12 Best novels books like Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

Cover of Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

Kairos

By: Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Format: 379 pages, Hardcover

Die neunzehnjährige Katharina und Hans, ein verheirateter Mann Mitte fünfzig, begegnen sich Ende de…

"She would like a shallow life, swift and shallow, till some day she can start again. Get through her time fast until then. And when will that be? Then."

-Jenny Erpenbeck, Kairos

If you liked the novels plot in Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck , here is a list of 12 books like this:

Cover of Prophet Song by Paul    Lynch

1. Prophet Song

By: Paul Lynch

4.10

Format: 259 pages, Kindle Edition

A fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internat… read more

Similar categories in Paul Lynch's Prophet Song book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"people are entitled to some small moment of peace."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"the child absorbing the mother’s trauma and storing it in his body for later use,"

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"... time is at once addition and subtraction, time adds one day to the next and always takes away from what's left..."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

"...knowing how it is so that all boys grow up and pull away from home to unmake the world in the guise of making it, nature decrees it so."

-Paul Lynch, Prophet Song

Cover of Torto Arado by Itamar Vieira Junior

2. Torto Arado

By: Itamar Vieira Junior

4.49

Format: 280 pages, Paperback

Vencedor dos prémios LeYa (2018) e Jabuti, finalista do Oceanos (2020). Um livro comovente que traz… read more

Similar categories in Itamar Vieira Junior's Torto Arado book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • romance
  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • historical fiction
"Olha, dona"

-Itamar Vieira Junior, Torto Arado

"Durante algum tempo, pensei que pudesse haver uma ruptura entre nossas famílias, mas o perdão aflorava da bênção que poderia ser o retorno de alguém de qual somos parte."

-Itamar Vieira Junior, Torto Arado

"Você incutiu naquelas vidas um respeito grande por suas próprias histórias. Mas agora nem você conseguia mais se iluminar com a esperança de que a mudança fosse possível, muito menos acreditava que a…"

-Itamar Vieira Junior, Torto Arado

Cover of The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright

3. The Wren, the Wren

By: Anne Enright

3.55

Format: 278 pages, Hardcover

An incandescent novel about the inheritance of trauma, wonder, and love across three generations of… read more

Similar categories in Anne Enright's The Wren, the Wren book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • novels
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"It's not that I think about him constantly, he is my way of thinking. His mind is my compass, his eyes my only mirror."

-Anne Enright, The Wren, the Wren

"We don’t walk down the same street as the person walking beside us. All we can do is tell the other person what we see. We can point at things and try to name them. If we do this well, our friend can…"

-Anne Enright, The Wren, the Wren

"We don't walk down the same street as the person walking beside us. All we can do is tell the other person what we see. We can point at things and try to name them. If we do this well, our friend can…"

-Anne Enright, The Wren, the Wren

Cover of Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

4. Kairos

By: Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Format: 379 pages, Hardcover

Die neunzehnjährige Katharina und Hans, ein verheirateter Mann Mitte fünfzig, begegnen sich Ende de… read more

Similar categories in Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • romance
  • german literature
  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • germany
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"She would like a shallow life, swift and shallow, till some day she can start again. Get through her time fast until then. And when will that be? Then."

-Jenny Erpenbeck, Kairos

Cover of All Fours by Miranda July

5. All Fours

By: Miranda July

3.81

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

The New York Times–bestselling author of The First Bad Man returns with an irreverently sexy, tende… read more

Similar categories in Miranda July's All Fours book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • novels
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"But maybe the road split between: a life spent longing vs. a life that was continually surprising"

-Miranda July, All Fours

"Maybe we shouldn't do that," Jordi said. "Flatten ourselves like that. Erratic doesn't have to mean crazy or irresponsible. Shouldn't we be normalizing change?"

-Miranda July, All Fours

"I guess any calling, no mater what it is, is a kind of unresolved ache," I said, giving in to knowing more than him. "It's a problem that you can't fix, but there is some relief in knowing you will c…"

-Miranda July, All Fours

"For me lying created just the right amount of problems and what you saw was just one of my four or five faces- each real, each with different needs. The only dangerous lie was one that asked me to co…"

-Miranda July, All Fours

Cover of Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

6. Enter Ghost

By: Isabella Hammad

4.09

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

A bold, evocative new novel from the Sue Kaufman, Betty Trask and Plimpton Prize Award winner Isabe… read more

Similar categories in Isabella Hammad's Enter Ghost book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels
Cover of Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy

7. Soldier Sailor

By: Claire Kilroy

4.10

Format: 256 pages, ebook

Well, Sailor. Here we are once more, you and me in one another's arms. The Earth rotates beneath us… read more

Similar categories in Claire Kilroy's Soldier Sailor book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • novels
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"I laughed and then we were doing that thing again, our thing: laughing into one another's eyes. All that time I had thought I was jollying you along when all that time you were jollying along me."

