Book List Reco # 2: Family Sagas
Books that chronicle the lives of a family or several families over a period of time.
Hello Dear Reader,
As I was going through my list of read books, I noticed one recurring genre that wasn’t intentional. I read different types of books to the point that you can’t conclude my favorite genre or any preferred theme. And so, I was surprised to discover I have read a pretty good amount of family sagas. Family sagas chronicle the lives of a family over a period of time. It often tells the story of a family’s change of social or financial circumstances and are often tied with historical events.
Time seems to be a central theme on my first and second book list recommendation. It’s a wonderful subject after all. Without further ado, here’s my family saga recommendation.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Any family saga list won’t be complete without this book. It tells the story of seven generations of the Buendia family whose patriarch, Jose Aureliano, founded the town of Macondo.
Each member of the Buendia family tells the story of human nature, of our hopes, tragedies, and our inner want of solitude. Macondo represents the world in general and the Buendia family as, us, humans.
The story does not have a single climax, rather, it gives us several important events which are all too parallel with actual events in Colombia. I had to pull up a couple of internet guide while reading this book because it tells us so much about Colombia’s history. Knowing Colombia’s history made me understand the impact of this book more. I suggest you have some guidebooks with you as you read along.
Side note: This book is one of my favorite books of all time and I can’t wait to read it again having only read this in January.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - Such an easy read for a thick book. Really simple writing. Pachinko tells the story of a Korean family who immigrates to Japan. Pachinko opened my eyes to the discrimination, racism, and stereotyping Koreans face while living in Japan during the early 1900s.
I love how this book highlights how, in most Asian cultures, a family survives because of a first-generation matriarch’s perseverance and sacrifice. Like Sunja, the matriarch, I know so many mothers who sacrificed so much for the next generation. Reading Sunja’s transformation from being a naive teenager to a resilient and resourceful mother who’d do anything for family was the core of this book.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie - This book isn’t marketed as a family saga but I do believe that it is. It’s an allegorical novel about children born on the first hour of India’s independence (Midnight Children) and India itself. There’s this quote in the book that I really love which goes, “To understand just one life you have to swallow the world.” That’s why our narrator Saleem Sinai, one of the Midnight children, chronicles his life starting from his grandfather’s beginnings and prophesizes the future of his son. Thus, I consider it a family saga. As of writing this newsletter, I just finished the book this morning and really loved it. The prose is wonderful but I foresee that this book might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie The Dutch House by Ann Patchett - Set across five decades, we read the story of a paradise lost and of forgiveness. Danny and Maeve are siblings who couldn’t let go of the past. They were once very wealthy and had a big house ( a mansion called the Dutch House) until their father died and their stepmother kicked them out. Very fairytale-ish indeed.
I was so drawn to the lives of Maeve and Danny that I had to steal time at work to read and find out what happens next. I loved reading this book but there were no really high points for me. There were some good lines but I don’t have strong feelings about it. Still, I don’t think I wasted my time finishing this.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - The Good Earth tells the ups and downs of an honest farmer and his selfless wife. It's a book about the cyclical nature of human life. At the start of the book, we see poor Wang Lung and his father barely having enough food for their day-to-day. Then, Wang Lung's marriage to O-lan brings him good fortune as O-lan is as industrious, thrifty, and wise as he is. Then, their good fortune begins to change again when a severe drought hit the country. After years of hardship, the tides turned for the again for the family, representing our cyclical nature. Read an expanded review here.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin - A book about a never-ending war among several dynasties for the control of Westeros, the ambition of an ousted king’s exiled daughter to reclaim the Iron Throne, and the increasing threat of a supernatural force in the North. I don’t think this books needs more introduction.
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
That’s it for my list for today but I’d like to read more family sagas in the future. Comment your recommendations down below and thank you for the inbox space!
Thanks for your written and short reviews! I watched the first few episodes of Pachinko, the Korean drama, and could not bear watching the treatment and racism, but I am glad the book sounds very inspiring!