Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like Dead Souls
The best books like Dead Souls are The Myth of Sisyphus, Steppenwolf, and Homage to Catalonia. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol is about corruption and provincial russia, identity and self-deception, satire of bureaucracy. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Myth of Sisyphus
01
Albert Camus · Philosophy
The Myth of Sisyphus begins with what Camus calls the only truly serious philosophical question: why not commit suicide?
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Steppenwolf
02
Hermann Hesse · Philosophy
Steppenwolf is Hermann Hesse's most psychologically intense and formally inventive novel, published in 1927 at a time of personal crisis.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Homage to Catalonia
03
George Orwell · Memoir
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's firsthand account of fighting in the Spanish Civil War, which he joined in late 1936 as a volunteer with the POUM militia — a Trotskyist revolutionary organization that was later suppressed by the Soviet-backed Stalinist wing of the Republican forces.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Moveable Feast
04
Ernest Hemingway · Memoir
A Moveable Feast is Hemingway's posthumously published account of his years in Paris during the 1920s, when he and his first wife Hadley lived cheaply in Montparnasse while he apprenticed himself to the work of becoming a writer.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Castle
- Great Expectations
06
Charles Dickens · Classics
Great Expectations follows Pip, an orphan boy on the Kent marshes who is yanked from modest obscurity into the orbit of wealth and social aspiration when an anonymous benefactor funds his move to London.
Both dig into identity and self-deception.
Read the summary → - In the Woods
07
Tana French · Mystery
Dublin detective Rob Ryan is called to investigate a child's murder at an archaeological dig in Knocknaree — the same woods where, twenty years earlier, two of his childhood friends vanished without a trace and Rob was found clinging to a tree, bloodied and with no memory of what happened.
Both dig into identity and self-deception.
Read the summary → - The Girl on the Train
08
Paula Hawkins · Thriller
Rachel Watson takes the same commuter train every day, passing the house where she used to live with her ex-husband Tom, who now lives there with his new wife.
Both dig into identity and self-deception.
Read the summary → - A Farewell to Arms
09
Ernest Hemingway · Literary fiction
A Farewell to Arms is set during the First World War in northern Italy and follows Frederic Henry, an American serving as a lieutenant in the Italian ambulance corps, who falls in love with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Fine Balance
10
Rohinton Mistry · Literary fiction
A Fine Balance is set in an unnamed Indian city during Indira Gandhi's Emergency of 1975–1977, a period of suspended democracy, forced sterilization, and slum clearances that is barely taught in the West and barely taught in India.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Little Life
11
Hanya Yanagihara · Literary fiction
A Little Life follows four men from college into middle age and beyond — Willem, an actor; JB, a painter; Malcolm, an architect; and Jude, a lawyer with a past that is revealed in increasingly devastating detail as the novel progresses.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
12
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce · Literary fiction
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man traces the intellectual and spiritual development of Stephen Dedalus from early childhood to the edge of adulthood, when he leaves Ireland to pursue life as an artist.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like Dead Souls: quick answers
What are the best books like Dead Souls?
The best books like Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol are The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, The Castle by Franz Kafka, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Dead Souls, such as corruption and provincial russia, identity and self-deception, satire of bureaucracy.
What should I read after Dead Souls?
A natural next read after Dead Souls is The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.
What books are similar to Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol?
Dead Souls centers on corruption and provincial russia, identity and self-deception, satire of bureaucracy. Books with a similar feel include The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, The Castle by Franz Kafka, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
