the ..."I don't think that's magical realism.... it's a storytelling term but in general, its the story of a real life girl that nothing magical happens to. to me, not so much magical realism...
To me, the magic in magical realism isn't so much literal as it is linguistic (or artistic). I define it as the expression of the metaphorical as literal. It's not about supernatural and fantasy as much as those elements naturally come into play when you play with language (or whatever your art form) so that the beauty of expression becomes real and you see magic in the world.
Naomi Lindstrom, Twentieth-Century Spanish American Fiction (1994):"(Magical Realism is a) narrative technique that blurs the distinction between fantasy and reality. It is characterized by an equal acceptance of the ordinary and the extraordinary. Magic realism fuses
(1) lyrical and, at times, fantastic writing with
(2) an examination of the character of human existence and
(3) an implicit criticism of society, particularly the elite.
The Venezuelan essayist and fiction writer Arturo Uslar-Pietri was especially eager to promote this literary mixture as an exceptional feature of Latin American literature. It was Arturo Uslar-Pietri who applied to Latin American writing a term taken from German art criticism, magical realism. By the 1960s this phrase was being taken up not only by critics but by ordinary readers for whom it summarized a quality they had been noticing in recent fiction. In the broadest terms, the phenomenon that seemed to be spreading through a sector of Spanish American writing was the co-occurrence of realism with fantastic, mythic, and magical. A secondary trait was the characteristic attitude of narrators toward the subject matter: they frequently appeared to accept events contrary to the usual operating laws of the universe as natural, even unremarkable. Though the tellers of astonishing tales, they themselves expressed little or no surprise. It is worth noting that Arturo Uslar-Pietri, in presenting his term for this literary tendency, always kept its definition open by means of a language more lyrical and evocative than strictly critical, as in this 1948 statement: "What came to dominate the story and to leave a lasting impression was the view of man as a mystery surrounded by realistic data. A poetic divination or denial of reality. Something that for lack of a better word could be called magical realism." When academic critics attempted to define magical realism with scholarly exactitude, they discovered that it was more powerful than precise. Critics frustrated by their inability to pin down the term's meaning have, in disgust, urged its complete abandonment. Yet Arturo Uslar-Pietri's vague, ample usage magical realism was wildly successful in summarizing for many readers their perception of much Spanish American fiction; this fact suggests that the term has its uses, so long as it is not expected to function with the precision expected of technical, scholarly terminology."
Definition of Magical Realism provided on the website of Emory University (http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Magic...):"A literary mode rather than a distinguishable genre, magical realism aims to seize the paradox of the union of opposites. For instance, it challenges polar opposites like life and death and the pre-colonial past versus the post-industrial present. Magical realism is characterized by two conflicting perspectives, one based on a rational view of reality and the other on the acceptance of the supernatural as prosaic reality. Magical realism differs from pure fantasy primarily because it is set in a normal, modern world with authentic descriptions of humans and society. According to Angel Flores, magical realism involves the fusion of the real and the fantastic, or as he claims, "an amalgamation of realism and fantasy". The presence of the supernatural in magical realism is often connected to the primeval or "magical’ Indian mentality, which exists in conjunction with European rationality. According to Ray Verzasconi, as well as other critics, magical realism is "an expression of the New World reality which at once combines the rational elements of the European super-civilization, and the irrational elements of a primitive America." Gonzalez Echchevarria believes that magical realism offers a world view that is not based on natural or physical laws nor objective reality. However, the fictional world is not separated from reality either.
Background
The term "magical realism" was first introduced by Franz Roh, a German art critic, who considered magical realism an art category. To him, it was a way of representing and responding to reality and pictorially depicting the enigmas of reality. In Latin America in the 1940s, magical realism was a way to express the realistic American mentality and create an autonomous style of literature.
Characteristics of Magical Realism
Hybridity — Magical realists incorporate many techniques that have been linked to post-colonialism, with hybridity being a primary feature. Specifically, magical realism is illustrated in the inharmonious arenas of such opposites as urban and rural, and Western and indigenous. The plots of magical realist works involve issues of borders, mixing, and change. Authors establish these plots to reveal a crucial purpose of magical realism: a more deep and true reality than conventional realist techniques would illustrate.
Irony Regarding Author’s Perspective — The writer must have ironic distance from the magical world view for the realism not to be compromised. Simultaneously, the writer must strongly respect the magic, or else the magic dissolves into simple folk belief or complete fantasy, split from the real instead of synchronized with it. The term "magic" relates to the fact that the point of view that the text depicts explicitly is not adopted according to the implied world view of the author. As Gonzales Echevarria expresses, the act of distancing oneself from the beliefs held by a certain social group makes it impossible to be thought of as a representative of that society.
Authorial Reticence — Authorial reticence refers to the lack of clear opinions about the accuracy of events and the credibility of the world views expressed by the characters in the text. This technique promotes acceptance in magical realism. In magical realism, the simple act of explaining the supernatural would eradicate its position of equality regarding a person’s conventional view of reality. Because it would then be less valid, the supernatural world would be discarded as false testimony.
