17 Best literary fiction books like The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

Cover of The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

The Survivalists

By: Kashana Cauley

2.94

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

A single Black lawyer puts her career and personal moral code at risk when she moves in with her co…

If you liked the literary fiction plot in The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley , here is a list of 17 books like this:

Cover of Lone Women by Victor LaValle

1. Lone Women

By: Victor LaValle

3.72

Format: 285 pages, Hardcover

Blue skies, empty land—and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past,… read more

Similar categories in Victor LaValle's Lone Women book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • thriller
  • adult
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"A home is never finished, it’s only saved from decay."

-Victor LaValle, Lone Women

"History is simple, but the past is complicated. I, for one, embrace the complications."

-Victor LaValle, Lone Women

"As vast as the land could seem, it shrank in comparison to all that he—that anyone—kept within."

-Victor LaValle, Lone Women

"Better to have a human cause for this horror. Something that could be understood by all, explained easily, brought to justice."

-Victor LaValle, Lone Women

Cover of The Guest by Emma Cline

2. The Guest

By: Emma Cline

3.29

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

A young woman pretends to be someone she isn't in this stunning novel by the New York Times bestsel… read more

Similar categories in Emma Cline's The Guest book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • thriller
  • novels
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Younger men had to make everything mean something, had to turn every choice and preference into a referendum on their personality."

-Emma Cline, The Guest

"He assumed her attention when he spoke. He had his insecurities, his anxieties. But underlying it all was the certainty that the world would be generous in its orientation toward him."

-Emma Cline, The Guest

"All the women in the show hated each other, hated each other so much, just so they could avoid hating their husbands. Only their little dogs, blinking from their laps, seemed real: they were the wome…"

-Emma Cline, The Guest

Cover of Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

3. Wandering Stars

By: Tommy Orange

3.89

Format: 315 pages, Hardcover

The eagerly awaited follow-up to Pulitzer Prize-finalist Tommy Orange’s breakout best seller There … read more

Similar categories in Tommy Orange's Wandering Stars book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
"And in the year 1924 Indian citizenship will have been granted, even though they will mean to dissolve tribes by giving citizenship, dissolve being another word for disappearance, a kind of chemical …"

-Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars

Cover of Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

4. Birnam Wood

By: Eleanor Catton

3.82

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

Birnam Wood is on the move . . . Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening gro… read more

Similar categories in Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • thriller
  • novels
  • adult
  • audiobook
"...wondering, not for the first time, when exactly she had become so technologically dependent that her first instinct in every unpredicted circumstance was to outsource her imagination to her phone."

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

"Not at all,’ he said. ‘I was just going to remark that being a cliche can be very useful. You ought to consider it some time.’ ’Oh yeah?’ ’Yeah,’ he said. ‘It means people underestimate you. They thi…"

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

"As his rhetoric and reading life matured, he grew intensely scornful of what passed at his high school for 'education' - the mania for testing; the intolerance of real dissent; and the conformist cel…"

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

"... his future, had either been sold or laid to waste by his parents' generation, trapping him in a perpetual adolescence that was further heightened by the infantilising unreality of the Internet as…"

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

Cover of Pineapple Street by Jenny   Jackson

5. Pineapple Street

By: Jenny Jackson

3.57

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected, old money Stockton family, followed her heart, t… read more

Similar categories in Jenny Jackson's Pineapple Street book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • new york
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
"But you know foundations shouldn't have to be the answer. The real problems are tax laws, anti-labor policies, and the slow expansion of the welfare state," Chip said. Everyone turned and looked at h…"

-Jenny Jackson, Pineapple Street

Cover of Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

6. Chain-Gang All-Stars

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

4.14

Format: 367 pages, Hardcover

Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far… read more

Similar categories in Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Chain-Gang All-Stars book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • literary fiction
  • adult
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"They were all humans, and yet they had completely different ideas about what humanity meant."

-Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain-Gang All-Stars

"My brother-in-law is an alien. I have a bunch of alien friends. I can't be racist," Randy Mac continued."

-Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain-Gang All-Stars

"An absurd thing for the murderous state to plead for, but, as always, the massive violence of the state was “justice,"

-Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain-Gang All-Stars

"...despite how hard it was, she wasn't afraid with love. She knew how to wield it, how to grow it, and how to receive it."

-Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain-Gang All-Stars

Cover of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

7. Martyr!

By: Kaveh Akbar

4.24

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves… read more

Similar categories in Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels
  • audiobook
Cover of Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

8. Come and Get It

By: Kiley Reid

3.38

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

A fresh and provocative story about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a profe… read more

Similar categories in Kiley Reid's Come and Get It book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Kennedy hadn't considered it before, that to write something beautiful you just do it regular, and then you pull out a red pen."

-Kiley Reid, Come and Get It

"Washing her sheets was another thing she'd failed to do. She washed her clothes—every weekend—but when it came to the bedsheets, she'd get stressed out or she'd forget. And then there was too much ti…"

-Kiley Reid, Come and Get It

"Okay, sometimes—just being honest— Millie can be . . . a little ghetto." On the word little, Tyler held two fingers an inch apart. "Nooo. Don't say that. Ah love Millie." "But I'm not saying it like …"

-Kiley Reid, Come and Get It

Cover of Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.

9. Hijab Butch Blues

By: Lamya H.

4.48

Format: 284 pages, Hardcover

A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from storie… read more

Similar categories in Lamya H.'s Hijab Butch Blues book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • audiobook
"Sort of?"

-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

"Queer indispensability?"

-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

"I feel tired. Or reckless. Or maybe brave."

-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

"I want to figure her out, this girl, and I want to know everything about her."

-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues

Cover of Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

10. Big Swiss

By: Jen Beagin

3.68

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house is … read more

Similar categories in Jen Beagin's Big Swiss book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
"¿Habla más de un idioma?"

-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss

"You bullied other bullies,"

-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss

"she’d always been less of a shit-talker and more of a shit-thinker"

-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss

"At least I know where the hell I am and what’s happening. Which way is north?"

-Jen Beagin, Big Swiss

Cover of I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

11. I Have Some Questions for You

By: Rebecca Makkai

3.61

Format: 438 pages, Hardcover

A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family trag… read more

Similar categories in Rebecca Makkai's I Have Some Questions for You book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of Maame by Jessica George

12. Maame

By: Jessica George

4.06

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

Shortlisted for the TikTok Book Awards in the Book of the Year, 2023 and the Goodreads Debut and Fi… read more

Similar categories in Jessica George's Maame book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
"A white person can date a Black person and still be racist."

-Jessica George, Maame

"I can't comprehend living to work, but then I'm afraid of working just to live."

-Jessica George, Maame

"A white person can date a Black person and still be racist. Because there’s levels to that sh*t. Like a lasagna."

-Jessica George, Maame

"It's about what love is. Which is trust, commitment, empathy, and respect. It means really giving a shit about the other person."

-Jessica George, Maame

Cover of Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

13. Age of Vice

By: Deepti Kapoor

3.61

Format: 544 pages, Hardcover

This is the age of vice, where money, pleasure, and power are everything, and the family ties that … read more

Similar categories in Deepti Kapoor's Age of Vice book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"You are who you are, the past is gone. It’s the present you must master now."

-Deepti Kapoor, Age of Vice

Cover of The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

14. The Bandit Queens

By: Parini Shroff

3.93

Format: 342 pages, Hardcover

Geeta's no-good husband disappeared five years ago. She didn't kill him, but everyone thinks she di… read more

Similar categories in Parini Shroff's The Bandit Queens book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"So I’d stay home. So my world wouldn’t get any bigger."

-Parini Shroff, The Bandit Queens

"At least you were seen. Hated, but seen. I was just invisible."

-Parini Shroff, The Bandit Queens

"Thanking him had nearly given her an ulcer, but she'd managed by imagining him dead."