-Claire Kilroy, Soldier Sailor

"I tell my husband about my childhood and he tells me about his but it isn't the same. We can never know each other as we were then. But I know you. I will see the child you were in the man you will b…"

-Claire Kilroy, Soldier Sailor

"Hated cling film. Hated it more than I hated kinetic sand. Defeated by something that lacked a third dimension. While I'd been off tinkering on the cerebral plane, the smart money has been mastering …"

-Claire Kilroy, Soldier Sailor

"I knelt down to pick up the hatchling to . . . . what? Give it back to its mother? Here is your dying chick? Just before I made contact with it, she dive-bombed me. The mother actually dive-bombed me…"

-Claire Kilroy, Soldier Sailor

Cover of The Details by Ia Genberg

8. The Details

By: Ia Genberg

3.90

Format: 128 pages, Hardcover

An acclaimed Swedish author makes her English language debut with this intoxicating novel in the ve… read more

Similar categories in Ia Genberg's The Details book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"La fiducia resta lettera morta, se non la si sente nelle ossa."

-Ia Genberg, The Details

"L'io , o meglio, il cosidetto "io", non è altro che questo: ciò che resta delle persone a cui ci siamo stretti."

-Ia Genberg, The Details

"La vita mi ha regalato la mia buona dose di magia, e il più delle volte è successo all'incontro con gli altri. Lì c'è qualcosa. Lì, soltanto lì."

-Ia Genberg, The Details

"Per i morti la successione del tempo non ha importanza, l'unica cosa che conta sono i dettagli, la densità, il come e il cosa e tutto ciò che riguarda il chi."

-Ia Genberg, The Details

Cover of Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan

9. Brotherless Night

By: V.V. Ganeshananthan

4.46

Format: 348 pages, Hardcover

In this searing novel, a courageous young woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor as … read more

Similar categories in V.V. Ganeshananthan's Brotherless Night book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
Cover of The Silver Bone (The Kyiv Mysteries, #1) by Andrey Kurkov

10. The Silver Bone (The Kyiv Mysteries, #1)

By: Andrey Kurkov

3.43

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

From the Ukrainian Andrey Kurkov, a perplexing mystery from a world-renowned literary master that i… read more

Similar categories in Andrey Kurkov's The Silver Bone (The Kyiv Mysteries, #1) book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
Cover of No es un río by Selva Almada

11. No es un río

By: Selva Almada

3.95

Format: 104 pages, Kindle Edition

Enero y el Negro llevan de pesca a Tilo, hijo adolescente de Eusebio, el amigo muerto. Mientras beb… read more

Similar categories in Selva Almada's No es un río book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • novels
Cover of Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel

12. Headshot

By: Rita Bullwinkel

3.63

Format: 224 pages, Hardcover

An electrifying debut novel from an “unusually gifted writer” (Lorrie Moore) about the radical inti… read more

Similar categories in Rita Bullwinkel's Headshot book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • novels
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"The desire to please people is the desire to not be singular."

-Rita Bullwinkel, Headshot

"Tanya Maw's sister is two years older, the perfect age gap for wisdom transmission."

-Rita Bullwinkel, Headshot

"It can be intoxicating to play a sport that requires one to look in their opponent's eyes."

-Rita Bullwinkel, Headshot

"It's a warmth that she'll feel again very few times in her life. It's almost like love, but it has a surer, less desperate edge to it."

-Rita Bullwinkel, Headshot

Cover of Parade by Rachel Cusk

13. Parade

By: Rachel Cusk

3.70

Format: 198 pages, Hardcover

From the exhilarating mind of Rachel Cusk, author of the Outline trilogy, Parade disturbs and defin… read more

Similar categories in Rachel Cusk's Parade book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • novels
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"He knew that [his work] embodied change, and he wasn’t interested in change. He was interested in the fragments that change leaves behind in its storming passage toward the future."

-Rachel Cusk, Parade

"Not to be understood is effectively to be silenced, but not understanding can in its turn legitimise that silence, can illuminate one’s own unknowability. Art is the pact of individuals denying socie…"

-Rachel Cusk, Parade

"Sanity and insanity were not opposites but rather were the two faces of inanimate matter, the point at which the existence of consciousness can get no further in breaking down the existence of substa…"

-Rachel Cusk, Parade

"The impulse to have a child is very often a response to the woman’s own childhood, as though her childhood has left her incomplete, or has taken a part of her that she is driven to find again. The st…"

-Rachel Cusk, Parade

Cover of Simpatía by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón

14. Simpatía

By: Rodrigo Blanco Calderón

3.49

Format: 272 pages, Paperback

Rodrigo Blanco se ha consolidado como una de las grandes voces de la literatura latinoamericana y s… read more

Similar categories in Rodrigo Blanco Calderón's Simpatía book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
Cover of This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud

15. This Strange Eventful History

By: Claire Messud

3.63

Format: 448 pages, Hardcover

An immersive, masterful story of a family born on the wrong side of history, from one of our finest… read more

Similar categories in Claire Messud's This Strange Eventful History book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • historical
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
"Family life, like playing chess, involved always thinking several steps ahead."

