Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like Under the Volcano
The best books like Under the Volcano are A Moveable Feast, Man's Search for Meaning, and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry is about alcoholism and self-destruction, guilt and penance, political violence. 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.
- A Moveable Feast
01
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 → - Man's Search for Meaning
02
Viktor E. Frankl · Psychology
Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and the psychological theory he developed from that experience.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts
03
Gabor Maté · Health
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is Gabor Maté's book about addiction, written while he was working as a physician in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, one of North America's most concentrated pockets of poverty, drug use, and homelessness.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
04
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
David Sheff · Memoir
Beautiful Boy is David Sheff's account of watching his son Nic become addicted to methamphetamine through his late teens and early twenties, and of the years Sheff spent trying to understand it, respond to it, and survive it as a parent.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Wisdom of Insecurity
05
Alan Watts · Philosophy
The Wisdom of Insecurity, published in 1951, is Alan Watts's argument that the anxiety pervading modern life is a direct consequence of the attempt to find permanent security in an impermanent world.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Exit West
06
Mohsin Hamid · Literary fiction
Exit West follows Saeed and Nadia, two young people who meet and fall in love in an unnamed city beginning to fracture under the pressure of civil conflict.
Both dig into political violence.
Read the summary → - One Hundred Years of Solitude
07
Gabriel García Márquez · Literary fiction
One Hundred Years of Solitude chronicles the founding, flourishing, and eventual obliteration of Macondo, a fictional Colombian town, through six generations of the Buendía family.
Both dig into political violence.
Read the summary → - The Famished Road
08
Ben Okri · Literary fiction
The Famished Road is narrated by Azaro, a spirit child in West Africa.
Both dig into political violence.
Read the summary → - The Remains of the Day
09
Kazuo Ishiguro · Literary fiction
Kazuo Ishiguro's 1989 Booker Prize-winning novel is narrated by Stevens, an aging English butler who has devoted his life to Darlington Hall — and to his employer, Lord Darlington, who turned out to have fascist sympathies in the 1930s.
Both dig into lost love.
Read the summary → - The Sympathizer
10
Viet Thanh Nguyen · Literary fiction
The Sympathizer is narrated by a nameless communist spy who is also the aide-de-camp to a South Vietnamese general.
Both dig into political violence.
Read the summary → - Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
11
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe · History
Say Nothing opens with a scene that sets its register precisely: Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten, is dragged from her Belfast flat by a gang of masked strangers in December 1972 and never seen alive again.
Both dig into political violence.
Read the summary → - The Anatomy of Fascism
Books like Under the Volcano: quick answers
What are the best books like Under the Volcano?
The best books like Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry are A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff, The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Under the Volcano, such as alcoholism and self-destruction, guilt and penance, political violence.
What should I read after Under the Volcano?
A natural next read after Under the Volcano is A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff.
What books are similar to Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry?
Under the Volcano centers on alcoholism and self-destruction, guilt and penance, political violence. Books with a similar feel include A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff, The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
