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A specific book recommendation?

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  • 19-05-2009 5:58pm
    #1
    af_thefragile
    Registered Users Posts: 7,171 ✭✭✭


    Hey, I'm currently working on writing a novel in a kind of a multiple narrative structure. Where there are two or more people narrating their perspective of the story.

    And i was wondering if anyone of ye know any books which are written in a multiple narrative form...? Where they are like two or people characters narrating the story.

    Cheers!!
    :)


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    #2
    John
    Registered Users Posts: 12,135 ✭✭✭✭John


    Ulysses is the obvious port of call. Each chapter is essentially a completely different style and there are multiple narration techniques used throughout.


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    #3
    Madou
    Closed Accounts Posts: 80 ✭✭Madou


    Hate to take you from Ulysses to pop-fiction, but 'The Time Traveller's Wife' by Audrey Niffenberger is a good example of a dual narrative.


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    #4
    cashback
    Registered Users Posts: 1,598 ✭✭✭cashback


    Graham Swift - Last Orders.
    Think there's about four narrators. Excellent novel.


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    #5
    Richy165
    Registered Users Posts: 33 ✭Richy165


    The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner


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    #6
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    :pAnd now to drag the level of discourse down from the likes of Joyce and Faulkner, Jeffrey Archer often employs this technique.


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    #7
    OldBloke
    Registered Users Posts: 180 ✭✭OldBloke


    This lime tree Bower (filmed as Saltwater) by Conor McPherson does this very well.


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    #8
    godspal
    Registered Users Posts: 468 ✭✭godspal


    Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    Foe by J.M. Coetzee.


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    #9
    peanuthead
    Registered Users Posts: 3,111 ✭✭✭peanuthead


    Nights in the Asylum by Carol Levefre. There are a few narratives going on in it, and it really demonstrates well the different techniques, language, opinions the author will have to use to construct the novel well. Was shortlisted for 2008 Commonwealth Writer's Prize too.

    Also, it's been so long since I read both, but did either Bleak House or Wuthering Heights have a double narrative.


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    #10
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    godspal wrote: »
    Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    .

    Whats that like? I heard he based it on how his schizophrenic wife was turning out. I started the Great Gatsby last night and am looking forward to reading more of his work.


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    #11
    Liquorice
    Closed Accounts Posts: 849 ✭✭✭Liquorice


    Richy165 wrote: »
    The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner

    Seconding Faulkner for impressive multiple narratives.


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    #12
    budgemook
    Registered Users Posts: 3,829 ✭✭✭budgemook


    Not sure if this is the sort of thing you're after but Irvine Welsh is very good at it I think, especially with Trainspotting and in a slightly different way, Filth.


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    #13
    Eoin
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 21,238 CMod ✭✭✭✭Eoin


    budgemook wrote: »
    Not sure if this is the sort of thing you're after but Irvine Welsh is very good at it I think, especially with Trainspotting and in a slightly different way, Filth.

    There's Porno as well - I think there are 5 different narrators.


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    #14
    silverwater
    Registered Users Posts: 90 ✭✭silverwater


    You should definitely check out Italo Calvino too.
    Brilliant use of second person narrative in 'If On A Winter's Night A Traveller'.


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    #15
    budgemook
    Registered Users Posts: 3,829 ✭✭✭budgemook


    eoin wrote: »
    There's Porno as well - I think there are 5 different narrators.

    as there are with Trainspotting, I just thought it was better with Trainspotting. I suppose bedroom secrets of the masterchef would be worth a look also.


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    #16
    IvyTheTerrible
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,949 ✭✭✭✭IvyTheTerrible


    Cloud Atlas, I think.


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    #17
    Eoin
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 21,238 CMod ✭✭✭✭Eoin


    budgemook wrote: »
    as there are with Trainspotting, I just thought it was better with Trainspotting. I suppose bedroom secrets of the masterchef would be worth a look also.

    I haven't read Trainspotting, might give it a go. I think the writing itself is OK in the masterchef one, but the plot was awful.


