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Must-Read Classics · 1. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (1970) · 2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937) · 3. The Age of Innocence by Edith ...
magical realism
Colombian author and Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia-Marquez uses <anchor>magical realism</anchor> to trace the evolution of the town of Macondo as experienced by generations of the Buendiá family. Garcia-Marquez plays with the constructs of time and the supernatural to probe themes like love and family.
10 Great Magical Realism Books To Lose Yourself In
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# 10 Great Magical Realism Books To Lose Yourself In

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Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Jun 29, 2024,02:00pm EDT

Updated Jul 17, 2024, 12:09pm EDT

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Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of top magical realism book "The Water Dancer," attends a panel at The ... [+] Apollo Theater on February 27, 2018 in New York City.

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Magical realism is a genre that has been beloved across the globe for decades. Combining elements of fantasy with highly detailed, realistic settings, magical realism books center humanity through the normalization of the fantastical. Spanning countries and traditions, magical realism has become a robust genre filled with stories of family, love and loss, all with a twist or a quirk. These elements can vary from ghosts of family members long gone to strange abilities passed down in the blood, but they clue the reader in to the fact that while things may be odd or off-kilter, the element in question will enrich the book and induct it into the world of magical realism.

## What Is Magical Realism?

Magical realism refers to a genre in which every detail of the setting is identical to our own, except for one strange element that is passed off as completely normal in the world of the book. A key difference is that the magic goes unexplained.

To differentiate from fantasy, where books often take place in different worlds with dragons, witches, mystics, kings or queens, books involving magical realism specifically focus on our world. Another key difference is that the element in question is unremarked upon by the characters in the books: strange families, magical abilities, ghosts or other supernatural elements are incorporated into the world of the novel without attention being drawn to them.

Magical realism has existed as a genre since the early 20th century, with many ties to Latin America. The genre has traveled across the world but is usually associated with writers of the global majority, particularly writers displaced due to political turmoil and writers descended from various diasporas.

## Top Magical Realism Books

Magical realism continues to be a popular genre, with classics like The House of the Spirits, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Beloved being taught in schools to this day. Masters of the genre include Isabel Allende and Gabriel García Márquez, while popular contemporary authors such as Ling Ma and Kevin Wilson have also dipped their toes in the magical realism space.

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Rankings of the top magical realism books will be based on cultural impact, legacy and how indelible the novels were: magical realism often tells human stories using magic as a metaphor, and so the books below focus on powerful tales of resilience, hope and love.

### 10. The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Conde, Translated by Richard Philcox (2023)

Nominated for the International Booker Prize in 2023, The Gospel According to the New World reinterprets the New Testament through the lens of Caribbean folklore. When a baby is born on the island of Martinique, he is swiftly abandoned by his mother and the questions begin. Where did he come from? Where is he going? As Pascal grows into a young man capable of performing “miracles,” he decides to embark on a quest to discover his origins.

A satire of postcolonial relations, the novel thrums with a warm, generous heart. This book would be perfect for readers who enjoy humorous novels about connection, people who enjoy retellings of Biblical stories and those interested in geopolitics and the modern West Indies.

The Gospel According to the New World was Conde’s final novel, and can be purchased from publisher World Editions.

### 9. The Water Dancer by Ta- Nehisi Coates (2019)

A stirring, dark look at the legacy of slavery in the United States, The Water Dancer is about a young man, Hiram, who can remember everything he’s ever seen except for one — what his mother looked like. Lyrical and haunting, this novel weaves together magical realism and historical fiction for a powerful interpretation of what it feels like to live through immense loss. This book would be perfect for readers of moving historical fiction and readers who are able to handle dark themes.

### 8. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (2019)

When Madison marries a man with political ambitions, she happily takes in his two children from a previous marriage in order to portray the image of a happy family. Things take a turn when she discovers that whenever the children are upset, they burst into flames — literally. Seeking help from her boarding school best friend, Lillian, this novel is a moving tale of loneliness, connection and found family. Utilizing magical realism to portray the inevitability of change and the powerlessness felt by children, this book is perfect for readers of books about complicated friendships and those who love unconventional family stories.

### 7. Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward (2023)

A stunning novel from the winner of two National Book Awards, Let Us Descend combines the allegorical journey of Dante’s Inferno with the brutal landscape of the American South during slavery. When a young girl, Annis, is sold by her father, she learns she has the ability to communicate with her ancestors, and occasionally call on them for spiritual guidance. Annis begins the journey to her new plantation and reckons with memories of her lost mother. Beautiful, deeply realized and powerful, Ward’s novel infuses devastating details of American history with the weight of myth.

Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend can be bought from publisher Simon & Schuster.

### 6. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (2010)

A quietly poignant novel investigating the weight of family, Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cak e focuses on Rose, a young girl who discovers the ability to feel the emotions of the people who have prepared her food. Through this ability, her view of her family is shattered, as she learns of her mother’s deep depression, her father’s hypochondria, and the individual struggles of each of her school’s cafeteria workers. As she grows up, the novel begins to uncover familial legacies and the weight of inherited trauma, and her entire world is shattered when twin tragedies coalesce. Investigating mental illness and how pain is transmitted across generations, this novel is perfect for readers of unique family stories.

### 5. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)

A revered classic, Midnight’s Children follows the triumphs and tragedies of a country fighting for a path forward and wrestling with the weight of colonialism. The novel follows Saleem, a young man born at the exact moment India establishes itself as an independent nation, and his mysterious telepathic link to all of the other children born the exact minute he was. Dense and moving, this novel is perfect for readers interested in exploring heavy political themes wed to prose exploring individualism and patriotism.

Author Salman Rushdie attends the press conference of the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair.

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### 4. Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo (2023)

Written by a winner of the National Book Award, Family Lore dives into the nested relationships of a Dominican-American family in New York City. Each of the Marte women is born with a magical gift. When Flor, the eldest sister with the ability to predict when people will die, decides to hold a living wake for herself, the sisters, daughters and cousins are sent scrambling to uncover the meaning behind the choice. Exploring the weight of sisterhood, the pain of yearning for a life different than the one previously imagined and the trauma of inheritance, this novel is perfect for readers of complicated family novels, lovers of sisterhood stories and people interested in novels about New York.

### 3. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

An undisputed literary classic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Beloved is a foundational novel that cemented Toni Morrison as a literary titan. Set during the Reconstruction period, the novel follows Sethe and her introverted daughter Denver as they struggle to live in a haunted house. After the arrival of a formerly enslaved man from her past, Sethe’s life changes forever when she finds a young woman on her porch calling herself Beloved. How is this woman connected to the ghost? How will the family be affected by her presence? An exploration of haunting as a metaphor, this novel uses magical realism as a tool to investigate mental illness and the psychological effects of slavery.

This novel is celebrated for its powerful depiction of a family in crisis. Toni Morrison’s Beloved can be purchased from publisher Penguin Random House.

Oprah Winfrey and Kimberly Elise holding on to one an other in a scene from the film adaptation of ... [+] "Beloved," 1998.

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### 2. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989)

On a Mexican farm, a young girl falls in love with her neighbor. Unfortunately, due to a tradition forcing youngest daughters to live at home and care for their parents until their death, Tita is prevented from marrying her sweetheart. At his wedding, Tita discovers her ability to “infect” people with her emotions through her cooking, and suffers a decades-long legacy of abuse from her mother, who convinced Pedro to marry her sister. Heralded as a classic and a love story for the ages, this tale of passion, magic and heartbreak is perfect for readers of historical fiction, star-crossed romance and tales of dysfunctional families.

Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate was adapted into both a film and a ballet, and can be purchased from publisher Penguin Random House.

### 1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)

The undisputed masterwork of the magical realism genre, Márquez’s novel is heralded as one of the greatest novels of all time, a masterpiece across genres and one of the greatest Latin American novels of all time. Following the story of one family across a century, the novel follows José Arcadio Buendía and the founding of Macondo, the fictional town the Buendías call home. The novel follows many disturbing incidents in the Buendía family, from hauntings, to insanity, to a child born with a pig’s tail, all considered to be omens of bad fortune for the cursed family.

Utilizing metaphors to depict the effects of colonialism and the inevitable downfall of elite families in Latin American countries, One Hundred Years of Solitude is now being adapted into a limited series for Netflix and can be purchased from publisher HarperCollins.

Bottom Line

Magical realism is a powerful tool for looking at complicated human conditions through a fantastical haze: stories of longing, devastation and death are all transposed into worlds where feelings are food or ghosts are trauma made manifest. These novels prove it occasionally easier to write about difficult concepts when they are wrapped in myths, stories and fairy tales, and the abiding love of the genre proves these books will continue to leave their impact on the world’s literary stage.

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