Many times, those considered as classics of literature or those works published a long time ago are usually seen as the main references of the letters. Books that can never be overshadowed by those more contemporary born in the best-seller era and new narrative forms. However, it may be because you haven't read any of these yet. best books of the XNUMXst century that give us back our faith in great stories.
Best books of the XNUMXst century
White teeth by Zadie Smith
With the arrival of the new millennium, a novel arrived ready to take stock of the reality that the world is going through. A planet marked by immigration, the diaspora and the breakdown of certain ethnic traditions overshadowed by the West. White teeth became the powerful debut of a young Smith, author of a Jamaican mother and English father who, throughout the pages, recounted the history and interactions between three families from modern London: the Joneses, of Jamaican and British origin, the Iqbal, who came from India, and the Chalfens, of Jewish and Christian ideology. Charged with a subtle and acid humor that camouflages darker undertones, White Teeth is one of those definitive works when it comes to understanding current globalization and the consequences of the colonial past.
Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
Published in four different volumes whose comics accompanied newspapers, magazines and supplements between 2000 and 2003, PersepolisPersepolis is a graphic novel that delves into the harsh reality of Iraq, a country to which all eyes were directed at the beginning of the new millennium. A story that represents the portrait of the author herself, the daughter of a progressive family in Tehran that experiences the devastating consequences of the 1979 revolution that gave rise to the Islamic government. The set of comics was adapted into an animated film that won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Published in 2001, Atonement is set in an English mansion during the hottest night of the summer of 1935, at which point a wrongful accusation marks the fate of its protagonists forever. A domino effect caused by the imaginative Briony, the Tallis' youngest daughter, after seeing her sister Cecilia arriving drenched from a fountain while Robbie, the maid's son, looks at her smiling. Adapted to the cinema in 2007 with Keira Knightley as the protagonist, Atonement leaves a trail somewhere between compassion and utter devastation.
Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
The third novel by Franzen, a native of Chicago, became the work that enshrined the author not only for its quality, but also for arriving at the appropriate time. Published just a few days before the attacks of September 11, 2001, The corrections tells the story of a family from the American Midwest, the Lamberts, who evoke the paranoia of the Americans of the late twentieth century. The work prompted more than one debate, including that of an Oprah Winfrey Book Club that the author refused to go to at the time, and won the National Book Award and James Tait Black Memorial Awards.
2666, by Roberto Bolaño
There is some myth and legend around the Chilean Bolaño, an author who after passing away in 2003, left his legacy posthumous work 2666, divided into five volumes that ensure the economic well-being of your family. A decision that was finally replaced by the launch of the book in a single volume that dazzled critics and the public from the first moment. Set in the border city of Santa Teresa, which could be Mexico's Ciudad Juárez, 2666 delves into an empire of evil run by missing writers, murdered women, and corrupt police officers. Without a doubt, one of the most important works of contemporary Spanish literature.
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Published in 2006, The road McCarthy was a before and after in the genre of the post-apocalyptic novel. With brutal harshness, the author of No Country for Old Men plunges us into a future America besieged by the effects of what could have been a nuclear holocaust. White landscapes traveled by a father and his son who must survive in a new world ruled by fear and, especially, hunger. Become a sales phenomenon upon launch, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize as well as being adapted into a screen in 2009.
The wonderful short life of Óscar Wao, by Junot Díaz
Few books have treated the diaspora in such a touching (and realistic) way as this book, a magna work by the Dominican Junot Díaz settled in the United States. Published in 2007, The wonderful short life of Oscar Wao narrates the life of three generations of immigrants through a little nerd who lives with his family in New Jersey and spends summers visiting his grandmother in the Dominican Republic. Radiography of a Caribbean country from the times of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo to the present day, the work won both Pulitzer Prizes and National Book Critic Circle Awards in 2008. A true contemporary classic.
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
La african literature it was always repressed by the foreign yoke during the colonial period. A reality that managed to escape in the XNUMXst century through all those children of immigrants who were able to jump to other shores and narrate the horrors and reality of a continent like Africa in which there is still much to do. Ambassador for an equitable feminism and Nigerian culture that defends at the slightest occasion, Ngozie Adichie has left part of his testimony expressed in books as powerful as Half Yellow Sun, the collection of stories Something around your neck or, especially, Americanah, the story of a young Nigerian woman and her many obstacles to a prosperous life in America.
What are for you the best books of the XNUMXst century that you have read so far?