In search of The Perfect Novel
Years ago, I read a story (or maybe heard it… it’s been that long) about a recording prized above all others by audiophiles… not because of the quality of the music, but because it had been perfectly captured by the recording engineer: The Most Perfect Work of Sound Engineering. In fact, I remember there was one audiophile record shop that sold only copies of that one, obscure recording of a second rate composition. (If anybody recognizes this from my vague memory, please let me know in comments.)
I was thinking about that when I picked up recently, for the ten-millionth time, my worn paperback copy of “The Silence of the Lambs,” by Thomas Harris. I read it for the first time about eighteen years ago (I have a movie-tie in edition) and still remember the heart-thudding shock of realizing it was Clarice at the door… But I keep re-reading it, even though I know how it ends, because it is the closest thing I’ve come across to the perfect work of narrative art. Okay, maybe not art: narrative technique. Narrative technology. Whatever: every single word in that book serves — sometimes in multiple ways — to drive the story forward at a feverish pace. (I contrast it, harshly, to the sequel, “Hannibal,” in which many of the words serve to indicate the author’s contempt for the reader.)
I can quote lines from memory — “Problem solving is like hunting; it is a savage pleasure, and we are born to it” or “I see. I myself cannot” — but you can start reading for yourself here.
I wonder if anybody else has a novel they feel the same way about… a book lacking, as they used to say, “redeeming social importance,” but made with such consummate skill that you can’t put it aside. Here are the guidelines:
1) There are many other virtues in novels besides this one that might cause you to return to them. For example, the “Harry Potter” novels are delightful and charming and involving, and many people re-read them over and over, but don’t you even try to convince me they are efficient examples of the narrative art. You’re talking to someone who’s read the first five of them aloud. No: we’re talking not so much about content, about what at least feels like structural perfection.
2) Literary quality, or membership in The Canon, is not required (as should be obvious) but is permissible, if you can think of an example. I actually have trouble thinking of a literary novel that qualifies… the greatest authors tend to pursue bigger game than “mere” perfection. The one that comes closest to what I’m talking about, off the top of my head, is “The Great Gatsby.”
3) I’m particularly interested in brilliantly constructed novels that aren’t in the thriller or mystery genre, though I’d love to hear about those, too.
UPDATE #1: Thanks for all the great suggestions. As I anticipated, many people are offering their favorite novels, which isn’t quite what I was asking for… it is conceivable that a “perfect novel,” under the definition I’m groping for, isn’t even something you particularly like… it could be a novel that advances a terrible message or with ugly characters. I’m looking for excellence in craftsmanship, not content, though it’s an interesting question as to whether they can be separated.
Many of my favorite books are mentioned below, and here’s some quick reactions: Stephen King’s books might qualify, in that they are all compulsively readable, but it would have to be prior to “It…” after that, it seemed nobody was willing to edit him. I thought of “Lolita,” as well, because nobody chose his words with more care and joy and zest than Nabokov, in that novel, but there’s so much going on there besides story — games and tricks and clues and references — I don’t think it qualifies. “Pale Fire” might. “Cloud Atlas” is a book I love and one I recommend, but one which, again, seems concerned with a lot more than just telling a story as powerfully as possible. “Catch 22″ — maybe, but on my last re-reading I got distracted by the author’s overarching message. Of the books mentioned here, one I think that might count is, in fact, “A River Runs Through It.” It doesn’t have the driving narrative of some of the books mentioned, but it’s hard to argue that each and every word isn’t utterly necessary. “Slaughterhouse Five,” alone among Vonnegut’s discursive chatty novels, might also qualify.
Oh, by the way, Scott Simon tells me the audiophile recording I was thinking of is Dusty Springfield’s “The Look of Love.” Not what I thought I remembered, but then again, I make stuff up all the time.
Last Update: Thanks again for all of your excellent suggestions. Strangely (to my mind) nobody has suggested the kind of tightly written thriller or mystery I was thinking of when I wrote the original post. Some nifty sounding books, though. A couple of people have suggested “House of Leaves” and while that is an amazing, trippy, haunting book, with its bizarre and involving digressions and layered narratives and textual/graphical games it is probably the opposite of what I mean here: the Least “Perfect” Novel Ever, with the possible exception of “Tristram Shandy.”
May 4th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I find myself re-reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card every couple of years.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
My first impulse is to cite Marathon Man, the novel. I’m going back and forth on whether it qualifies because there are certainly some scenes in there that are rambling, but they seem to be intentionally rambling, adding to the morose panic. I’m probably biased because the intro to the book has one of my favorite examples of pacing an anecdote of all time, where he tells about how he learned that he speaks aloud when he’s writing.
I can think of about a hundred movies like this, though.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Oh! Also, I personally hate Catcher in the Rye due to reading it in middle school instead of in adolescence like God intended, but I think it qualifies, doesn’t it? There’s no word in that story that doesn’t serve to dig Holden deeper into his own hole.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
There’s no way I can even begin to answer your challenge (I’m not that well read), but your post reminded me of the first book I read that made me cry (Gone With The Wind). I read it when I was in high school. Kept me up for two all nighters trying to finish that book, think I skipped out on some classes too, talk about getting engrossed in a book. Thought I would share despite being a little off topic!
