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If you loved
Books like Lanark
A sprawling, hallucinatory epic that fractures reality to explore the heartbreaking struggle for love and art in a decaying world. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Lanark.
- hallucinatory
- oppressive
- surreal
- bleak
- darkly comic
- 01
Poor things
Alasdair Gray · 1992
A darkly hilarious, feminist funhouse mirror held up to the Victorian gothic, where the monster is the most rational person in the room.
- 02
Glue
Irvine Welsh
A chaotic, darkly hilarious, and surprisingly tender plunge into the decades-long loyalty of four working-class Scottish boys.
- 03
Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh
A frantic, dialect-heavy plunge into the euphoric highs and devastating lows of addiction and urban decay.
- 04
Whit
Iain Banks
A wry, culture-clash journey of a sheltered cult member navigating the bewildering landscape of Nineties Britain while her worldview slowly unravels.
- 05
Under the skin
Michel Faber
A masterclass in creeping dread that slowly peels back the mundane to reveal something profoundly alien and devastating.
- 06
Walking on Glass
Iain Banks
A surreal, disorienting puzzle of a novel where paranoia, romantic obsession, and impossible riddles hurtle toward an inevitable collision.
- 07
The Scar
China Miéville
A dark, oceanic descent into a floating city of exiles, where grotesque biology meets Machiavellian politics.
- 08
Un Lun Dun
Mieville, China · 2007
A delightfully weird, trope-smashing portal fantasy where the sidekick takes charge in a wonderland of discarded junk.
- 09
Young Mungo
Douglas Stuart
A devastatingly tender exploration of queer first love blooming in the cracks of a brutal, hyper-masculine world.
- 10
King Rat
China Miéville · 1999
A grimy, bass-thumping descent into a hallucinatory London where ancient urban legends bleed into the underground club scene.
- 11
High-rise
J. G. Ballard · 1975
A clinical, claustrophobic descent into the feral underbelly of modern luxury.
- 12
Gormenghast
Mervyn Peake · 1967
A descent into a sprawling, decaying labyrinth where ancient rituals suffocate the living and ambition breeds monstrous consequences.
