# Books that take place over one or two days **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196 "2015-09-14T12:03:53Z")\ **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:** [September 14, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/1 "2015-09-14T12:03:53Z")
I’m writing a novel that takes place over one (I may change that to two) days, and I’m looking for other examples. My husband suggested Ulysses by James Joyce, any other ideas? I’m especially interested in children’s/YA novels and thrillers. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/2 "2015-09-14T12:48:15Z")
[Six YA Books That Take Place in One Day](http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/six-ya-books-that-take-place-in-one-day/) ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/3 "2015-09-14T12:53:01Z")
A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denosovich ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/4 "2015-09-14T12:59:39Z")
Ian McKewen’s [Saturday](http://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Ian-McEwan/dp/1400076196/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442235540&sr=8-1&keywords=saturday). ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/5 "2015-09-14T13:12:05Z")
[Mrs. Dalloway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway) by Virginia Woolf. Wish I could have back the time it took me to read it though. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/6 "2015-09-14T13:46:48Z")
[Been there, done that](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=595704) ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/7 "2015-09-14T13:49:37Z")
HIT by Delilah Dawson is a YA thriller, and it’s either in two or three days. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/8 "2015-09-18T21:20:05Z")
I think Catcher in the Rye is a very short timeframe. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/9 "2015-09-18T21:27:23Z")
There are flashbacks to earlier times, but otherwise, almost everything in Malcolm Lowry’s _ **Under the Volcano** _ takes place in a single 24 hour day- specifically, Mexico’s Day of the Dead. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/10 "2015-09-18T21:42:48Z")
_Crónica de una muerte anunciada_ (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) by Gabriel García Márquez. There are flashbacks, but the main events occur within a day or two. I had to read it in eigth grade for school. That counts as YA, right? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/11 "2015-09-18T23:03:38Z")
I know this doesn’t fit the ‘one day’ rule, but since I/we don’t know how you’re formatting the book, I’ll toss in Gone Girl. The bulk of the book takes place over about a week and a half. The chapter titles usually let you know what day it is relative to when it started, but because of the nature of the book the whole week or so it just one big blur as days and nights run together. Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish, this may or may not work as an example (with some trimming, it could be told over 48 hours). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/12 "2015-09-18T23:42:20Z")
The third novel in (primarily) George R.R. Martin’s _Wild Cards_ series, [_Jokers Wild,_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokers_Wild_(novel)) takes place in one day. I don’t know how much sense it would make to read just that one, as it’s the third in a 12-book series. > [@](#): > > Jokers Wild is the third volume in the Wild Cards shared universe series edited by George R. R. Martin. Unlike the previous two volumes in the series (Wild Cards and Aces High), this volume uses the format of a mosaic novel, where several writers write individual storylines which were then edited together into one novel length story. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/13 "2015-09-19T00:45:20Z")
[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Opinions_of_Tristram_Shandy,_Gentleman) purports to be the start of the biography of Tristram Shandy, but doesn’t get much further than the day he was born (though with numerous flashbacks and flashforwards). ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/14 "2015-09-19T09:19:59Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > [Mrs. Dalloway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway) by Virginia Woolf. Wish I could have back the time it took me to read it though. Really? It’s one of my favourite books :(. > [@astorian](#): > > There are flashbacks to earlier times, but otherwise, almost everything in Malcolm Lowry’s _ **Under the Volcano** _ takes place in a single 24 hour day- specifically, Mexico’s Day of the Dead. > [@KarlGrenze](#): > > _Crónica de una muerte anunciada_ (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) by Gabriel García Márquez. There are flashbacks, but the main events occur within a day or two. Similarly, **Michel Butor** ’s _Second Thoughts (La Modification)_ takes place in about a day in a single train carriage but includes flashbacks. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second\_Thoughts\_%28Butor\_novel%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Thoughts_%28Butor_novel%29) The 600+ pages of **Georges Perec** ’s _Life a User’s Manual (La Vie mode d’emploi)_ arguably take place in a single moment… with lots of hilarious digressions and interwoven sub-plots. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life\_a\_User’s\_Manual](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_a_User's_Manual) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/15 "2015-09-19T10:25:32Z")
Delores Claiborne technically takes place in one day as the entire thing is a woman’s statement to the police. She tells stories of course, though, and the main one she tells takes place over awhile. It’s all one big monologue, though. Gerald’s Game is all in one or two days, I think…and by coincidence, it’s connected to Delores Claiborne too (both are written by Stephen King and the characters in both novels go through the same solar eclipse event, although they’re miles apart and don’t know each other). You said young adult, though, and SK wouldn’t really apply there. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/16 "2015-09-20T20:44:04Z")
Nicholson Baker’s _The Mezzanine_ takes place during the length of an escalator ride. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/17 "2015-09-20T22:29:24Z")
_ **Going after Cacciato** _ by Tim O’Brien. Actually takes place in the space of one night, but you don’t find that out until the very end. \*\*\*Gone South \*\*\* by Robert R McCammon, though I think it’s more like three (or even four) days. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/18 "2015-09-21T06:25:15Z")
I believe \*\*A Rude Awakening \*\*took place over a day or so. It was set in Indonesia in 1946, when the european empires in Asia were collapsing and the main character, a British soldier, was awaiting transportation back to the UK. I think Brian Aldis was the author. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/19 "2015-09-21T07:42:37Z")
I think _The Secret Place_ by Tana French takes place over a couple of days - although it is so filled with backstory that it doesn’t really have that feel. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196/20 "2015-09-21T13:45:02Z")
Most of the books in The Dresden Files series take place over a few days. Pretty sure at least some of them span two days or less. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-take-place-over-one-or-two-days/731196.md?page=2)