~ Adri (@hulahoney)
May 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
“Tomcat in Love” by Tim O’Brien is the best book ever.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Hi Peter,
The three books I come back to again and again are: Lolita by V. Nabakov, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, and Dr. Zhivago by B. Pasternak. Only Alias Grace doesn’t quite make it to Canon level, but I find myself compelled to read it again and again - it is both comforting in its familiarity and yet still exciting each time.
N.H.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
“A River Runs through It” - Norman Maclean. Though maybe NOT lacking redeeming social importance…or may be…it is my perfect book. Some may even argue it’s not a novel since it’s loosely biographically based. I’ve read it dozens of times, and I never tire of it. Every word in it is important I feel. Like you, I know what’s coming around the corner. But I can’t stop. I run right into the same things I did the last time I read it. And I’m surprised and thrilled every time.
BTW - I’ve never heard of this perfect recording…but would love hear more.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
My submission here is Ali Smith’s first novel, Like. It is not her best known work, that probably belongs to Hotelworld, but I feel is more mysterious with fewer, richer characters and a narrative that is all about directing us through the mazes of their inner lives.
It is primarily a story about the deep connection between two people, Ash and Amy, who meet as teenagers and how their lives diverge then come together, then diverge again. The first half of the novel focuses on Amy and her daughter Kate in the ‘present.’ This half of the novel is, to me, a perfect narrative, told from the third person perspective, as we follow Amy, mysteriously and deliberately illiterate (and possibly suicidal) as she and her ‘daughter’ Kate live a hand-to-mouth existence in Scotland. Smith leaves delicious clues as to why Amy has chosen this difficult lifestyle within the parameters of describing the relationship between mother and child. A mystery builds as we are led to the possibility that Kate is not Amy’s, and that Amy may have come by her by less than legal means. The ‘why’ of it though is what compels the reader, compels Smith’s narrative and leads to a conclusion that is more about the nature of love and obsession than any other novel I have ever read.
The second half of the novel, which might play out more as a cheat-sheet (perhaps unnecessarily) is the lost, last journal of Amy’s friend Ash, a one-time actress who disappeared years before the events in the first half of the novel took place. The journal is actually found and read by Kate, though later destroyed by Amy before she has a chance to read it herself. This might be the actual ‘real’ tragedy of the novel, since Amy will never know Ash’s side of the story, of their friendship and of Ash’s long unrequited feelings - that, we discover, ultimately turned destructive.
This half of the book is more direct, though no less fascinating in fleshing out the character of Amy and the ‘why’ of her current existence.
Few novels can truly detail what goes on ‘inside’ a character in such a way to not only push the story forward (and sometimes back) the way this one does: there is something cinematic about Smith’s style and I found myself having to back and re-read a second time to take in all the subtle details. Smith’s economy knows better than the need to hammer a point home with obtuse and pointed language, she is all about the things you may not necessarily pay attention to, the bits of background that suddenly come into focus when you are alone with your thoughts and the shadowy bits of memory conjured up by the sound of a familiar song or a seemingly unrelated picture in a library book.
There is no final resolution for any of the characters, just the implication, a sense of possibility that Smith leaves us with, as if there is still one more page to turn.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
My favorite book of all times is, “Catch 22″. It’s been many years since I’ve read it but I can’t remember ever reading any other book that made me laugh until I fell off my chair and cry within the space of an evening.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
It’s gotta be Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. Also, “The Pledge” by Friedrich Duerrenmatt.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I feel that way about most Stephen King novels. They are brain candy or worse, but they are compellingly written and difficult to put down once you begin. Dan Simmons’s “Carrion Comfort” is like that as well.
Outside the horror genre, I recently read Dennis Lehane’s “The Given Day,” and despite it not being the sort of thing that would normally catch my eye, I was immediately absorbed in and by the characters, the history (Boston in the post-WWI era), and the narrative threads that Lehane weaves together. I love Lehane’s writing, but this one is different from his other stuff like “Mystic River.”
May 4th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
‘Stamboul Train aka Orient Express’ by Graham Greene. It’s not considered one of Greene’s ‘great’ books — it’s one of the ‘entertainments’ that he himself dismissed — but it does one of the most stunning jobs of weaving together multiple storylines and narrative points of view that I’ve ever seen. Greene was enough of a craftsman that he has a lot of books that could fit this category (’End of the Affair’ would be my choice among his first-tier books) but I think I’ll always love this one best.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Special Topics In Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl would be PERFECT for you. It’s brilliant, funny, dramatic, intelligent, unprecedented, and so exciting you wont be able to put it down.
http://www.amazon.com/Special-Topics-Calamity-Physics-Marisha/dp/0143112120/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241469106&sr=8-1
May 4th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I agree with Peter Schuyler (comment number nine) about Catch 22. It’s my favorite as well. The writing is brilliant and the characterizations are rich. It is funny, mind-boggling and tragic; I felt sad when I got to the last page the first time I ever read it because, although I can always read it again, it will never be the same as the first time. And the fact that none of Heller’s subsequent novels have been as admired or celebrated helps to make Catch-22 a beautiful anomaly of sorts.
