Best long novels

[ajvenigalla]

Ah, the long novel. Bleak House, Moby-Dick, Underworld, War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, Infinite Jest, Ulysses, and Les Miserables.

These are some of the greatest works of literature. And they're all long.
so, in honor of the big, juicy, long novel, I have decided to dedicate a thread specifically to the best long novels (not to long novels in general, which I will discuss another time).

For that, I would pick all the titles I mentioned before, and I would add some other possible candidates: The Secret History, The Goldfinch, J R, The Recognitions and Anna Karenina

[Calidore]

While it isn't perfect, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings should be included. I'm also going to throw in a couple of personal all-time favorites as dark horses just for fun: Stephen King's The Stand and Dave Sim's 500-page Cerebus graphic novel High Society.

[Jackson Richardson]

Middlemarch, Vanity Fair. And there are the three great C18 novels, although personally I'm not a great fan: Tom Jones, Clarissa, Tristram Shandy.

Tristram Shandy - I prefer it by a long, long way to Gravity's Rainbow.

[kev67]

Great Expectations is my favourite long C19th novel so far. Of more recent books, Lonesome Dove maybe.

[prendrelemick]

The very obvious War and Peace for me. It is very long but, it has breadth too.

[Pompey Bum]

I wrote about this elsewhere, so I'll spare you a detailed reprise, but I am fond of books written before the publishing industry decideed that readers needed to hurry up and finish what they were reading so it could sell them more, or at least get them to pay for the next serial installment (in other words, before there was a modern publishing industry). Early novels like Don Quixote, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, etc., are unreasonably long by our standards because they were not marketed to the masses; rather they were read by a knight or noble or cleric or monk or layman over a period of time in the individual's life, and would have involved considerable unhurried reflection (especially the Chinese novels). Since I try to approach all books like this, the question for me is which short books are acceptable for the purpose, not which long books I have read. Okay, that said, here are some books that have given me that experience (in no particular order):

1. Classics:

Journey to the West
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
War and Peace
The Brothers Karamazov
The Idiot
Tom Jones
Bleak House
Little Dorrit
Anna Karenina, Don Quixote, David Copperfield, and Vanity Fair are favorites, too, but it's been years since I've read them (and that was in school), so they wait upon the judgement of mature reflection. :)

And then there are histories, which don't care how long they may be.

2. New-ish Novels:

I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that Ajvenigalla is asking the question in the context of enjoying The Goldfinch, and wondering what other long-ish books are fun or meaningful (or both). Here are a few I've read--some more strongly recommended than others.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: go for it, AJ, if you like The Goldfinch. It's not as mature, but it's more fun, and not all that long, really.

The Goldfinch you are reading, and we have discussed.

The Quincunx by Charles Palliser: a cult-read from the 1980s; a pastiche of Dickens style, but without the sentimentality. Very long by anyone's standard, but so worth it. Highly recommended.

The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa: a historical novel about a Brazilian Apocalyptic movement and armed insurrection in the late 19th century. It was recommended to me by a LitNetter, and I can happily pass on the recommendation.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton: last year's Booker Prize winner; it's clever and usually (though not always) vividly written. But some characters and parts of the plot are driven by PC. The story is complex, and certainly not a mess, but I felt cheated by its smug postmodern ending. Try it if you like, but I'm not promising anything.

Mr Norrell and Jonathan Strange by Susanna Clarke: I'm not giving this one a strong recommendation, either, although fantasy fans may like it. Some of it is charming and some is rambling. In a certain way, it's Harry Potter for grow ups; so if that sounds appealing, go for it.

The Son by Philipp Meyer: a western with a compelling, gritty plot; not bad, but not Cormac McCarthy or even Larry McMurtry (it's more like Edna Ferber's Giant than anything else). Speaking of McMurtry, Kev recommended Lonesome Dove. Sure, if you like westerns. It's just as good as The Son and just as violent, but with a better sense of humor.

[JBI]

Dream of Red Chambers comes to mind, as does the Tale of Genji, both worthwhile reads. The Plum in and the Golden Vase is also a great read, especially if you stick with it; the jokes and irony are almost unmatched (though how much comes through in translation I don't know).

[ajvenigalla]

Thanks. My list of the greatest long/dense novels of all time: Don Quixote, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Bleak House, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, The Lord of the Rings, Ulysses, Blood Meridian, Moby-Dick, 2666, Underworld, In Search of Lost Time, The Goldfinch (still reading, but I think this will become one of the great novels of all time), A Tale of Two Cities, Les Miserables, The Scarlet Letter, Our Mutual Friend

There are more of course, but this is my own list.

