# Novels whose stories take place within one day. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043 "2011-02-03T16:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043/21 "2011-02-04T14:55:50Z")
Arthur Haley’s _Airport_ takes place during a single evening and the early hours of the next morning - well under 12 hours in all. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043/22 "2011-02-04T14:56:28Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Nicholson Baker’s first two novels, _The Mezzanine_ and _Room Temperature_ both take place during extremely short periods of time. The former takes place during an escalator ride and the latter during the bottle-feeding of an infant. > > Obviously, they both concern themselves heavily with how the mind free-associates. > > FWIW, _The Mezzanine_ was very good. _Room Temperature_ I could have done without. > > ETA: His later book _Vox_ may cover a very short period of time as well, I don’t remember it as well. Vox is a single, long phone conversation taking place after the couple hooks up in a phone-sex chat room, or thereabouts. So yeah, it qualifies. I really enjoyed The Mezzanine, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043/23 "2011-02-04T15:12:00Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > **Ulysses** is the first thing that popped into my head. Never read it, but it’s the first thing I thought of. And another (also unread) novel is _One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich_ by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Edited to add that I didn’t see that book was already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043/24 "2011-02-04T15:47:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Would Dickens’s _A Christmas Carol_ count? It takes place in less than a 24-hour timespan, late afternoon on Christmas Eve to early Christmas morning. I’d count it in terms of the time constriction, but I don’t think I’d count it as a novel. It’s really more of a short story, isn’t it? Or perhaps a short novella. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043/25 "2011-02-04T16:05:01Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > **Ulysses** is the first thing that popped into my head. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Never read it, but it’s the first thing I thought of. Actually, I never have either. 😉 ---
**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:** [February 20, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043/26 "2011-02-20T18:49:25Z")
I cannot believe that I, Ed McBain’s biggest fan since I was a child, did not remember [Killer’s Wedge](http://www.amazon.com/Killers-Wedge-Signet-Ed-McBain/dp/0451163362). Who else could write a mystery novel where all the action takes place in four hours? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043/27 "2011-02-20T19:33:59Z")
_Last Night at the Lobster_ by Stewart O’Nan. It’s a good one too, about the last day/night at a restaurant before it closes. Everything O’Nan writes is good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-whose-stories-take-place-within-one-day/570043.md?page=1)