Another one of my absolute favorite books is Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. That man creates such tangible settings, characters and plots from the most fantastic ideas and completely sucks you in. Salem’s Lot is the best example of that. Parts of it are so terrifying, parts of it are sorrowful and brutal, others are sweet and sentimental. And no matter how bad it looks for the characters involved (after all vampire hunting is a dangerous business) you pray to the literary gods that they will succeed, even though you know they probably won’t. So very, very good.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I completely agree with you about The Great Gatsby. That is probably my favorite novel of all time. I also think Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler or the second one, Parable of the Talents. I love how she tells stories. Its amazingly honest.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
“Pigs in Heaven,” by Barbara Kingsolver.
I read it the first time for the story, the second time for the writing and humor. I read it the third time because I was snowbound in Norway and it was the only English book available to me.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
My favorite book is a science fiction book, and it took me three reads to come close to fully comprehending it. It’s called “From the Legend of Biel”, and Amazon’s reviews give you a feel for what to expect: http://tinyurl.com/dzp7e2 [Amazon] More widely known but just as riveting, in my opinion, are Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” and Robert Heinlein’s “Methuselah’s Children”, which I hold in high regard partly because they were my first introductions to science fiction. I’ve read them both several times.
As for mystery, I started with Agatha Christie, so I would cite “Murder on the Orient Express” (the book but not the movie).
That’s my two cents (or maybe forty-two, adjusted for the economy).
May 4th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I like the Ender’s series too, but think Speaker for the Dead is a far superior book. Love the themes of redemption and self forgiveness.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip is another favorite, and has been for about 25 years(!?) Wonderful fantasy story that has withstood the test of time.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Without a doubt, E.M. Forster’s “Howards End” is not only the perfect novel, it became the “perfect” novel-into-screenplay film adaptation by Ruth Prawer Jhabvhala (the main screenwriter for Merchant/Ivory productions) and won her the Oscar for best screenplay adaptation.
Re-read and see both one after another, and you’ll see what I mean.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I would love to offer up Tom Robbins’ _Jitterbug Perfume_ and _Skinny Legs and All_, which are masterpieces in their use of language, but each contains an awkward section near the end where Tom feels the need to expound on his “And that’s why hot chicks should bed old men” manifesto. It’s not just the sentiment that I find suspect, it’s a breakdown of the art.
I just recently read S. G. Browne’s _Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament_, and I think the reasons I liked it so much are in keeping with the criteria you’re laying out here. A brief review of it here.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Looks like you’re writing another book of lists. _Book Book List List_. Based on books I’ve reread as an adult, I’ll offer up To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) and Go Down, Moses (William Faulkner). Sorry if they don’t count because they do have redeeming features.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I am a fan of “Freak the Mighty” - it’s a young adult book that I read back in high school but it remains one of my favorite works of fiction ever.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I found “Prince of Tides” by Pat Conroy to be totally compelling. Every character is flawed and damaged. With timeless lessons about dealing with terrible things when they happen as well as how severely dysfunctional families pass on their dysfunction. Movie good, book so much better.
My other faves all of which I have read and re-read - War and Peace, Scarlett Letter, and Pride and Prejudice but as enjoyable as they are, none hold a candle to “Prince of Tides” for me.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I agree with Nancy (#6) on Margaret Atwood and Nabokov. The one I keep picking up is The Gravedigger’s Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates. Oates is not quite as inscrutable in this novel.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Not enough people actually read it anymore because they assume they know it from the thousands of adaptations. As a novel, though, it’s perfect. The tone, descriptions, humor, conclusion it all adds up to a fully satisfying read.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. Long. Epic. Perfect perfect perfect.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I have two novels that I love dearly, but I cannot choose between them. One is “Astrid and Veronika” by Linda Olsson. It is beautifully simple and well-crafted, but with such essential human truth that it’s like looking into someone’s soul.
The other is “A Room With A View” by E.M. Forster–the only male novelist who wrote female characters with any degree of truth.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
In the sci-fi category–which seems underrepresented on this list so far–put me down for Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light: a nonlinear retelling of the clash between Hinduism and Buddhism on a faraway planet, in a style that is both epic and personal. Centuries (millenia?) after the destruction of Earth, the descendants of an enormous colony ship toil and sweat, using pre-industrial technology, under the rule of gods who are, in truth, the crew of said ship, replicating godlike power with various technologies. They even control reincarnation itself, in the form of a mind-transfer system, and treat the planet and its people as (if I remember the line correctly) a combination whorehouse and game park.
Only the ship’s navigator, Sam, objects. So, as the crew have styled themselves as the Hindu pantheon, he chooses to style himself as their historical opposite, the Buddha–and Sam becomes Mahasamatman.
The book itself is structured along the lines of the Great Wheel of Life, such that the sixth chapter ends where the first chapter begins, and the cycle continues. But the seventh chapter breaks out of that endless cycle, just as enlightenment breaks the cycle of reincarnation.
A beautiful, wonderful book, and perhaps a perfect sci-fi novel.
(One may also want to note that all of Zelazny’s other works that I’ve read have ranged from mediocre to dogshit. This one book, perhaps unique in his ouvre, is sublime.)
May 4th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
E.M. Forester’s “A Room With a View.” It’s like music.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
“Sometimes a Great Notion” by Ken Kesey. Beautifully constructed.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I don’t know if it is the “perfect” novel, but my favorite that I re-read every couple of years is “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig. It is definitely not for everyone, but it always gets me to reconsider where I’m at in life and where I want to go. One of the characteristics of a quality read is the ability to project oneself into the main character’s (or one of the ancillary character’s) life while reading the story. This is one book that does that for me. A more recent book that pulled me right into the story was, “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold. Bravo for that one. Thanks for provoking some literary thought.