Another long-ish novel that's a favorite of mine is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

[sweetcaroline]

I did not see Daniel Deronda on here, so I thought I'd add it. Good job with adding Anna Karenina, Pompey Bum!

[ajvenigalla]

^ the credit goes to me first for mentioning Anna Karenina :)

Just sayin'

Though Pompey Bum's contributions are great

[sweetcaroline]

^ the credit goes to me first for mentioning Anna Karenina :)

Just sayin'

Though Pompey Bum's contributions are great

Shoot, it seems I overlooked that when I entered this forum. My apologies.

[ajvenigalla]

I would like to go a little into Les Miserables. Yes, it's highly respected as one of the greatest novels of all time. However, it's also quite long, and Hugo often does "telling" in many places rather than "showing," especially in the famous digressions of the novel.

I now own the two recent translations — the Modern Library Julie Rose translation and the Penguin Classics Christine Donougher translation. I haven't read any of them yet, but I think they might do justice to the expansive mastery of Hugo's novel in terms of style and structure

Plus, I think the modern world could use a Les Miserables, especially with all the digressions and stuff.

[Jackson Richardson]

Les Miserables is the one really long classic I haven't read. I'm going through a French phase at the moment so I would like to read it this year. I saw a new Penguin translation in a shop (yes! I buy books printed on paper in shops! Quaint, aren't I?) translated by Christine Donougher and called The Wretched.
http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/books/the-wretched/9780141442280/

Anyone any views on the translation?

[Jackson Richardson]

Nobody's mentioned Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. I read it on a long overland journey mainly by train to Cyprus and left my copy there with the friend I was visiting. I enjoyed it. It is very, very long.

[ajvenigalla]

^ actually, around this year Penguin Classics released a deckle-edged paperback version of the Christine Donougher translation, and that's available. It's marketed as Les Miserables.

Anyways, I haven't read the translation myself but I think those who did read it find it a very good and commendable translation, one that balances modern readability with faithful adherence to the original spirit and style.

[Pompey Bum]

Nobody's mentioned Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. I read it on a long overland journey mainly by train to Cyprus and left my copy there with the friend I was visiting. I enjoyed it. It is very, very long.

A Suitable Boy is a wise love story (usually not my genre) and an effective historical novel (if 1952 counts). And there's nothing like getting to page 1000 in a book and seeing that you still have 475 pages to go! Here are a couple of (brief) comments I wrote about it at one time or another. I remember asking you, Jonathan, how you managed to read it on a train to Cyprus without getting the pages soggy.


I think that A Suitable Boy will have staying power exactly because it is so pre-mod. It's all about earnestness over irony and conventional narrative structure over smoke and mirrors. My guess is that the next generation will rebel against the hipsters and prefer writers more like Seth. A Suitable Boy is massive, of course, so that may limit its popular appeal. Seth keeps saying he's writing a sequel. I'll believe it when I see it. But I predict A Suitable Boy will become a classic.


I thought it was sweet and worthwhile if not terribly deep. And I loved the choice she made at the end. To me, A Suitable Boy was sort of Trollope-esque literature-- but not Dickens or Fielding by half. I'd recommend it to someone with a broken leg--or maybe a woman who finds herself pregnant. In fact, it would make a nice gift.

[WyattGwyon]

A couple of truly great, long 20thc novels not yet mentioned:

William Gaddis, The Recognitions
Authenticity and fraud in the art scene of 1950s Manhattan with an art forger (Wyatt Gwyon) as its main character.

Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate
A 20thc War and Peace focused on the siege of Stalingrad.

[Dark Muse]

A few that I had not seen mentioned already

Count of Monte Cristo
Crime and Punishment
The Magic Mountain
Cancer Ward

[ennison]

The Death of the Detective. Almost a long novel.

[sweetcaroline]

I would hardly consider Crime and Punishment a long novel, but maybe that's just me...

[Emil Miller]

I would hardly consider Crime and Punishment a long novel, but maybe that's just me...

It isn't a long novel but it sure seems like one.

Edit: How about Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, in excess of 1000 pp. and considered by some to be his masterpiece although, despite being bowled over by the writing, not by me: that honour being reserved for Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence.

[waltzinmathilda]

The Man Without Qualities By Musil is long. Some time ago someone recommended that I read 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, a long novel which I completely failed to make sense of.

[ladderandbucket]

John Steinbeck's East of Eden.