# What is your favorite American novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533 "2017-07-05T11:48:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/21 "2017-07-05T17:35:49Z")
I would love to answer _Americana_ by Don Delillo because the title alone would nail the **OP** but sadly I can’t. I will nominate one of his later novels, _White Noise._ ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/22 "2017-07-05T17:48:06Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **Catch-22** , by Joseph Heller. How much of it happened? An update on this what if book for 2017 would be great. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/23 "2017-07-05T17:53:07Z")
Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford ---
**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 5, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/24 "2017-07-05T17:53:58Z")
I’ve already given my favorite, but a couple of others: **The Screaming Mimi** by Fredric Brown – Brown wrote some great mysteries (in addition to science fiction, fantasy, and thrillers). I’d include several (_The Fabulous Clipjoint_ arguably being the best of these), but this one is one of my faves. Well-written, bizarre turns of plot. It feels as if Robert Bloch cribbed fro it for _Psycho_. A lot of Robert Heinlein. It’s hard to choose which, especially out of the juveniles, but I’d give "favorite’ status to **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress** and **Double Star**. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/25 "2017-07-05T18:27:13Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > **A Soldier of the Great War** , by Mark Helprin \*favorite I could have chosen this just as easily. I would read Helprin’s daily to-do list, he is that good a writer (although other novels of his didn’t quite hit me like ‘Soldier’ did). mmm ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/26 "2017-07-05T18:40:41Z")
I hear “favorite American novel” and to me the phrase suggests that the answer needs to be a novel that is essentially “American” in fundamental ways – in other words, not just my favorite novel _written by_ an American. So my favorite American novel, as I read the question, is a novel that is in so many ways about and representative of the American spirit and character. It tackles race, sex, religion, capitalism, and exploration. It is both intensely optimistic and deeply pessimistic. The book itself is a total shambles, but I can’t help forgiving its many faults and failures because of its reckless artistic ambition and fundamental kindness of spirit. Can you guess the book I’m thinking of? It’s _Moby-Motherfucking-Dick_ – although if I were in a more pessimistic mood, and looser about what constitutes a “novel,” I might’ve gone with _Armies of the Night_, the “non-fiction novel” by Norman Mailer. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/27 "2017-07-05T19:03:25Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **Catch-22** , by Joseph Heller. Seconded. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/28 "2017-07-05T19:10:20Z")
_The Long Winter_ by Laura Ingles Wilder. Oh, to be able to go back to the days when I loved reading fiction so much! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/29 "2017-07-05T19:20:53Z")
\*\*The Book of the New Sun \*\*by Gene Wolfe **Bones of the Moon** by Jonathan Carroll ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/30 "2017-07-05T19:23:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The novel I think is the greatest is _To Kill a Mockingbird_, by Harper Lee. > > The novel which is my own personal favorite is _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, by Robert A. Heinlein. Hey, you posted for me. Exactly my feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/31 "2017-07-05T19:53:16Z")
**Lonesome Dove** by Larry McMurtry ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/32 "2017-07-05T21:02:34Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > I hear “favorite American novel” and to me the phrase suggests that the answer needs to be a novel that is essentially “American” in fundamental ways – in other words, not just my favorite novel _written by_ an American… My intention was to ask for your favorite novel by an American. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Theodore\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Theodore\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theodore_Striker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/33 "2017-07-05T21:03:58Z")
_Revolutionary Road_… the failure of promises, psychological breaking, and the myth of the American Dream. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/34 "2017-07-05T21:09:57Z")
_Cryptonomicon_. (Sadly, the last good book Stephenson wrote.) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/35 "2017-07-05T21:19:58Z")
Slaughterhouse-Five. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > \*\*The Book of the New Sun \*\*by Gene Wolfe If you’re flexible about allowing 4-5 separately bound objects as a single book. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/36 "2017-07-05T21:31:02Z")
My favorite is _Moby Dick_, although I think that \*The Great Gatsby \*and _Huckleberry Finn_ are also fine choices. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/37 "2017-07-05T21:48:24Z")
_The Great Gatsby_ is nearly perfect, but I also like _Angle of Repose_ by Wallace Stegner a lot. > [@Theodore\_Striker](#): > > _Revolutionary Road_… the failure of promises, psychological breaking, and the myth of the American Dream. Oh man, Frank and April Wheeler, what a couple. In a similar vein (and choosing despite the OP’s admonition to stick to the American-themed), _The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit_ by Sloan Wilson would be a good book to pair with _Revolutionary Road_. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/38 "2017-07-05T21:52:25Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > _The Great Gatsby_ is nearly perfect, but I also like _Angle of Repose_ by Wallace Stegner a lot. Damn he could write. Love _Crossing to Safety_, too. But yeah, Gatsby. If it’s the book I’ve read the most, it’s **Dune**. I’m cool with that, too. 😉 ---
**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 5, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/39 "2017-07-05T21:59:45Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > despite the OP’s admonition to stick to the American-themed The OP only asked for an American novel, not an American-themed novel; and he further clarified in Post #32 that this means a novel by an American. Personally, I’m not sure what my answer would be—I suck at “What’s your favorite…?” questions where there are huge numbers of possible responses—but if I thought about it enough, it might even turn out to be the same one mentioned in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/40 "2017-07-06T00:26:58Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > My intention was to ask for your favorite novel by an American. > mmm In that case, I’ll go with Colson Whitehead’s _The Inuitionist_, which is tightly focused on just a few aspects of the American Experience: what is it like to be a female African-American elevator inspector, in a world where elevator inspection is taken very seriously? I’m very fond of this novel because, while working in a bookstore, I managed to sell a copy to an elevator inspector who was inspecting our elevator. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533.md?page=3)