If you enjoy reading books by Claire Vaye Watkins then you might also like the following authors:
Karen Russell writes imaginative and vivid fiction blending the ordinary world with the supernatural and fantastical.
Her stories explore strange situations through characters who feel deeply real, weaving humor alongside darker, thoughtful themes about growing up, loneliness, and the complexity of human connections.
Swamplandia! brings readers into a quirky Florida theme park where alligator wrestlers face their own family struggles and personal myths.
Kelly Link creates eerie, magical short stories filled with unsettling atmospheres and highly original plots. She builds worlds that resemble our own but have surreal details and haunting twists.
Link often explores relationships, memory, loss, and identity through humor and strangeness, leaving readers both amused and unsettled. Her collection Get in Trouble showcases her ability to mix reality with the supernatural in stories that remain emotionally resonant.
Aimee Bender writes deeply imaginative fiction that balances emotions and surreal narratives. She brings a uniquely tender and whimsical tone to stories about ordinary characters in extraordinary, almost magical situations.
In The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, a young girl develops the strange, unsettling power to taste the emotions of other people through food, exploring isolation, family secrets, and the complexities of human connections.
Téa Obreht blends realism with elements of folklore and mythology, resulting in richly textured and beautifully written fiction. Her storytelling is atmospheric and poetic, drawing on history and legend to examine themes of grief, memory, and the strength of family bonds.
In her book The Tiger's Wife, Obreht combines a young doctor's personal search for truth with timeless fables and stories she heard from her grandfather, creating a meaningful narrative across generations.
Jesmyn Ward crafts powerful stories with emotional intensity, rooted firmly in the realities of race, poverty, loss, and resilience. Her vivid prose immerses readers into the lives of unforgettable characters confronting personal and social traumas.
In Sing, Unburied, Sing, Ward explores the complicated bonds of family, intergenerational trauma, and the ghosts—both figurative and literal—that haunt characters and their pasts.
Ottessa Moshfegh writes sharp, darkly humorous fiction. Her characters are often awkward, isolated outsiders who reveal uncomfortable truths about themselves and society.
If you enjoy Watkins' unflinching portrayal of complicated characters, you might appreciate Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, a darkly comic novel about a young woman who tries sleeping away her grief and disconnection from the world.
Lauren Groff creates rich, atmospheric stories filled with emotional insight and vivid imagery. Her writing explores complex relationships, hidden desires, and the mysteries of human connection.
Like Watkins, Groff often focuses on women's inner experiences and their complicated ties to place. Try reading Fates and Furies, a bold novel that examines the hidden layers beneath a seemingly successful marriage.
Denis Johnson combines poetic style with gritty realism, exploring lives at the margins of American society. His work often highlights troubled characters struggling with addiction, violence, isolation, and moments of redemption.
If you're drawn to Watkins' intensity and unpolished characters, you'll likely appreciate Johnson's collection Jesus' Son, short stories that follow memorable characters seeking meaning amid chaos.
Lydia Millet thoughtfully blends sharp social critique with environmental themes and dark satire. Her novels feature eccentric, wandering characters confronting an uncertain world. Watkins fans might like Millet's inventive storytelling style and focus on landscape.
Check out A Children's Bible, an insightful novel about climate chaos seen through the eyes of children.
Joy Williams writes piercing, witty stories filled with strange situations and sharply observed characters. She explores human relationships, moral ambiguity, and disconnection from the natural world.
Readers who enjoy Watkins' reflective approach to people and places might find Williams' work similarly rewarding. A good place to start is her short story collection The Visiting Privilege, which showcases her unique voice and insight into human weirdness and vulnerability.
Roxane Gay's powerful, honest storytelling explores gender, race, trauma, and identity. She writes in a straightforward, engaging style.
Her essay collection, Bad Feminist, mixes personal stories, cultural critique, and humor to raise sharp questions about feminism and society today.
Amelia Gray brings surreal, sometimes disturbing twists to everyday situations. Her work often tackles strange desires, uncomfortable truths, and absurdities.
In her unsettling novel Threats, a widower struggles to uncover reality through a series of menacing notes left around his home.
Carmen Maria Machado pushes literary boundaries with stories blending horror, fantasy, and psychological suspense. Her writing explores female bodies, sexuality, and power dynamics, making familiar topics fresh and unsettling.
In her memorable story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, characters navigate dark truths beneath everyday experiences.
Alexandra Kleeman writes offbeat, thought-provoking novels about the oddities of modern life and consumer culture. Her sharp, ironic style captures themes of identity, alienation, and anxiety.
Her compelling novel, You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, satirizes modern obsessions around image, reality TV, and consumerism in a surreal suburban setting.
Rachel Kushner writes vivid novels set against richly detailed historical backdrops. Her stories explore ambition, identity, rebellion, and human weakness, carried by complex characters and sharp observational prose.
Her novel The Flamethrowers takes readers through the explosive art scenes of 1970s New York and the radical political unrest in Italy, following a young woman's quest for self-expression.