# Can anyone recommend some good first person fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403 "2003-10-03T18:58:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![menudomucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@menudomucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/menudomucho)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/1 "2003-10-03T18:58:37Z")
I’ve been jotting down ideas for a novel over the past year, but am looking for inspiration to start writing it. Can anyone recommend any novels written in first person that exist in a fictional though fully realized world? The world could be either fantastical or our world with signifcant tweaks. Preferably, the recommendations wouldn’t be set in the distant future or outerspace. Thanks for the help, N ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/2 "2003-10-03T19:10:10Z")
Don’t think you could do better than Nick Carraway of _The Great Gatsby_ for first person narrators. That’s if you wanna go the lucid route. If you want to see the magic you can make with multiple narrators, Faulkner’s _The Sound and the Fury_ or _As I Lay Dying_ will make yer head spin, yo. Heavy reads, though. Dense, dense. The best 1st-person _suspense_ novel I can think of is probably _The Big Clock_ by Kenneth Fearing. Awesome, awesome book. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/3 "2003-10-03T21:20:17Z")
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. Story Of My Life by Jay McInnerny (interestingly, male author, female first-person narrator). The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (female author, male first-person narrator). All the Sherlock Holmes stories. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/4 "2003-10-03T21:40:10Z")
I think it is called _Johnny Got his Gun_, where the WWI soldier gets his face blown off. ---
**Author:** ![lesa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/34f0e0/32.png) [@lesa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lesa)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/5 "2003-10-04T00:53:58Z")
The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout are all told from the viewpoint of Archie Goodwin. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/6 "2003-10-04T01:10:03Z")
[Middlesex, by Geoffrey Eugenides.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203405&highlight=middlesex) ---
**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:** [October 4, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/7 "2003-10-04T01:13:00Z")
Lots of mysteries use first person; it allows the author reveal things to the reader in the same time frame they’re revealed to the character, allowing you to uncover the mystery with him. Some include Dashiell Hammet’s Continental Op Bill Pronzini’s “Nameless Detective.” Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe Others: Robert A. Heinlein’s “Friday” and “I Will Fear No Evil,” among others. Gene Wolfe’s “Book of the New Sun.” Lawrence Sterne’s “Tristam Shandy” ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/8 "2003-10-04T01:41:18Z")
Albert Camus, [_The Fall_.](http://perso.wanadoo.fr/chabrieres/texts/camus_fall.html) I’ll confess my pro-Camus bias up front, but it is my favorite first person work. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/9 "2003-10-04T02:31:26Z")
It’s a convention of private eye stories that they are all written in the first person. Nowadays, most “cozies” or less hard-boiled mysteries are also written in the first person. The idea is the same: to give the detective a personality through his or her voice and observations. And it’s not quite as important to hide the clues as it was in the days of the formal whodunit. Sometimes it feels like every famous novel ever written is in the first person, starting with _Robinson Crusoe_ and _Don Quixote_. Note that one is a personal reminiscence and the other is a Watson-like narrator describing the adventures of another. _Huckleberry Finn_ wouldn’t be the same with Huck’s unique voice. Hemingway said that all American literature starts with Huck Finn, so it isn’t surprising to see him use the first person in such books as _A Farewell to Arms_. Big books can go either way, using many viewpoints to convey a depth of experience or a single voice that comments on history passing. Some major ones among the latter include Gunter Grass’ _The Tin Drum_, Russell Banks’ _Cloudsplitter_, Salman Rushdie’s _Midnight’s Children_, and of course Vladimir Nabokov’s _Lolita_, a book impossible to imagine in other than the first person. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/10 "2003-10-04T03:02:26Z")
For high fantasy novels written from a first person perspective, I would recommend the Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb. The three books are _Assassin’s Apprentice_, _Royal Assassin_, and _Assassin’s Quest_. The narrator is a bastard in the royal house who gets caught up in courtly intrigue and dangerous magic. Other than that series, though, most first person fantasy that I’ve read has been pretty mediocre. Often the problem is that the central character is just too boring. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/11 "2003-10-04T03:46:03Z")
You could try the recs in this thread [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=199795&highlight=recommend](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=199795&highlight=recommend) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/12 "2003-10-04T06:43:55Z")
If you want good first person narration, I can say that Stephen Brust writes some of the best written. Any book narrated by Vlad Taltos is guaranteed to have excellent personality and believability, despite the fantasy world Vlad lives in. Really great and original first person narration. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/13 "2003-10-04T07:03:21Z")
I really enjoy the narrative voice in Crawford Killian’s _Lifter_. I have to pull that one out and re-read it every couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/14 "2003-10-04T13:32:12Z")
Whose song is Sung by Frank Shaefer. It is in the perspective of a dwarf that has a few terrible adventures and then earns a friend of Beowulf, traveling with him and reporting of his adventure. A really good read with a bit of pathos. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/15 "2003-10-04T13:34:34Z")
Err, that should be Schaefer, preview is my friend. ---
**Author:** ![boobah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@boobah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boobah)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/16 "2003-10-04T19:26:22Z")
Kindred by Octavia Butler ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/17 "2003-10-04T21:54:15Z")
_Tales of the City_, by Armistead Maupin. ---
**Author:** ![menudomucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@menudomucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/menudomucho)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/18 "2003-10-06T16:14:59Z")
Thanks everyone. I have quite a list to get going on. ---
**Author:** ![Spudo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/19 "2003-10-06T18:47:29Z")
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny are all first person. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403/20 "2003-10-06T22:41:42Z")
I’m currently reading [The Life of Pi](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0156027321/qid=1065480470/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-0051697-5417505?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) . Though the character/narrator is from 1970s India, it might as well be another world because he grew up in a zoo and most of the novel (I won’t use spoilers since this is on the back of the book) occurs on a lifeboat shared with a wild tiger while the character attempts to make sense of the situation using his Hindu/Muslim/Christian religion. Most of Anne Rice’s vampire novels are first person and are essentially a realized alterniworld. Kurt Vonnegut wrote several books in the first person, one of which ([Galapagos](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385333870/qid=1065480672/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0051697-5417505) ) is narrated by a ghost 1 million years in the future. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-first-person-fiction/205403.md?page=2)