-Parini Shroff, The Bandit Queens

"It wasn’t as though she wanted people looking at her — it was far safer to be invisible."

-Parini Shroff, The Bandit Queens

Cover of Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby

15. Quietly Hostile: Essays

By: Samantha Irby

3.70

Format: 290 pages, Paperback

Samantha Irby invites us to share in the gory particulars of her real life, all that festers behind… read more

Similar categories in Samantha Irby's Quietly Hostile: Essays book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • humor
  • adult
  • audiobook
"[...] and my face is sore from smiling so hard in an effort to appear friendly and nonthreatening."

-Samantha Irby, Quietly Hostile: Essays

"I'm so embarrassed by everything all the time, humiliated even by the need to breathe air where other people can see me"

-Samantha Irby, Quietly Hostile: Essays

"I want to push back against this idea that it's not real love if you're not passionately chattering at each other all the time, that it's just as valid (and romantic!) to know instinctively when to s…"

-Samantha Irby, Quietly Hostile: Essays

"I lived in blissful solitude for a long time...and you learn a lot about yourself and what you require for life when it's just you that you have to think about...You can buy frozen fish sticks and ea…"

-Samantha Irby, Quietly Hostile: Essays

Cover of Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

16. Land of Milk and Honey

By: C Pam Zhang

3.54

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

The award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold returns with a rapturous and revelatory… read more

Similar categories in C Pam Zhang's Land of Milk and Honey book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • audiobook
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
" Real food is whatever cooks are proud to make. "

-C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey

"We all die. We have only the choice, if we are privileged, of whether death comes with a whimper or a bang; of what worlds we taste before we go."

-C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey

"My employer was attuned to patterns of human behavior in which he could not take part; because he failed to be swept up in their currents, he could, from his remove, map the tides."

-C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey

"What sustains in the end are doomed romances, and nicotine, and crappy peanut butter, damn the additives and cholesterol because life is finite and not all nourishment can be measured."

-C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey

Cover of Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration by Alejandra Oliva

17. Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration

By: Alejandra Oliva

4.25

Format: 320 pages, None

The Undocumented Americans meets Tell Me How It Ends in this chronicle about translation, storytell… read more

Similar categories in Alejandra Oliva's Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

18. The Survivalists

By: Kashana Cauley

2.94

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

A single Black lawyer puts her career and personal moral code at risk when she moves in with her co… read more

Similar categories in Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • new york
  • humor
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • thriller
  • novels
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst

19. Homebodies

By: Tembe Denton-Hurst

3.32

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

Urgent, propulsive, and strikingly insightful, Homebodies is a thrilling debut novel about a young … read more

Similar categories in Tembe Denton-Hurst's Homebodies book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • audiobook
Cover of What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez

20. What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez

By: Claire Jiménez

3.53

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

A deeply powerful, raw debut novel of a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their lo… read more

Similar categories in Claire Jiménez's What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Irene was my mom's 60 year old church friend who blew her hair out like Whitney Houston from the Bodyguard days and still rocked her rum raisin lipstick like it was 1992."

-Claire Jiménez, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez

Cover of Central Places by Delia Cai

21. Central Places

By: Delia Cai

3.51

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

A young woman's rootless past and uncertain future collide when she brings her white fiancé home to… read more

Similar categories in Delia Cai's Central Places book and Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists

  • adult fiction
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels
  • adult
  • audiobook

18 must-read fiction books like The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

Transform Your Habits

Lone Women

Victor LaValle

3.72

Transform Your Habits

The Guest

Emma Cline

3.29

Transform Your Habits

Wandering Stars

Tommy Orange

3.89

Transform Your Habits

Birnam Wood

Eleanor Catton

3.82

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21 best-selling fiction books like Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Transform Your Habits

James

Percival Everett

4.54

Transform Your Habits

North Woods

Daniel Mason

4.15

Transform Your Habits

Wandering Stars

Tommy Orange

3.89

Transform Your Habits

Real Americans

Rachel Khong

4.04

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