May 4th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I’m not sure if these fit your criteria, but the two novels that spring to my mind are Heinlein’s “Stranger In A Strange Land” and Vonnegut’s “Sirens of Titan”.
Reading from Twitter, Scott’s right about the “The Most Perfect Work of Sound Engineering” being Dusty Springfield’s “The Look Of Love” — although as an audio professional I think ‘most perfect’ will forever be debatable. It’s a particular point of pride for those who still listen to vinyl.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
@Katie: yes on Freak the Mighty. If it wasn’t such a tight little book the ending would not have made me cry like … um … a seventh grade girl.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I have two.
The first being “A Prayer for Owen Meaney” by John Irving. Perfectly crafted, in my opinion. From the beginning Irving doesn’t try to hide that Owen has a purpose. But through the rich character development and quirky plot turns, when it finally is revealed the reader is left agog. One of the few books that has made me cry.
The other is “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole. I have yet to read another novel that has perfected the anti-hero. A character that, were one to meet him in person, is so repugnant and offputting. But I cannot help hoping that Fortuna (that capricious sprite) will take pity on Ignatius and his pyloric valve. I use this book as a litmus test to judge the literary hipness of others. If you don’t love it, you don’t pass.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Right after I finished Myla Goldberg’s “Bee Season”, I turned back to page one and read the whole thing again. I am a chronic re-reader of books, but that was a first. I am still not sure what it was about that book at that time in my life that made me feel that I had to READ IT AGAIN! RIGHT NOW!! It is beautifully and thoughtfully written, but also quite disturbing, with an underlying sense of doom throughout. Maybe that’s part of it….
May 4th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Greg Bear’s “Forge of God” - It’s the end of the world as we know it, and you’re galloping towards the inevitable whether or not you feel fine.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
“The Fourth Bear”. Jasper Fforde. It’s got a ton of inside literary jokes and a surreal plot. and its a detective novel.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Okay I have three that come to mind: Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle (and I loved it on audio, too!) I also love Richard Russo’s Empire Falls. He makes me laugh right out! My all time favorite though is Cider House Rules. John Irving’s characters weave together brilliantly, and I saw the six hour play in L.A. about ten years ago (and they still had to leave part of the storyline out to do the rest of the story justice in six hours… that is how good the writing was.) Another side note… Sherman Alexie’s novel, Indian Killer, was so disturbing and masterful in all the creepy thoughts I was left with in between the lines…
May 4th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Your comment about Stephen King aside, I am not an avid follower of King, but “The Green Mile” is captivating. My introduction to this was through audio and read by Frank Muller. Turn the lights off and let him read it for you.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Bee Season by Myla Goldberg.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. You had the Bundren Family. There are bits and pieces of intellectual thought. Stream of Consciousness makes it a puzzle.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I’m going off the idea of the words creating great suspense, sometimes making the reader gasp in some astonishment how just words on a page can create transfixion in how the author could manage such tension. My recollection was reading Wilkie Collins “The woman in white” - which god knows why I started to read. It starts out predictably enough in melodramatic fashion, but towards the middle, there is an amazingly long passage that just ratchets up the tension over some lies, some danger, letters, warning, all in all page turning goodness.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
My English professor said years ago that the single greatest novel of all time was “Mobey Dick.” I hated that book but I feel obligated to add it to the pile. He contentds it passes the test of “only one book to read on a desert island.”
May 4th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Anything by Cormac McCarthy is word music. He puts words together into sentences that perfectly represent narrator and/or characters while the reader wallows in their rhythms. His books shock - anger - mystify - enhance and entrance - and always make you think. “The Road” is the one I never tire of reading. There is not an extra word anywhere; in fact, the complaint I most often hear is there are not enough words. Not so. The book may be socially redeeming, I don’t know, but no one who reads should die without reading (and re-reading) this one. [If I may be allowed, I taught “Mockingbird” for 15 years and it is the only book that universally grabbed hundreds of non-readers. And the 15th or 20th or 30th time I read it was just as thrilling and satisfying as the first.]
May 4th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I think that Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is like a modern day 1984. Except I am afraid that in 40-50 years we will be frighteningly closer to the world she paints in the book than we ever became to Orwell’s vision. Hey Peter, you like bacon. There are genetically modified pigs in it, bred with baboons to make better meat. (called, of course, Pigoons.)But then they get smart and try to kill everybody. It’s so well crafted. If you like Atwood, it’s a must read.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Peter, I have read two other well-crafted works that I consider plot-perfect: the Deptford Trilogy, by Robertson Davies, and “A Prayer for Owen Meany,” by John Irving. They come around again on the guitar at the end.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I have read & re-read novels from childhood on. The “Silver Spoon Mystery” (a mystery for 5th graders) was one I read six times in 2 years. Interestingly, I remember the end and I remember one line verbatim and the rest is lost in some obscure brain cell. I first read “Little Women” in 4th grade and read it at least once a year until I went to college. I have no idea how many times I’ve read “Jane Eyre” - I’m 57 & first read it when I was 12, so at the very least 40 times. I used to read Gone With the Wind every year starting when I was 15, so I’ve read that one about 35 times, I guess. However, I’ve stopped reading books more than once with only a few exceptions. I’m getting older and can’t waste good reading time on stuff I’ve already read. OK, if Arkansas had a really good snowstorm I might read GWTW again - every time I read it, I find something different - a point of view or attitude. Maybe that’s the perfect novel - one that has something new every time you read it.
