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Books That Capture the Divine Feminine Meltdown
17
items Female centric novels with complex main characters that feel dark, dreamy and a little surreal. I gravitate towards these apparently so I thought I'd share! More to come.
This list include affiliate links to Amazon.
This list include affiliate links to Amazon.
A drifter gets kicked out of her older boyfriend’s Hamptons house and spends a week floating through strangers’ lives, lying her way into luxury. This book is a hypnotic whirlwind with a mess of a main character you can't turn away from.
The Guest
Three women chasing fame, love, and glamour in 1960s New York spiral into pills, heartbreak, and ruin. Listen, not everything holds up about this book in modern times but the complexity of being a woman does. Messy and iconic.
Valley of the Dolls (Jacqueline Susann)
A writer steals her dead friend’s unpublished manuscript and passes it off as her own. This book was a wild ride and I enjoyed every second.
Yellowface
A woman transcribes sex therapy sessions in upstate New York and becomes obsessed with a married client she nicknames “Big Swiss.” It's odd, funny and completely deranged.
Big Swiss: A Novel
A young woman drags herself through a soulless corporate job in Silicon Valley while haunted by a black hole that follows her everywhere. This one is haunting and bleak.
Ripe: A Novel
She finally meets a man that could be the one and he suddenly vanishes. No this is not a true crime novel, just the harsh reality of navigating relationships in your 30s in the modern world. Funny but heartfelt and cemented Dolly Alderton as a new fa...
Ghosts: A novel
A woman is so obsessed with her husband that her love curdles into something dangerous. Unsettling and delusional - I had no idea where this was going until the end.
My Husband: A Novel
A woman decides to sleep for an entire year with the help of pills and a questionable psychiatris. Witty and dark. A perfect book to describe the apathetic hibernation we’ve all craved at one point
My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A Novel
A memoir about a woman growing up in New York with her eccentric artist mom, stumbling through psychosis, addiction, and a string of bad choices. An incredibly honest book on a unique life.
Everything/Nothing/Someone: A Memoir
A woman escapes to the desert while her father is dying and her husband is sick, only to stumble upon a giant, surreal cactus that seems to hold her grief. A surreal trip into grief and self - just as weird as it sounds.
Death Valley: A Novel
A girl raised by her glamorous but dangerous mother is thrown into chaos when mom goes to prison for murder. What follows is foster homes, survival, and heartbreak. A beautifully written book and underrated movie (in my opinion)
White Oleander
A grieving woman gets lured into a culty spa in California that promises beauty and immortality. A surreal descent into the bizarre world of beauty culture and maternal trauma - It's strange, glossy and unsettling in the best way.
Rouge: A Novel
A wife disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary and all signs point to the husband—but the truth is darker, twistier, and way more fun than a simple crime story. How could I create a list about unhinged women without including one of the most icon...
Gone Girl: A Novel
A young, Black, messy artist in New York who falls into an affair with an older white man and somehow ends up living with him, his wife, and their adopted Black daughter. As you can imagine things get uncomfortable fast.
Luster: A Novel
After her sister disappears, our narrator spirals through drugs, love affairs, and haunting visions—it’s chaotic, dreamy, and easy to get lost in.
All-Night Pharmacy
An aging Hollywood icon finally tells the story of her scandalous life—seven husbands, forbidden love, and the cost of ambition. I know this book is no secret but it's a must for a list with complex female characters. It gripped me all the way throug...
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel
A memoir of an eighteen-year-old girl locked away in a psych ward in the 60s. You've probably seen the movie but as is normally the case, it either leaves moments out completely or embellishes certain characters or events. Definitely worth a read!
Girl, Interrupted: A Memoir