mvd influences

fiction

• bastard out of carolina, dorothy allison (aren't exactly on topic but might give similar reading experiences)
• marlena, julie buntin
• edinburgh, alexander chee
• never marry a mexicaan, sandra cisneros
• innocents, cathy coote (all have student-teacher relationships though i'm not sure i'd call any of them great novels)
  • taming the beast, emily maguire
  • love invents us, amy bloom
• tenderness, robert cormier
• the adults, alison espach
• veronica, mary gaitskill
• diary of a teenage girl, phoebe gloeckner
• thicker than water, kathryn harrison
• the end of alice, a.m. homes (if you want disturbing, genuinely sickening)
• white oleander, janet fitch
• avoidance, michael lowenthal
• fall on your knees, ann-marie macdonald
• schooling, heather mcgowan
• home, maryse meijer
• double teenage, joni murphy
• lolita, pale fire, ada or ardor, laughter in the dark, spring in fialta by vladimir nabokov
• lamb, bonnie naadzam
• girl, blake nelson
• belinda, ann rice
• cat person, kristen roupenin
• fotune's rocks, anita shreve
• lawns, mona simpson
• prep, curtis sittenfeld
• amy and isabelle, elizabeth strout (very similar in a lot of ways but the narrative voice reads much more old fashioned)
• cassandra, christa wolf
• green girl, kate zambreno
• putney, sofka zinovieff (is good though the narrative is split points of view, so you get the bad man's perspective which sometimes i'm interested in, sometimes i'm opposed to on principle)

memoir

• the body, jenny boully
• dictee, theresa hak kyung cha
• the lover, marguertite duras
• my apprenticeships, colette
• tiger tiger, margaux fragoso
• the kiss, kathryn harrison
• the other side, lacy m. johnson
• at home in the world, joyce maynard
• incest, anais nin
• excavation, wendy c. ortiz
• fun home, alison becdel
• lying, lauren slater
• her last death, susanna sonnenberg
• my body is a book of rules, elissa washuta

poetry

• autobiography of red, anne carson
• averno, louise gluck
• incardine, mary szybist
• how i learned to drive, paula voge
• blackbird, david harrower
• crave, sarah kane

books mentioned online

• (two novels releasing next year, 2026, that might hit similarly to mdv)
  • famous men, julie buntin
  • whidbey, t kira madden
• consent, vanessa springora (really good)
• liar's club, mary karr
• nobody's girl, virginia giuffre
• the collector, john fowles (becoming interested in john fowles)
• the red book, c.g. jung