Fiction books on feminism to read
Dear all – specifically those who quote Sally Rooney out of context and pat themselves on the back after resharing a post about toxic masculinity that one time – this one’s for you. Perhaps it’s time to put your performative placard down, and start picking up a read that weighs heavy with raw feminism truths…and actually read it.
Whether you’re in search of a book to display on your immaculately curated “I support women!” shelf, or you’re sincere in your efforts to get fluent in the language of feminism, this list of 8 modern feminist fiction books will have you being pro-women even when no one is watching – or help make your performance more convincing, at the least.
Table of Contents
1. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
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The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan will not only dismantle your performative act but also give you a solid understanding of generational trauma, cultural identity, and the emotional labor women have been doing for centuries.
Focusing on the complex relationships between pairs of Chinese-American daughters and their immigrant mothers, the story tells of the immigrant women in a mahjong group in San Francisco called the “Joy Luck Club”, and the relationship with their daughters, who often clash with their mothers’ traditional expectations and values, through interlocking vignettes.
It’s funny, it’s poetic, it’s tender, and incredibly wise – and might just make you want to call your mother after.
2. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
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Bonnie Garmus’ witty and boldly subversive debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, is truly a love letter to female resilience. Set in 1960s America, when women are expected to be fussing about dinner in the kitchen, single mother Elizabeth Zott devotes her time to designing experiments in a lab, and eventually finds herself the reluctant star of a TV cooking show, Supper at Six.
Instead of teaching women to be obedient housewives, she uses the platform to teach chemistry under the guise of recipes, essentially empowering women with the power of knowledge and critical thinking.
Apart from shining a light on the systemic sexism in science and the STEM fields, the book is as funny and fearless as the characters that live in it.
3. Circe by Madeline Miller
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The Greek mythology sorceress might be a character often reduced into a villainous footnote who turns men into pigs, but Madeline Miller’s dazzling retelling of Circe gives the witch-goddess an emotional depth in her tragedy of being exiled to a remote island.
Through centuries of solitude, love, heartbreak, loss, pain, and self-discovery, Circe hones her witchcraft and creates a life in her terms, which includes brewing potions, taming lions, and refusing to be controlled by anyone, gods or mortals. Where the women in the original myths were demonised and sidelined, this novel slaps you with the reality that these witches weren’t born monsters, but women who had had enough.
4. Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
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Reading Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs in public might earn you an uncomfortable stare or two, but only a performative man would worry about the judgement.
An intimate and layered one, the novel starts with Natsuko as a struggling writer in contemporary Tokyo, and her raw conversation with her elder sister, who is dead set on undergoing breast augmentation to boost her confidence and career as a hostess. Years later, Natsuko grapples with the desire to become a mother and the idea of conceiving a child through artificial insemination.
More than just lip service to the “girl boss” banner, this novel is nuanced and honest in its lived-in portrait of womanhood in all of its blood, beauty, and flaws. Sometimes, it takes more than just saying you support women’s choices – a read of this book will help you understand the uncomfortable truths of being a woman and living in a body of one, what with all of the societal control, scrutiny, costs, and emotional labour that comes with it.
5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
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One can always turn to any of Margaret Atwood’s works for a good dose of unflinching feminist theme, and her award-winning dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale is pretty much a mandatory reading for the lads trying to level up from “shallow” to “genuine”.
The haunting modern classic is narrated by Offred, a “Handmaid” whose sole function is to bear children for the elite ruling class in a near-future totalitarian state known as the Republic of Gilead. Despite how women are made powerless in the patriarchal society, Offred clings to memories of her former life through small acts of defiance and the hope of escape or rebellion.
6. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
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At the heart of Bernardine Evaristo’s Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other, are twelve Black British characters, whose lives intertwine in various ways across different generations, backgrounds, and identities.
The novel portrays women in a beautifully diverse spectrum – queer, straight, trans, nonbinary, immigrants, working-class, wealthy, radical, conservative, young, elderly, and everything in between – and shows how real feminism is layered, lived, and often inconvenient.
7. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
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The strongest soldiers emerging from the battleground of society in today’s gendered world have got to be single mothers and girls coming of age, and Celeste Ng does a phenomenal job exposing themes of both womanhood and motherhood in her slow-burning masterpiece, Little Fires Everywhere.
Emotionally rich and unapologetically complex, the story revolves around two women and their families – the wealthy and rule-abiding Elena Richardson, as well as the nomadic and single mother Mia Warren and her teenage daughter, Pearl. While their interactions start on a good note, tensions rise when a custody battle erupts in the community over a Chinese-American baby, and both mothers find themselves on opposite sides of a deeply personal, political, and ethical divide.
8. If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
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Frances Cha’s If I Had Your Face is a reality check in the form of a piercing novel for the men who drop phrases like “Girls look better without makeup”, but have never seen an actual bare morning face.
Taking place in modern-day Seoul, the novel follows the interconnected lives of four young women who live in the same apartment complex, each with their own story and struggles as they navigate a world that demands perfection and caters to the beautiful, obedient, and convenient.
A mute hair stylist, a stunning room salon girl, a gifted artist, and a married woman – this band of women battles the suffocating expectations of a society where beauty is survival and yet, weaponized against them, and where empowerment might look like a new nose bridge or simply staying silent.
Must-read fiction books on feminism
Here’s some advice: don’t read these fiction books on feminism just to impress or show that you’re “deep”, read because these stories are beautiful, brutal, and blazing with truth. You’ll come to understand a whole lot about the inner lives of women and what it costs to be one in this world – and just maybe, supporting women wouldn’t feel so much like a performance anymore.
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Cover image adapted from: @ayoungwritersworld via Instagram, Swip For Godot via website, @kyu.bookshop via Instagram