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    #18
    Fr Clint Power
    Registered Users Posts: 66 ✭✭Fr Clint Power


    In 'An Instance of the Fingerpost' by Iain Pears four different characters give their perspective on a particular incident. Excellent book.


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    #19
    budgemook
    Registered Users Posts: 3,829 ✭✭✭budgemook


    eoin wrote: »
    I haven't read Trainspotting, might give it a go. I think the writing itself is OK in the masterchef one, but the plot was awful.

    You are right. Trainspotting is my fav by him though. Really brilliant. And Filth is a close second. He has a new(ish) one out but it was slated. I haven't read it though. I'll be busy reading the independent's life time reads for the next year anyways.


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    #20
    godspal
    Registered Users Posts: 468 ✭✭godspal


    Tender is the Night is amazing, make sure you get the right version though!

    Theres the 5 book linear version, its alright, a bit romanticist in direction and it plays out more like a tragedy.
    And then theres the original 3 book multi-narrative which is just compelling and so beautifully written is places. Some of Fitzgerald's descriptions and movement is just so awe-inspiring.
    When it comes to prose I would definitely pick Tender is the Night over the Great Gatsby, even though I think the Great Gatsby is an all-round better book.


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    #21
    2040
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,300 ✭✭✭2040


    IvyTheTerrible wrote: »
    Cloud Atlas, I think.

    Yeah, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell has a multiple narrative. As do two books i've read recently by Roberto Bolano: The Savage Detectives and 2666. In the former the two main characters never have their own narrative, so it's sort of like a venn diagram where you find out about the two main characters at the intersection. Good book.


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    #22
    2040
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,300 ✭✭✭2040


    Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland is another good one. There's loads really.


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    #23
    Blush_01
    Registered Users Posts: 5,016 ✭✭✭Blush_01


    The Girls - Lori Lansens. Very accessible.


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    #24
    jen_da_fer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7 ✭jen_da_fer


    The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is written from four perspectives but it is a short easy read and yet well written if you are looking for a quick example.


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    #25
    paoloiaquinta
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16 ✭paoloiaquinta


    doyle's paddy clarke is good ( although woman who walked into doors was brilliant)

    mccluskey's "boys in the river" - funny and good.

    albom "just one more day" - nice light read with a good moral tale.


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    #26
    rickman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭rickman


    hey paolo just recommended the "paddy clarke" and the "boys in the river" books on another thread....cheeeeeee!!also i can recommend "a thousand splendid suns"


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    #27
    whiterob81
    Registered Users Posts: 552 ✭✭✭whiterob81


    I read hey nostradamus recently too. I'd highly recommend it. very good use of a 4 person narative.

    I read tender is the night about 2 years ago. I wasn't mad about it. I can't deny that it was very well written but i couldn't warm to the 2 central characters at all.

    I think it was the 3 novel version i read.


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    #28
    Illkillya
    Registered Users Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭Illkillya


    Another J.M. Coetzee told from different perspectives - "Diary of a Bad Year"... Each page is split horizontally in two or three different voices.


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    #29
    Blush_01
    Registered Users Posts: 5,016 ✭✭✭Blush_01


    Theft: A Love Story - Peter Carey.

    I'm currently reading it, not sure whether I'll feel the same about it by the end as I do now, but I'm enjoying it so far. Narrated by the main character and his "damaged" brother, it really shows two very different viewpoints, and the differentiation between narrators is all tonal.


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    #30
    whiterob81
    Registered Users Posts: 552 ✭✭✭whiterob81


    It's probably not what you're looking for but the Dice man by Luke Rhinehart is worth checking out. It's primarily told from one person's perspective but every chapter is in a different style. Some first person, some third person, some almost like screenplay from what I can remember.

    but don't bother with the sequel because it's s****


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    #31
    ally2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 51 ✭✭ally2


    John Fowles The Collector does two narratives in a tale of abduction. It's really chilling to read the POV of the abductor and the abductee and hear their thoughts. It's quite a short book and it really took me by surprise when he switched halfway through. But it had me hooked!


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