If You Like Toni Morrison...

Toni Morrison’s Beloved was voted the best work of American fiction of the last quarter century in 2006 by a group of prominent critics, authors, and editors. Beloved has been included in college literature courses for 20 years and the author received the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1988. Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

Toni Morrison has carved out her own niche in American literature and no one writes quite like she does. The following authors and works have some elements in common with Morrison, elements such as a racial or ethnic central theme, the use of mysticism and magic realism, and lyrical prose.

Allende, Isabel – The House of the Spirits is the saga of the Trueba family and the turbulent times in Chile from the early 20^th century through the assassination of Salvador Allende in 1973.

Amado, Jorge – Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Dona Flor summons her philandering first husband from the dead and finds that having two husbands at once suits her just fine, thank you.

Bambara, Toni Cade – Those Bones Are Not My Child tells the fictional story of an African-American family’s search for their missing son in Atlanta in the late 1970s and early 1980s during a time when African-American children were being abducted and killed by a real-life serial killer. Bambara was working on this saga when she died in 1995. Toni Morrison edited the work for publication.

Baldwin, James – Go Tell It on the Mountain relates the internal family struggles between a son and his oppressive father and the black experience in the segregated America of 1935.

Coetzee, J. M - Disgrace recounts the downfall of a self-absorbed white professor and his subsequent struggle to relate to and understand his daughter as well as the culture of post-apartheid South Africa.

D’Agular, Fred – The Longest Memory is set in 1810 Virginia and tells the story of a runaway slave, his love for a white girl, and his relationship with his father who unintentionally betrays him.

Erdrich, Louise – Love Medicine, Erdrich’s cycle stories of the North Dakota Chippewa chronicle the conflicts and contradictions faced by Native Americans both from within and without their culture.

Faulkner, William – Light in August, Intruder in the Dust, Go Down Moses, Faulkner, one of our classic Southern authors, writes about race and racism. Toni Morrison wrote her Master’s thesis on Faulkner.

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel – One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, Garcia Marquez, known affectionately as Gabo, blurs the lines between reality and a dream world in his tales of his native Colombia.

Gordimer, Nadine – My Son’s Story , A black family’s drama plays out against the backdrop of segregated Africa.

Hurston, Zora Neale – Their Eyes Were Watching God, The story of Janie Crawford’s life unfolds as she describes her loves and trials with the men in her life to old friend Phoeby. Janie gains strength from the telling.

Jones, Gayl – Mosquito, Sojourner Johnson, known as “Mosquito”, is the only black woman independent trucker in the country. Because of her South Texas route she becomes involved in the Latin American “underground railroad” and secretive Sanctuary movement.

McKinney-Whetstone, Diane – McKinney-Whetstone chronicles the black experience in Philadelphia during the 20^th century, decade by decade: Tumbling, in the 40s and 50s; Tempest Rising, in the 60s; and Blues Dancing during the 70s-90s.

Naylor, Gloria – Bailey’s Café is an arrangement of vignettes that depict Bailey, the owner, and the patrons of Bailey’s Cafe who include Peaches the prostitute, and Sadie the wino. NoveList calls this novel the African-American version of The Canterbury Tales. (Author Read-Alikes: Toni Morrison by David Wright).

Styron, William – The Confessions of Nat Turner, The psychological impact of slavery is revealed as Nat Turner recounts the story of his life.

Walker, Alice – The Color Purple, Abused first by her father and then her husband, Celie draws on inner strength and becomes her own woman with the help of her friend Shug.

West, Dorothy – The Living is Easy relates the struggles of upwardly mobile blacks in Boston. West founded the literary magazine Challenges and was influential in the 1930’s Harlem Renaissance.