Search results
Everybody has to grow up sometime — and the books on this list show that it can happen in surprising ways. We’ve hand-picked the very best of the genre to bring you seventy must-read coming-of-age books.
- Reedsy
- Justin Torres, We the Animals. Torres’ slim, elegant, intense 2011 bildungsroman carries us deftly from the mania of childhood and brotherhood to the alienation of young adulthood and the self-knowledge that comes with it—or inspires it, as it were.
- André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name. If you read this space, you’ll know that I’m a fan of Call Me By Your Name, a perfect, deeply interior novel, steeped in desire, about a young man who falls in love with an older visitor, and discovers quite a bit about himself—and love, and family—in the process.
- Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex. A coming of age story that is also a coming of self story, as Callie becomes Cal, and the world becomes modern. See also: The Virgin Suicides, which rivals this one fiercely in my heart and is also in some ways a purer bildungsroman, though for a faceless chorus of boys instead of a single one.
- Katherine Dunn, Geek Love. So much more than a coming of age novel, of course, and not usually designated as such—and yet still it fits, as Olympia tells the monstrous story of her childhood (while endeavoring to protect her own daughter from the woman who would “normalize” her).
- To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee.
- On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong.
- Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë.
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain.
In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action and are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are ...
Mar 31, 2021 · Haruki Murakami, Dodie Smith and J.D. Salinger explore the highs and lows of teenage life in these classic coming-of-age tales, selected by you.
A coming-of-age novel follows a character as they age from childhood to adulthood or while they go through an important series of events that define their understanding of the world. The character is likely to go through emotional changes influenced by what they’ve seen and experienced.
A coming-of-age story is a genre of literature that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood ("coming of age"). Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action, and are often set in the past or have adults looking back into the past.