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

"Literature... Now, that's a religion I can believe in. That is perhaps my God."

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

"... she'd been a fool, enamored of a figment, had created the soul of a man who never existed -"

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

"All-U-Can Hi-way 4-Sale Thru. This American English thrilled him - its energy, its freedom, its carelessness."

-Claire Messud, This Strange Eventful History

Cover of In het oog by Marijke Schermer

16. In het oog

By: Marijke Schermer

3.92

Format: 216 pages, Hardcover

Op een dag krijgt Nicola geen geld meer voor haar bacterie-onderzoek, terwijl ze iets groots op het… read more

Similar categories in Marijke Schermer's In het oog book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literature
  • novels
  • fiction
"Ik wist dat volwassen mensen dit soort gesprekken voerden, dit soort gesprekken hoorden te voeren, dat je moest praten en je gevoelens moest uiten en naar de gevoelens van de ander moest luisteren en…"

-Marijke Schermer, In het oog

"Maakt het uit, vroeg ik, maakt het iets uit of je weet waarom iemand je verlaat? Leiden gesprekken over waarom en hoe en met welke gevoelens ergens toe? Het verhaal kan immers een leugen zijn, en de …"

-Marijke Schermer, In het oog

Cover of Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-yong

17. Mater 2-10

By: Hwang Sok-yong

3.67

Format: 486 pages, Paperback

International Booker–nominated virtuoso Hwang Sok-yong is back with another powerful story — an epi… read more

Similar categories in Hwang Sok-yong's Mater 2-10 book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • historical fiction
Cover of A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare

18. A Dictator Calls

By: Ismail Kadare

3.14

Format: 256 pages, Paperback

Using a sophisticated and literary version of the ever-popular game of telephone to examine the rel… read more

Similar categories in Ismail Kadare's A Dictator Calls book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"And a cursory glance at Karl Marx shows that a man who had dedicated his life to the violent overthrow of the world order never devoted half a page in any of his dozens of books to the trauma and rem…"

-Ismail Kadare, A Dictator Calls

Cover of My Friends by Hisham Matar

19. My Friends

By: Hisham Matar

4.34

Format: 399 pages, Hardcover

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return , a luminous novel of friendship, family, and … read more

Similar categories in Hisham Matar's My Friends book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literary fiction
  • literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • historical fiction
  • novels
"A vast distance exists between a protester and his slogan; the entire history of politics exists in that gap."

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

"For a writer, exile is prison, a severing from the source, and so, courageous or not, he dies in front of our eyes."

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

"She was older and all the more beautiful, had the weary tiredness of one who, in surrendering to her life, was ennobled by it."

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

"I walked off feeling an emptiness well up inside me. It seemed, for all the emptiness that it was, a presence. It made me want to run away, dive deeper into myself, into that cold desolation, to the …"

-Hisham Matar, My Friends

Cover of What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma

20. What I'd Rather Not Think About

By: Jente Posthuma

3.77

Format: 224 pages, Paperback

What if one half of a pair of twins no longer wants to live? What if the other can’t live without t… read more

Similar categories in Jente Posthuma's What I'd Rather Not Think About book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • literature
  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
"Cracks in the ground aren't always visible to the naked eye. Every movement has the potential to take you down."

-Jente Posthuma, What I'd Rather Not Think About

"This was shocking to me, because if the oldest person I knew understood even less about the world than I did, then how was it possible that other adults had all the answers? And what was the point of…"

-Jente Posthuma, What I'd Rather Not Think About

"To be a natural presence, you shouldn't take up too much space, which I always found easy at the beginning of a friendship. It felt nice to reshape myself into precisely the right format until the mo…"

-Jente Posthuma, What I'd Rather Not Think About

Cover of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

21. The Safekeep

By: Yael van der Wouden

4.08

Format: 272 pages, Hardcover

An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the … read more

Similar categories in Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep book and Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos

  • romance
  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction

21 best-selling fiction books like Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

Transform Your Habits

Prophet Song

Paul Lynch

4.10

Transform Your Habits

Torto Arado

Itamar Vieira Junior

4.49

Transform Your Habits

The Wren, the Wren

Anne Enright

3.55

Transform Your Habits

Kairos

Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

View all the books

20 Best fiction books like A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare

Transform Your Habits

Torto Arado

Itamar Vieira Junior

4.49

Transform Your Habits

Niente di vero

Veronica Raimo

3.59

Transform Your Habits

Kairos

Jenny Erpenbeck

3.46

Transform Your Habits

Wild Houses

Colin Barrett

3.78

View all the books

Never miss a story from us, get weekly updates in your inbox.