previous return to all questions next

Redeeming hope in humanity asked 390 days ago by Clark - 2 answers

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to go on a weeklong vacation and would love recommendations for fiction that leaves the reader with greater hope for humanity.

I don't want anything sacchrine or artificial/fake. The story can have drama and sadness but there should be an uplifting resolution or some level of hope and inspiration by the end.

Would also prefer something in a more contemporary setting -- but it doesn't have to be a real place.

Any/all suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

Kindly -- hc

Vanessa says:

I love John Steinbeck because he loved all of us first. A lot of his fiction is heavy so I recommend Cannery Row which is funny and sweet and melancholy and perfect. It's really my favorite book of all time.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey has such an earned hopefulness at the ending that it makes me cry and smile simultaneously. Really worth reading if you've only seen the movie (and since the narrator is out of touch with reality at the outset, stick with it in the beginning.)

Summer of 42 by Herman Raucher.

Your question has made me realize I read a lot of depressing books.

Verna W. says:

Fanny Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe, for sure!

I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and could hardly put it down.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Scroll down to see more answers
email me when answers are added to this question
previous return to all questions next