May 4th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Some of the young-adult suggestions here have just reminded me of a terrible oversight on my part: Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine definitely meets your criteria, as does Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I would like to give another plug for Heinlein, but NOT “Stranger” which I feel is indulgent–as well as everything he published after that.
I’m thinking of his “juvie” novels of the 1940s and 1950s. “Have Spacesuit Will Travel” is a rip-roaring adventure story that has our heroes traveling, first to the moon, then to Pluto then to the outer rim of the galaxy and thus giving us a sense of the amazing scope of the universe (and they do it all with pluck and a reconditioned spacesuit). Or “Citizen of the Galaxy” in which our hero moves from slavery to the corridors of power while keeping a sense of honor and meeting the 25th century version of Margaret Mead–the science in this one is anthropology despite the spaceships.
The prose is just serviceable but the plots are great, the characters are brave and noble and the ideas conveyed with some subtly.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I know exactly what you mean Peter, you are basically describing books without subtext, that is they rely solely on the narrative. This definitely discounts, Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five, The Great Gatsby,SSometimes a Great Notion, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance any Nabakov and so on. Your second criteria is basically craft and while many genre works lack subtext they also are lacking in a high degree of craft (though perhaps Chandler would fit the bill).
The most perfect example that I can offer that fits both criteria is Dave Eggers You Shall Know Our Velocity”. Very well crafted and all surface. It only fails in this case for me in that I doubt I’ll ever reread it.
May 4th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Anne Tyler’s Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, although not my “favorite” novel, was the first novel I read, finished, put down and said, “That was a really nice read.” Then I sat and watched the sunset. Something I’m not prone to doing.
Oddly, my favorite novel was Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey Two. (Not the awful movie made from it!)
I wonder what I’d think of these if I reread them now?
May 5th, 2009 at 12:10 am
My pick would be The Stepford Wives, by Ira Levin. It’s a novella, and as such may be ineligible, but each and every word moves the story to its inevitable conclusion. The mystery’s central premise is so well known it has become a cliche, yet knowing how it ends does not lessen the thrill of reading it.
And I second (third, whichever) To Kill A Mockingbird. While there are scenes that fall off the spine of the story, each moment is crafted to further develop our understanding of the characters and narrative.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:59 am
“Leave It To Psmith” by P.G.Wodehouse. Yes, it is one of my two favorite novels, but it is such a perfect frothy-light novel; there is not a misplaced word in it. To change even a sentence or two would throw off the comic rhythm of the whole work.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:09 am
I would definitely have to say (and you didn’t qualify this) a children’s novel, that I have loved as an adult - Wind in the Willows.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:25 am
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The narrative is kind of intoxicating - it is Death telling the story. It tells everything and nothing at the same time. It will give up major plot points in the beginning before they happen, but when it does at the end of the book I was still caught by surprised and moved to tears. It was also a novel marketed to both adults and YA — and convincingly so.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Huckleberry Finn. Perfect.
May 5th, 2009 at 6:13 am
I had completely forgotten about “Ender´s Game,” but there it is right in the first entry. Of course, having forgotten about it does not bode well for being the ´perfect novel,´ now, does it?
Give “The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon” a try. The author, Tom Spanbauer has only put out some four books, so I think he holds his ideas and words in high value and does simply write for writing´s sake. At least, that is what I feel about his writing. At the very least, if you haven´t read it yet, I´m pretty sure you will love it! Its unique narrative takes the protagonist–a young man with Native American heritage–on a kind of internal walkabout. Good stuff!
May 5th, 2009 at 7:06 am
I’ve got to offer up my latest read. I’m still taking some time to ruminate on it (them) so they may not qualify but I’m currently enamored and so I say…
John Updike “Rabbit At Rest”.
I loved the whole series, but something about this one did it for me. Not that his writing is sparse by any stretch, but he is so efficient with his words and nobody does character interaction and motivation like him.
Also, I have to second the person above who mentioned “Jitterbug Perfume”. What a read.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Two novels leap to mind for opposite reasons:
“Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” by Douglas Adams. I love this book, but it wasn’t until perhaps the third time I read it that I realized that there’s not a single extraneous moment. Each move, including the seemingly-random ones, combines to set you up for the check-mate at the end.
“Something Happened,” by Joseph Heller. This one fits your updated criteria perfectly: I hated it, hated the character, hated the message, hated the experience of reading it. It is nonetheless flawlessly executed - to read it is to feel without respite the fear and obsession of the narrator. Every word drives this feeling. It doesn’t have any graphic sequences, but I felt nauseated by the end. I don’t intend to read it again, and have gone so far as to suggest to others that they avoid it.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Perhaps a bit short to be a perfect novel, Heart of Darkness is as close to a perfect narrative as I’ve found. Layers of narrative, a story within a story, new insights with re-readings and a page turner.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Anything by P. G. Wodehouse, but particularly The Code of the Woosters and Uncle Dynamite. The man’s elegance with a simile extended to tight plotting and musical language. I caught the bug over ten years ago and it hasn’t let up yet. They make superb audio books too.
