Seriously, I was sure it would be The Prince of Tides.
I cannot agree with this. I didn’t even know it was a novel until just now, when I googled it. The TV show was once pretty famous, but I bet few Americans under the age of 40 have ever seen an episode.
East of Eden isn’t even John Stenibeck’s most famous novel. MANY California novels are more famous, including (my nominee) The Maltese Falcon.
I’d pick From Here to Eternity for Hawaii.
That’s a much better choice- I haven’t read either , but Conroy’s work is far more famous.
For FAME… I can think of several Arizona novels better known than anything by Barbara Kingsolver. How about Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale, or Louis L’Amour’s Hondo?
I really doubt they did that much legwork. A few editors sat around for an hour or so, and for the states they blanked on, they used Wikipedia.
For Connecticut… I’d substitute The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
A Confederacy of Dunces for Louisiana, over Interview with the Vampire.
Not the novel.
I would have said The Great Santini.
Yeah, that was an absurdly bad choice for New Jersey. Your suggestions are much better. Or “Garden State,” which was a novel before it was turned into a movie of the same name.
Second the recommendations for “Lonesome Dove” for Texas and “Scarlet Letter” for Massachusetts.
I can’t remember if Robert Penn Warren ever spelled out what state ***All the King’s Men ***was set in.
Willy Stark was obviously supposed to represent Louisiana Governor Huey Long, but I don’t remember if it was ever established that Stark lived in Louisiana.
This WOULD be the most famous Louisiana novel if it is, in fact, a Lousiiana novel.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as the most famous novel set in Missouri? I suppose only because Huckleberry Finn isn’t* entirely* set in Missouri.
In the novel Wizard of Oz, Dorothy “leaves for Oz” on page 2 and returns in time for the last three paragraphs. Maybe. It’s set in Kansas the way Spain is set in Morocco.
I believe Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie is set in Kansas–a strip of land that at the time was “Indian Territory” but later was joined up with KS rather than OK. If so, that’d be my choice.
Third the Scarlet Letter over Walden, and most things by Steinbeck over East of Eden, where fame is concerned anyway.
I too wonder about the means they used to come up with the list, although I suspect bup’s guess is correct.
I also wonder about the rules they used to determine what books qualify.
For one thing, the title of this thread is inaccurate: the article clearly says “Most famous book,” not “Most famous novel.” Most but not all of the books listed are novels (Walden, for example, is not).
They may have excluded books set in the area before it became a state (which would rule out The Scarlet Letter, but would also be at least problematic for Hawaii). And it’s not clear how much of the book has to be set in the state in question for it to qualify.
?the Hackman basketball film.
I think “The Stepford Wives” would be better for Connecticut – much more famous than Revolutionary Road.
Hoosiers, but it was never a book, it was an original screenplay.
I kind of figured a John Irving book would take the New Hampshire spot, but you’re right–the Hotel New Hampshire in the book is actually located in Austria. I would have thought A Prayer for Owen Meany would get it, since it’s not only a more New Hampshire-y book, but a much more well-known John Irving book. It seems like the only way Hotel New Hampshire has it beat is that the state’s name is in the title.
There are a number to choose from, but this was the first one I thought of as well. I’ll bet a lot more high schoolers have to read the former rather than the latter (at least I did, as a high schooler in MA).