The Supernatural and Natural — In magical realism, the supernatural is not displayed as questionable. While the reader realizes that the rational and irrational are opposite and conflicting polarities, they are not disconcerted because the supernatural is integrated within the norms of perception of the narrator and characters in the fictional world.
Themes
The idea of terror overwhelms the possibility of rejuvenation in magical realism. Several prominent authoritarian figures, such as soldiers, police, and sadists all have the power to torture and kill. Time is another conspicuous theme, which is frequently displayed as cyclical instead of linear. What happens once is destined to happen again. Characters rarely, if ever, realize the promise of a better life. As a result, irony and paradox stay rooted in recurring social and political aspirations. Another particularly complex theme in magical realism is the carnivalesque. The carnivalesque is carnival’s reflection in literature. The concept of carnival celebrates the body, the senses, and the relations between humans. "Carnival" refers to cultural manifestations that take place in different related forms in North and South America, Europe, and the Caribbean, often including particular language and dress, as well as the presence of a madman, fool, or clown. In addition, people organize and participate in dance, music, or theater. Latin American magical realists, for instance, explore the bright life-affirming side of the carnivalesque. The reality of revolution, and continual political upheaval in certain parts of the world, also relates to magical realism. Specifically, South America is characterized by the endless struggle for a political ideal.
Magical Realist Authors
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ben Okri
Isabel Allende
Syl Cheney-Coker
Kojo Laing
Allejo Carpentier
Toni Morrison
Kwsme Anthony Appiah
Mario Vargas Llosa"
Mario T. García, Luis Leal An Auto/Biography (2000), quotes Mexican critic Leal as defining Magical Realism as follows:"Without thinking of the concept of magical realism, each writer gives expression to a reality he observes in the people. To me, magical realism is an attitude on the part of the characters in the novel toward the world, or toward nature. (...) If you can explain it, then it's not magical realism."
And:
"In fantastic literature — in Borges, for example — the writer creates new worlds, perhaps new planets. By contrast, writers like García Márquez, who use magical realism, don't create new worlds, but suggest the magical in our world."
On the inclusion of books by Orhan Pamuk in this list: Pamuk himself does NOT consider his writing to be magic(al) ralism. Indeed, in an interview with the "Independent" (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entert...) he is quoted as saying that "Although he also admires Garcia Marquez, Pamuk finds 'the impact of magic realism damaging, even damning'."
I was wondering if someone could explain why Alice Sebold's Lucky is on the list? I read this one and it was a memoir, and I don't recall any magic even mentioned in it actually, but it was a while back!
Same thought on Lucky--simple memoir. In a way, Sebold's other book The Lovely Bones belongs here, but certainly not Lucky.
Katie wrote: "I think the term magical realism is racist"How so? I mean, I'm really confused by this statement. It's the term Magical Realist writers use or the Marvelous Real, and this is from Rios and Carpentier. So your statement seems way off base to me.
While I absolutely adore the Harry Potter series, I think its inclusion in this list is dubious. It certainly does not meet the criteria for magical realism. Harry Potter is fantasy - perhaps "urban fantasy," if you must, but certainly fantasy. Magical realism requires that the story be set in the normal un-magical world as we know it, with one or two impossible magical circumstances disturbing it. A perfect example, I think, is Aimee Bender's Lemon Cake, although it does not appear on this list.
As much as I love it, I don't think Life of Pi should be considered Magical Realism. However, I can't argue my point without spoilers.
Ben wrote: "As much as I love it, I don't think Life of Pi should be considered Magical Realism. However, I can't argue my point without spoilers."I completely agree! (well, except for the loving it)
Lucky is "magical realism"?????? Are you serious????? What magical about that book? it's a bold realism
In the Time of the Butterflies is a story based on real life events and real people. How this one can be magic too? Looks like many people confused by termin magical realism
Having read some of the other comments, I noticed that there are a number of people pushing for an edit to be done to this list. I totally agree, and would urge whoever is in charge of it to figure out a way to seriously prune this thing. I perused the list for all of 15 seconds and immediately noticed at least 5 books that have no place to be on this list and even more whose right is rather tenuous. Who put The Hobbit on here? That is nowhere near being magical realism, it's like one of the most quintessential fantasy books. Also, there seems to be a lot of urban fantasy mixed in here, which really doesn't belong. This is a seriously misleading list.
I propose that urban fantasy and magical realism are not mutually exclusive. Discuss. Where do you draw the line? Something like Anansi Boys (or American Gods) falls in that dubious neutral zone between the two genres.
I'd put Anansi Boys squarely in magical realism (although the darkness in Gaiman is clearly aligned with urban fantasy.) As a radical departure, try "The Ballad of Young Tam Lin," (just out). Sir John Randolph's life is pretty mundane, until he falls off his horse when drunk, and becomes the lover of the Queen of Elfland. And young Lady Janet Dunbar is as "normal" as can be, until she is seduced by "Tam Lin," Sir John's alter ego. Really well written, compelling, and unexpectedly deep-thinking.
I suggest that Magical Realism be clearly defined first before people can add up to this list. Only a quarter of this list can actually be considered Magical Realism.
Good to see Bless Me, Ultima, in the pack. For a strong visual on Magical Realism, some episodes of Ugly Betty.
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