A few choice quotes:
“He got through the song somehow and limped off amidst roars of silence from the audience.”
“Market Snodsbury is mostly chapel folk with a moral code that would have struck Torquemada as too rigid.”
“Freddie, when making his purchase, had evidently preferred quantity to quality. The salesman, no doubt, had recommended something in neat Vandykes as worn by the better class of Ambassadors, but Freddie was a hunted stag, and when hunted stags buy beards, they want something big and bushy as worn by Victorian novelists. Freddie could have stepped into the Garrick Club of the 1860’s, and Wilkie Collins and the rest of the boys would have welcomed him as a brother, supposing him to be Walt Whitman.”
and my all time favorite:
“‘Alf Todd,’ said Ukridge, ‘has about as much chance of winning the heavy-weight championship, as a one-armed blind man in a dark room trying to shove a pound of melted butter into a wild cat’s left ear with a red hot needle.’”
May 5th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Here are a couple that, for me anyway, come close to what you describe.
“The Phantom of the Opera”, by Gaston Leroux—but only the second half. It took me two weeks to read the first half of this novel. I read the second half in two hours. Once beneath the Paris Opera House, the novel is riveting in every detail. The key ingredient is Mr. Leroux’s journalistic style, giving you the false impression that much of this story may have actually happened.
The other novel would be “The Old Man and the Sea” by Hemingway. This one held me from start to finish, and I have no special interest in fishing. It poses two simple, irresistible questions that play out in dramatic crescendo. Question One: will he catch the fish? Question two (which is even more engrossing): will he be able to bring the fish back to shore—with all that means to him personally, socially, and economically?” I can’t think of any other novel, and there are many I love more, that held me so completely from start to finish.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:10 am
The perfect novel is À Rebours (Against the Grain) by JK Huysmans from 1884. It’s “the story of Des Esseintes, an aesthete who attempts to escape Paris and, along with it,… modern life.” It is meticulously constructed into sixteen chapters, and each chapter deals with a particular art form. It’s the apotheosis of the modern novel because Huysmans distills the plot to nothing and focuses entirely on the main character’s psychological workings.
Wikipedia entry on Against the Grain
Against the Grain on Amazon
The entire book online
Thanks for this discussion,
Francesca
May 5th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Tough question.. most books don’t bowl me over with their structure. There’s one book that immediately springs to mind, and even though it’s not a favorite and I am unlikely to read it again, I did think it had a particularly brilliant narrative structure, A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. It’s a good old space opera, it’s incredibly griping, but rather dense. Vinge seems very fond of the braided narrative (both the books of his I’ve read have employed it), two distinctly different storylines that converge at the end of the book. In this particular book he’s sort of exploring the implications of faster-than-light travel and the time distortion that occurs, and he posits the sort of culture that would grow up around that mechanic assuming cryogenic stasis is available. One storyline occurs on such a ship stranded in orbit around a planet, and the other on the planet. The two stories start out somewhat out of sync timewise, and particularly pacing-wise as the storyline on the planet unfolds over over several hundred years and the storyline on the ship over considerably less “real” time. What I noticed is that as the book proceeds and the two storylines start to come into sync in time, the chapters become shorter, you start switching between the two more quickly, until they’re one story. It’s so subtle, at first you don’t really notice it but I think it’s a really interesting way to ratchet up the tension towards the finale. Also the juxtaposition of the sort of deadly intrigue in space and the tranquil, completely oblivious planet was striking to me.
The other book whose structure I found intriguing was Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. Robin McKinley is the author of one of my favorite books, Deerskin, which while an excellent book I re-read at least once a year doesn’t have a really noteworthy structure.
However Sunshine was written in a really interesting contemporary narrative style. It comes off as a rambling story someone could literally be chatting with you about, but unlike most other books written in this style, the narration isn’t intrusive, the asides never take you out of the story. It doesn’t feel forced, and it sucks you in with a sort of breathless casualness. I also particularly like that though this is a story that seemed cliched, a girl who befriends a vampire, McKinley’s vampires are sort of cliche-breakingly repulsive. The main character is constantly trying to tamp down her revulsion even though she’s willing to reach out for help to this friend. The old ensaringly beautiful vampire gets old really quickly, but the disgusting vampire you’re sort of drawn to anyways is more interesting. 
May 5th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I’m surprised that no one has submitted these two novels for your consideration; “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett. Both of these are stunningly beautiful in their language. Both have brilliant surprises throughout the stories, and both are perfectly encapsulated in their own worlds that begin and end within the course of the novel. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was particularly astounding in the way that the last sentence of the novel was like the grain dropped into a supersaturated solution of sugar that causes the whole thing to crystallize in an instant.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:20 am
The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace - infinitely more readable than Infinite Jest, and IMHO, has more to say. Also, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. The title story made me cry the first time I read it in college, and I couldn’t figure out why it hadn’t replaced the Bible in importance. Almost 20 years later, “Stockings” brings tears to my eyes every time. And now, having thought of it, I need to go pull it off the shelf and give it it’s annual reading.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I don’t know if the following rise to the level of “perfect,” but I have to go with To Kill A Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, and Pride and Prejudice. I could add a few more, such as The Brothers Karamozov and Anna Karaninov (sp?), but don’t have time. Interesting to see other’s comments.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Though I suppose it falls into the mystery/suspense genre, I highly recommend John LeCarre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Talk about a well-constructed narrative and richly imagined characters!
