# Books in which protagonist is alone for much of the book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147 "2018-07-18T13:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/1 "2018-07-18T13:49:22Z")
I’ve read Robinson Crusoe, My Side of the Mountain, Hatchet, Julie of the Wolves, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and The Martian. Any books you can recommend in which the main character spends much of the book alone? And by “alone”, I mean without other humans. For purposes of this thread, animals don’t count, unless they’re sentient. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/2 "2018-07-18T13:54:52Z")
_Life of Pi_ springs to mind. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/3 "2018-07-18T13:58:07Z")
Though I can’t recall the name, there is a good book about a guy who spent the longest time on a emergency raft alone at sea, based on the real person who did this. Should be easy to find… yes found it: Adrift. It was a enjoyable read in that theme. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/4 "2018-07-18T14:00:10Z")
_[Pincher Martin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pincher_Martin)_ by William Golding. _[Concrete Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Island)_ by J. G. Ballard The technical term for this “Robinsonade.” Wikipedia has a list, though many involve groups of people being stranded. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/5 "2018-07-18T14:06:38Z")
Stephen King’s novel Misery and short story Survivor Type. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/6 "2018-07-18T14:23:54Z")
The Black Stallion. The Old Man and the Sea. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/7 "2018-07-18T14:25:15Z")
_The River Why_ by James Duncan, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/8 "2018-07-18T14:30:18Z")
_The Eyes of the Dragon_, Stephen King. ---
**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/9 "2018-07-18T14:36:14Z")
Hobbyist A short story by Eric Frank Russell ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/10 "2018-07-18T14:47:02Z")
Fight Club. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/11 "2018-07-18T14:54:01Z")
All of the books in the Steven Gould’s _Jumper_ series: _Jumper_, _Reflex_, _Impulse_ and _Exo_. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/12 "2018-07-18T14:57:18Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > _The Eyes of the Dragon_, Stephen King. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Stephen King’s novel Misery and short story Survivor Type. And _Gerald’s Game_. I’m sensing a theme. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/13 "2018-07-18T15:02:53Z")
Joshua Slocum’s _Sailing Alone Around the World_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/14 "2018-07-18T15:10:44Z")
The film _Robinson Crusoe on Mars_ and the novel _No Man Friday_ (AKA _First on Mars_) by Rex Gordon, which some think may have inspired the film. _I Am Legend_ by Richard Matheson, and the three films it inspired. _The Quiet Earth_ by Craig Harrison and the film based on it. At least for the first third or so. The first part of George R. Stewart’s _Earth Abides_. Sterling Lanier’s short story _And the Voice of the Turtle_. I notice that the stories fall into two types – Robinsonades and post-apocalyptic stories. But most of the Robinsonades I have read actually have a bunch of people surviving cut off from the rest of the world (_Swiss Family Robinson, Mysterious Island_, etc.), so more of them are post-apocalyptic. And even in those cases the protagonist is only alone at the beginning, until he hooks up with the few other survivors. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/15 "2018-07-18T15:30:35Z")
_Aloft_, a novella in the book _Strange Weather_, by Joe Hill. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/16 "2018-07-18T15:38:02Z")
For short stories, there’s Alfred Bester’s classic “[Adam and No Eve](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ffpn9S8Wq4).” (Stay to the end.) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/17 "2018-07-18T16:28:45Z")
A novel partly inspired by the author’s real experiences: [Darkness at Noon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkness_at_Noon) by Arthur Koestler. In real life, Koestler was a prisoner of Franco’s Spain. The novel is about a prisoner of Stalin’s Soviet Union, but without ever mentioning Stalin or the Soviet Union. I guess you’re looking for novels, but here are a few non-fiction titles that qualify: _Seven Years’ Solitary_ by [Edith Bone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Bone) [Walden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden) by Henry David Thoreau [One Man’s Wilderness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Man%27s_Wilderness) by Richard Proenneke and Sam Keith ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/18 "2018-07-18T16:30:44Z")
The OP mentioned most of the books that sprang first to my mind. Maybe, in true SDMB style, I’ll wait until this thread gets to page 2 and then say “I can’t believe nobody has mentioned” one of them. The one I thought of that wasn’t mentioned was [Last of the Breed](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/266485.Last_of_the_Breed) by Louis L’Amour. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/19 "2018-07-18T18:38:50Z")
Johnny Got His Gun. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147/20 "2018-07-19T00:51:22Z")
My first thought after _Hatchet_ and _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ was _Brian’s Winter_, the second sequel to _Hatchet_, written after readers complained that Brian got out of the wilderness too easily. Two C S Forester books might fit the bill, _Brown on Resolution_ and _Death to the French_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-in-which-protagonist-is-alone-for-much-of-the-book/818147.md?page=2)