I understand that this does not fit the usual parameters for a Great American Novels blogpost, but as I near the end of high school, I want to take the time and keyboard taps to chronicle the best novels I’ve been required to read in high school English or Literature classes. For reference, I was in the following classes each year: In freshman year I was in Honors English 9 with Mrs. Brew, in Sophomore year I was in Honors English 10, in junior year I was in AP Language and Composition (talk about a stupid class with one of the worst teachers I’ve ever had 😤), and in the first semester of my senior year I was in science fiction literature. Alright, now for the rankings.
Honorable Mention: Catch 22– I wanted to include a novel that I read in this class (Great American Novels) and the best one I read was Catch 22. Narratively, Catch 22 is scattered, there is no real linear plot, events in the story are not depicted in chronological order in the book. This aspect actually improves the quality of the book, as events that have already transpired can be used as big reveals even though events which have taken place afterwards have been portrayed already. The author Joseph Heller also makes the central character, Captain Yossarian, suprisingly likable in spite of his lazy, perverted, and “cowardly” nature, and makes characters whom he wants the reader to rightfully hate corrupt, cruel, and importantly unlikeable. The novel serves as a critique of war, specifically corrupt war leadership, callous war profiteering, and the pointlessness of waging war. For anyone who read Slaughterhouse-Five I’d compare Catch 22 to that, except better.
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – which I read in freshman year. Spoilers Ahead. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime revolves around the experience of Christopher Boone, an autistic British 15-year-old who excels at maths (haha, I’m British now, what’s a toothbrush?) who discover’s his neighbor’s poodle Wellington dead, impaled by a pitchfork. Christopher decides to solve the mystery of who killed Wellington, which accidentally leads to major revelations about his father and thought to be diseased mother. The novel is written from Christopher’s perspective and is interesting due to a unique syntactical portrayal of Christopher’s autism. The reveals in this novel shock the reader, and it is incredibly moving to see how they rock Christopher’s world as well. I would give an example but I do not want to further spoil a book which I would definitely recommend reading.
4. Maus– read in Honors English 10. Maus’s premise was just plain interesting to start out with. It is a graphic novel depicting a Jew’s journey through the Holocaust, but via the illustrated nature of the story, the Jews are portrayed as mice, the Germans are cats, Polish non-Jews are pigs, and other nationalities are other animals. My older sister read Maus six years before I did, and I remember doing a fair amount of reading through the graphic novel when I was only in fourth grade. The novel definitely approaches and discusses adult themes, so I would not recommend that. I’d say Holocaust narratives are almost always interesting in general due to the immense tragedy depicted (morbid I know), which most people are not able to experience, thankfully. Maus’s quirks and style slightly elevate it above its fellows, such as Ellie Wiesel’s Night which I have also read. It feels wrong to rank Holocaust narratives so I’ll leave it at that.
Alright I’ve written a lot here, and it is getting late, so I am going to write a part two to discuss my top three novels. Thanks for reading.
Great American Novels 