May 5th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
The only example I can think of is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Offred’s history, and, indeed, the story of how Gilead came to be the totalitarian regime that it is, are laid out with incredible efficiency. Just when you think you’ve figured out how she came to be in service of the Commander, Atwood provides you another little twist (for example, Serena Joy’s backstory, which sheds really interesting light on her relationships with both her husband and Offred).
And if I may indulge myself and provide an example of the exact opposite of what you’re talking about: I remember being actively angry while reading The DaVinci Code, because I found the plot compelling enough that I wanted to continue reading, but the writing was absolutely terrible. To this day I’m annoyed that I validated Dan Brown’s horrific prose by finishing that book.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
“The Code of the Woosters” by P. G. Wodehouse. Very funny. I read somewhere (I think in an intro to a collection) that Wodehouse would tape all the pages of a work in progress up on a wall, cockeyed. When he had determined that each and every word on a page was necessary, then he would straighten that page. It’s literally (and literarily) true that there are no misplaced words in a Wodehouse novel.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco.
Bridge of Birds, by Barry Hughart. A fairytale of an ancient China that never was. Hughart’s prose is elegant, but not wasteful.
Hmm…these two are the first that came to mind, and both are of an older and younger man on a mission, who find something bigger along the way.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’ll echo the many above that suggested Ender’s Game. I’d also like to throw Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest to the pile, although as a play, I’m not sure it counts. But in terms of narrative craftsmanship, if not in other respects, E.L. Konigsburg’s The View from Saturday is superb.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Oh, and rah rah the Wodehouse name drop.
May 5th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I’m not well read, but I found the craftsmanship in Joshua Slocum’s ‘Voyage of the Destroyer’ to be good enough for multiple reads. Old and not commonly available but you can find it here: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/js/destroyer.htm
May 5th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
The HHGTTG’s first book - every word is perfect.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I’ll reiterate the votes for Lolita & Howards end & anything by of Wodehouse . But I want to add the mesmerizing &scary Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro & anything by raymon Chandler. There was a guy with wit & style, and an incredible ability to create a mood. If Cheevers short stories could count I’d nominate them as well. And Jonathan Lethems Motherless Brooklyn about a detective with Tourettes comes to mind too!
May 5th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I find that frequently YA novels are some of the most succinct around.
Two that I would highlight are The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner (started it as a read-aloud to my daughters, and then snuck it out of their room to finish ‘cuz I couldn’t bear to stop), and I Had Seen Castles by Cynthia Rylant (the same woman who writes the Henry & Mudge and Mr. Putter & Tabby books). Both very character driven, not a word of dialogue or expostion wasted.
May 5th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Peter,
I’ve read all the comments, both before and after my own at #17, and there’s an incredible list here, but after looking at some of these titles, I think that there is no single perfect novel. A lot of the ones suggested here are probably close, but if they’re not science fiction or mystery, there’s only a slim chance I’ll enjoy them. And there are plenty of people that commented here whom I’m sure would not enjoy a science fiction or mystery novel, no matter how good it is. Perfect is subjective. I hope you’ll relish perusing the titles listed, finding new books to read, and possibly enjoying your fans just a little bit more.
May 6th, 2009 at 10:43 am
“A Simple Plan” Couldn’t put it down. A tragedy of errors.
May 6th, 2009 at 10:51 am
“The Waves” or “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf. Each is as carefully constructed as a work of visual art. But much of any answer to your question depends on the filter presented by the answerer.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Of Mice and Men.
May 6th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel leaps to mind; I can’t say it has any redeeming social value, it’ll never be cannon, but its pastiche of Jane Austenisms, Napoleonic battles, and crazy Faeries jumps off the page, and every line feels like it should be there, even the footnotes, creating this alternate world that really, really should be real. That, or I just have a high tolerance for whatever the heck that book is.
May 6th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Would House of Leaves be a book in consideration? I find it to be a most psychologically compelling read with the placement of the words as important as the words themselves. I also find that Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon is also a well written read and one of the few I find myself rereading.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I was surprised not to see Steinbeck until I saw #81, “The Grapes of Wrath” is truly one of my favorites! Let us not forget Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Thanks for the post; reading all the replies and suggestions have helped me put together quite the summer reading list!
As far as excellent novels go, I just finished “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” and it was incredible. I have a feeling it will become one of those great books that I return to once a year or so.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Ah, it took until #69 for someone to mention The DaVinci Code, which I think is exactly the kind of thing you’re thinking of. I hated the book, too, but I absolutely had to finish it, and finish it quickly, because of the narrative structure. It compelled me to read, despite loathing the tone, diction, intellectual sloppiness and even transparent simplicity of the story. The only thing that made me finish was the cursed structure of the narrative. I hate it to this day, but I HAD TO READ IT. It was like an addiction. Lest anyone misinterpret, THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT! It’s the literary equivalent of an earworm.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Jeanette Winterson - The Passion the beautiful and precise language propels the reader from the first to the last page through marvelous and insane settings and beyond. It’s hard to put down and furthermore ties itself together in an amazing little bundle.
Also recommend Haruki Murakami - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. It’s…um…very, very different. And yet ties together in a way that will make your brain fly apart in a million different directions. In a good way.
