“People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles.” Chapter 1: Return to Los Angeles Clay, an 18-year-old college student, returns to Los Angeles for winter break. […]
American literature
American Psycho
“This is not an exit.” Part 1: Introductions and Excess The novel follows Patrick Bateman, a wealthy, narcissistic investment banker in 1980s Manhattan. He obsesses over designer brands, […]
American literature
Underworld
“He speaks in your voice, American, and there’s a shine in his eye that’s halfway hopeful.” Prologue: The Triumph of Death (1951) The novel opens with the famous […]
American literature
Libra
“What has become unthinkable is the act not of destruction but of assent.” Part One: The Assassin The novel opens with Lee Harvey Oswald’s troubled childhood, marked by […]
American literature
White Noise
“The family is the cradle of the world’s misinformation.” Part 1: Waves and Radiation The novel opens with Jack Gladney, a professor of Hitler Studies at the College-on-the-Hill, […]
American literature
The Bean Trees
“There is no point treating a depressed person as though she were just feeling sad, saying, ‘There now, hang on, you’ll get over it.’ Sadness is more or […]
American literature
The Poisonwood Bible
“The serpent is the most clever of all the creatures the Lord God ever made.” Book One: Genesis The Price family—Nathan, a zealous Baptist preacher; his wife, Orleanna; […]
American literature
The Nickel Boys
“Even in death the boys were trouble.” Chapter 1: Elwood Curtis Elwood Curtis, a bright and idealistic Black teenager in 1960s Florida, is inspired by the words of […]
American literature
The Underground Railroad
“The whites came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as the freemen had fled theirs. But the ideals […]
American literature
Native Son
“He had killed and had created a new life for himself. It was something that was all his own, and it was the first time in his life […]