I feel like every fiction book I pick up that's been published in the last 5-10 years that's deemed "feminist" has a very... underwhelming and surface-level approach to feminist themes. Pretty much any book with a female protagonist and male antagonist or a "sapphic" subplot ends up labeled as "feminist" these days. Not to mention, if it's at all a historical setting, there's so many anachronisms in these in particular because they'd rather appear feminist at the detriment of any thought of what an actual feminist of the time period in question might be like. I think this is mainly a result of when "feminism" was less a political movement and more a pop culture trend in the mid-2010s, and most authors writing these books being libfems.
What I want to read more is fiction that isn't necessarily "feminist" outright or by marketing, but that has even subtle themes that could be considered feminist that are actually approached with depth and nuance rather than the simultaneously heavy-handed and shallow version that these books spoon-feed to their audience, because I feel like those books are insulting my intelligence.
I'd love to hear recommendations for books and authors! They don't have to be recent, and I'm willing to read from any genre!
Some of Margaret Atwood's books are interesting – I liked Surfacing, for example, but she's written lots of other books if that's not for you.
Alice Munro (e.g. Lives of Girls and Women) and Margaret Laurence (e.g. The Stone Angel) have also written books about women.
All three of these women are second-wave or older Canadian women.
I second The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper.
Older authors also include Mary Stewart and Helen MacInnes. They're not feminist but they do have strongly written female characters.
I've read some of Atwood's poetry, but have never known where to start with her fiction, so having a recommendation is helpful.
I'm definitely trying to read more older authors, I like keeping up with contemporary fiction for the aspect of having a community of readers to talk about books with, but I definitely need some more variety so I'll look into all these authors! Thanks!
I haven’t read it since it came out in the 90s, but I really liked Alias Grace. I also second Munro and Laurence. The voices of my formative years.
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