May 9th, 2009 at 10:35 am
The one book that sticks out in my mind, I read as a teenager.It was one of John Steinbecks lesser books and was titled “The Bus”. The description of the passengers was so vivid that I can still picture them thirty years later. It wasn’t a thriller or action packed but each sentence moved the story forward.
May 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I realize I’m very late to the game here, but feel compelled to add Michael Chabon’s feast of a book, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay”. Also — and I’m not sure if this qualifies, as it’s a novella rather than a full-length novel — I recall my first read of Stephen King’s “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” as being a glorious, gasping experience, and thinking that other writers could pretty much hang it up after that one.
And I completely agree with you about “The Silence of the Lambs”.
Thanks for this excellent discussion.
May 9th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
“Haroun and the Sea of Stories,” by Salmon Rusdie, springs immediately to mind, a child-friendly adventure tale about storytelling. Its central image is that of the storyteller as juggler, and it is that precise trick which the novel itself executes. Beautifully.
May 9th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Oop, that’s Rushdie, of course. Rushdie.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:19 am
You want Dean Koontz’s PHANTOMS. I picked it up randomly, and every single word practically pushes you toward the final chapter, which goes pear shaped somehow and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But the previous couple hundred pages are pure clockwork.
And that’s the best description I’ve seen of HANNIBAL yet, judging by the parts I was able to read.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
“FOOL” by Christopher Moore is my choice. It’s a great comic take on the clasic King Lear story from the point of view of the jester. The style is old english with a modern twist and the word play is amazing. I found myself wanting the write down passages to remember because they just cracked me up! Great fun!
May 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
By far the most “perfect” novel I have read is _Holes_ by Louis Sachar. Flawlessly structured, every scene, word, and character drum tight, and it is funny as heck to boot. I read it before reading it to my daughter, read it to her, and then have read it twice since then. She has reread it again as well. It is clever genius level work.
I’d second the Haruki Murakami recommendation but say that _The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle_ is the most “perfect novel” of his I have read. Every phrase moody and deliberate as he strings the reader along into lunacy.
In the SF genre, Frank Herbert’s _Dune_ - while fairly epic in scope (and length) - is a masterful fugue of themes, characters, and philosophy. I reread it (and the series) perhaps too often; but one must geek out at times.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I was going to suggest “Marathon Man” which is an extremely fun thriller, but the second person to comment mentioned it, so I will throw “Magic” (also by William Goldman) into the ring.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 am
I recommend A Night in Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny. I reread this novel at least once a year and am continually amazed at his art and skill in constructing an amazing narrative.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I’m reeaaaly late to the game on this but had to chime in. David Almond’s KIT’S WILDERNESS is the most technically perfect novel I’ve ever read. Every single thing–from descriptions of the environment to the subjects the students learn in school to the complex history of the town–all work to support the book’s underlying themes and set the reader firmly in the protagonist’s mind.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:31 am
You want a well-constructed thriller with a gotcha moment? The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth.
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
As someone said earlier, there are no perfect novels. The problem is that writing that drags one person through it willy-nilly (or in its original form “will he, nil he”) may not work on everyone. So although I prize the writing of Murakami and delight in the work of Barry Hughart, both of whom were mentioned above, I don’t think that they are what you’re after.
And, as I just said, just because I find a book to be written in a way that I think is compelling, does not mean that it will work for you the same way. For instance, I just finished reading Drood by Dan Simmons. I found it stunning and absolutely addictive. But others have complained about Simmons going off in directions tangential to the story. The problem is that in a very Dickensian mode, Simmons has made the city of London the primary character (a good thing to since both Dickens and Collins are wonderfully flawed and reprehensible characters). I appreciated it and was surprised at how quickly it ended just short of 800 pages later.
But enough of the weaseling.
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Metzger’s Dog - Thomas Perry
I am sure that once I close the message another half dozen will occur to me so I may be back.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
… and BTW although I don’t know the classical recording that you ask about, but for many years several audiophile shops in my area were using the recording “The Hunter” by Jennifer Warnes as a demo disk because of the high quality of its engineering and the tonal range. Unfortunately many people don’t know some of her best work since her work doesn’t classify easily into any of the standard categories. She also tends to be very picky about the quality of her records. It shows.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Ok, so, I’m obviously breaking some rules here, but how about The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury? Each and every one of the short stories is beautifully crafted, and you can’t start one without finishing it - they are all surprisingly suspenseful, and tied together by a an overarching, haunting story. Its also something that can be read over and over again.
I was also thinking of Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, by J.D. Salinger, though I suppose that’s so much a novel as a novella, nor is the story particularly exciting. I just love every word in that book. Salinger’s ability to bring characters to life is almost unsurpassed by anything else I’ve ever read - this is another one that I’ve read quite a few times.
I also want to second the William Goldman fans - Marathon Man and Magic are great, fast, clever reads that are excellently crafted. I don’t remember Heat that well (also by Goldman), but I think its kind of in the same vein. Other William Goldman books that are not as well known but that are fantastic (they definitely wouldn’t qualify here, but they’re great all the same) are The Temple of Gold, Boys and Girls Together, and Your Turn to Curtsy, My Turn to Bow. Oh yes, and of course, The Princess Bride.
December 9th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce by Paul Torday is a perfectly, perfectly crafted piece of work. It’s an uncomfortable read, but flawless in its delivery.