Ten Novels That Take Sudden Right-Angle Turns

(Many of my favorite novels succeed by establishing a pattern and fulfilling it; these novels, on the other hand, succeed by establishing a pattern and violating it, either in their form or in their plot, suddenly becoming something other than the book you thought you were reading. I’ve listed them alphabetically by author.)

 

  • Pontius Pilate by Roger Caillois

  • Flight from Nevèrÿon by Samuel R. Delany (or better still the whole Nevèrÿon tetralogy)

  • Ubik by Philip K. Dick (Dick specialized in the right-angle turn, and very few of his novels fail to contain one; Ubik just happens to be my favorite)

  • The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

  • The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes

  • Crossings by Alex Landragin

  • The Chateau by William Maxwell

  • Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

  • Golden Days by Carolyn See

  • How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

— March 10, 2021


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