{"id":48936,"date":"2023-11-28T06:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T12:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=48936"},"modified":"2023-11-02T16:18:13","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T21:18:13","slug":"new-contemporary-novels-with-a-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/new-contemporary-novels-with-a-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"New Contemporary Novels with a Twist!"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was shelving new books last week, I noticed a new subgenre of contemporary novels with a twist. These books are ones that have contemporary settings, but have unusual\/strange\/peculiar premises. Fascinated by this, I started hunting for even more and came up with the following list.<\/p>\n

Below I have gathered contemporary novels that were released in 2023. All descriptions have been provided by the publisher and\/or author.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ripe<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Sarah Rose Etter<\/p>\n

A year into her dream job at a cutthroat Silicon Valley start-up, Cassie finds herself trapped in a corporate nightmare. Between the long hours, toxic bosses, and unethical projects, she also struggles to reconcile the glittering promise of a city where obscene wealth lives alongside abject poverty and suffering. Ivy League grads complain about the snack selection from a conference room with a view of unhoused people bathing in the bay. Start-up burnouts leap into the paths of commuter trains, and men literally set themselves on fire in the streets.<\/em><\/p>\n

Though isolated, Cassie is never alone. From her earliest memory, a miniature black hole has been her constant companion. It feeds on her depression and anxiety, growing or shrinking in relation to her distress. The black hole watches, but it also waits. Its relentless pull draws Cassie ever closer as the world around her unravels.<\/em><\/p>\n

When she ends up unexpectedly pregnant at the same time her CEO\u2019s demands cross into illegal territory, Cassie must decide whether the tempting fruits of Silicon Valley are really worth it. Sharp but vulnerable, unsettling yet darkly comic, Ripeportrays one millennial woman\u2019s journey through our late-capitalist hellscape and offers a brilliantly incisive look at the absurdities of modern life.<\/em><\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>House of Cotton<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0by Monica Brashears<\/p>\n

Magnolia Brown is nineteen years old, broke, and effectively an orphan. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, her predatory landlord, and the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown.<\/em><\/p>\n

One night, while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia\u2019s luck around with a lucrative \u201cmodeling\u201d job at his family\u2019s funeral home where she\u2019ll impersonate the dead. There\u2019s a lucrative fee involved and she accepts. But despite things looking up, Magnolia\u2019s problems fatten along with her wallet. And when Cotton\u2019s requests become increasingly demanding, Magnolia discovers there\u2019s a lot more at stake than just her rent.<\/em><\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Chlorine<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Jade Song<\/p>\n

Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach is her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.<\/em><\/p>\n

But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Creatures that called sailors to their doom. That dragged them down and drowned them. That feasted on their flesh. The creature that she\u2019s always longed to become: the mermaid.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine, the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.<\/em><\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Confidence<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Rafael Frumkin<\/p>\n

At seventeen, Ezra Green doesn\u2019t have a lot going on for him: he\u2019s shorter than average, snaggle-toothed, internet-addicted, and halfway to being legally blind. He\u2019s also on his way to Last Chance Camp, the final stop before juvie.<\/em><\/p>\n

But Ezra\u2019s summer at Last Chance turns life-changing when he meets Orson, brilliant and Adonis-like with a mind for hustling. Together, the two embark upon what promises to be a fruitful career of scam artistry. But things start to spin wildly out of control when they try to pull off their biggest scam yet\u2014Nulife, a corporation that promises its consumers a lifetime of bliss.<\/em><\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Notes on Her Color<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Jennifer Neal<\/p>\n

Gabrielle has always had a complicated relationship with her mother Tallulah, one marked by intimacy and resilience in the face of a volatile patriarch. Everything in their home has been bleached a cold white\u2014from the cupboards filled with sheets and crockery to the food and spices Tallulah cooks with. Even Gabrielle, who inherited the ability to change the color of her skin from her mother, is told to pass into white if she doesn\u2019t want to upset her father.<\/em><\/p>\n

But this vital mother-daughter bond implodes when Tallulah is hospitalized for a mental health crisis. Separated from her mother for the first time in her life, Gabrielle must learn to control the temperamental shifts in her color on her own.<\/em><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gabrielle is spending a year after high school focusing on her piano lessons, an extracurricular her father is sure will make her a more appealing candidate for pre med programs. Her instructor, a queer, dark-skinned woman named Dominique, seems to encapsulate everything Gabrielle is missing in her life\u2014creativity, confidence, and perhaps most importantly, a nurturing sense of love.<\/em><\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Dog of the North<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Elizabeth McKenzie<\/p>\n

Penny Rush has problems. Her marriage is over; she\u2019s quit her job. Her mother and stepfather went missing in the Australian outback five years ago; her mentally unbalanced father provokes her; her grandmother Dr. Pincer keeps experiments in the refrigerator and something worse in the woodshed. But Penny is a virtuoso at what\u2019s possible when all else fails.<\/em><\/p>\n

Elizabeth McKenzie, the National Book Award\u2013nominated author of The Portable Veblen, follows Penny on her quest for a fresh start. There will be a road trip in the Dog of the North, an old van with gingham curtains, a pi\u00f1ata, and stiff brakes. There will be injury and peril. There will be a dog named Kweecoats and two brothers who may share a toupee. There will be questions: Why is a detective investigating her grandmother, and what is \u201cthe scintillator\u201d? And can Penny recognize a good thing when it finally comes her way?<\/em><\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Want more? Here’s a list of ten more unusual contemporary novels! Share your favorite in the comments.<\/p>\n

August Blue<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Deborah Levy<\/p>\n

Natural Beauty<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Ling Ling Huang<\/p>\n

Dykette<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Jenny Fran Davis<\/p>\n

The Last Animal<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Romana Ausubel<\/p>\n

Big Swiss<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Jean Beagin<\/p>\n

Open Throat<\/strong><\/em> <\/a>by Henry Hoke<\/p>\n

Biography of X<\/strong><\/em> <\/a>by Catherine Lacey<\/p>\n

The Guest Lecture<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Martin Riker<\/p>\n

Ghost Music <\/strong><\/em><\/a>by An Yu<\/p>\n

The Survivalists<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>by Kashana Cauley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was shelving new books last week, I noticed a new subgenre of contemporary novels with a twist. These books are ones that have contemporary settings, but have unusual\/strange\/peculiar premises. Fascinated by this, I started hunting for even more and came up with the following list. Below I have[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1,8],"tags":[7437,5363,4494,7443,402,7435,7438,7441,7436,7440,5019,7439,7432,7433,7442,7434],"class_list":["post-48936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-reference","category-staff-picks","tag-chlorine","tag-confidence","tag-contemporary","tag-elizabeth-mckenzie","tag-fiction","tag-house-of-cotton","tag-jade-song","tag-jennifer-neal","tag-monica-brashears","tag-notes-on-her-color","tag-novel","tag-rafael-frumkin","tag-ripe","tag-sarah-rose-etter","tag-the-dog-of-the-north","tag-twist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-cJi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48936"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48948,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48936\/revisions\/48948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}