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