Here’s What to Read Once You Get Through Weird Girl Lit 101

Here’s What to Read Once You Get Through Weird Girl Lit 101 Maris Kreizman Recommends Jade Sharma, Nettie Jones, and More Weird girl lit is having a moment. From TikTok videos to front tables at indie bookshops and in countless newsletters, a group of seemingly ubiquitous novels are being grouped together like ingredients for a distinctive personality type. The weird girl novel is narrated by a young woman who is kind of losing it. She’s self-destructive, but she often has a sense of humor about it. She tends to cultivate obsessions, with people or with ideas, which may or may not involve an element of the surreal. She’s an unpredictable, unwieldy heroine, or anti-heroine, as the case may be, and we are the mess-lovers who can’t wait to see what kind of trouble she’ll get into next. As a reformed weird girl, I’m here to tell you that the category designation may be new, but books for and about weird girls have existed for a long time. We love Ottessa Moshfegh, but she didn’t invent weird girls, nor did Mona Awad. Nor, for that matter, did Sylvia Plath or any of the Bronte sisters. Below you’ll find a list, by no means comprehensive, of some of the titles that I recommend once you’ve conquered Weird Girls 101 and are ready to advance to the next level. And remember, sometimes weird girls grow up to be weird grown-ass ladies, and they’re fun to read about, too. Post-Traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson I’m putting this 2022 debut up at the top of the list because I don’t know why it’s not included on every current “weird girl” book list. Johnson’s self-deprecating main character, Vivian, deals with a heavy family drama and an intense day job (she’s a lawyer at a psychiatric hospital) and then makes jokes about them, which is one of many fun coping mechanisms she employs. But she’s trying! Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker This surreal 1984 novel about a girl named Janey might be a little too gross or difficult to follow until you allow yourself to give in to Kathy Acker’s hectic style of prose and simply let its brutality wash over you. Go along with Janey as she runs away from home, moves to New York and joins a gang, gets sold into prostitution, and then escapes and, of course, has a tumultuous affair with French novelist Jean Genet. After Claude by Iris Owens Harriet’s boyfriend Claude breaks up with her at the beginning of this 1973 novel, but she refuses to move on until the final pages. The middle contains Harriet’s glorious stint as a crazy ex-girlfriend who only wishes she could escape her own head “There are times when I’d rather converse with a crazed mugger than reason with myself. Anyway, what good are questions when you can’t use the answers?” Problems by Jade Sharma It’s a true feat that Maya, the heroine of Jade Sharma’s 2016 debut novel, is a heroin addict and all-around fuckup who happens to be a delight to spend time with. Problems was the first novel published by Emily Books (Emily Gould and Ruth Curry’s feminist imprint that I still think about all the time) when it was an imprint of indie Coffee House Press, and the entire project captured the spirit of what weird girl novels are all about. The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf What does it mean to live a good life when you can’t always tell the difference between reality and delusion? Elaine Kraf’s 1979 novel follows a woman named Ellen who lives on the Upper West Side and who calls herself Princess Esmeralda when the whole world turns colorful when she’s in the middle of a manic episode. You might expect such out of control moments to read as scary and sad, but Ellen finds so much beauty—and agency—in them that the book can’t help but be weirdly hopeful. Fish Tales by Nettie Jones This 1984 novel, edited by none other than Toni Morrison, is a raunchy non-stop party, until it’s not. Fish Tales is the story of Lewis Jones, a married New York City woman caught up in the bohemian lifestyle. She enjoys sex parties and drugs and just about every other hedonistic pleasure the city has to offer, but she’s driven to re-evaluate her priorities when she falls in love with a man who makes her question everything. Lives of the Saints by Nancy Lemann Everyone in recent college grad Louise Brown’s life is having a full-on nervous breakdown. In this 1985 novel, recently reissued by NYRB, Louise has returned to the splendor and decay of New Orleans, where one drunken yet charming Southern gentleman in particular catches her eye. The novel is peppered with funny little insights often followed by a revelation that lands like a punch to the gut. My Education by Susan Choi My favorite Susan Choi novel follows the romantic adventures of Regina Gottlieb, a dumbass grad student who gets involved with a professor. And then she gets involved with the professor’s wife. And then all hell breaks loose. In these pages Regina makes an ass of herself more than once, has lots of hot sex, and learns a lot—maybe too much—about how the world works. The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud and What Was She Thinking? by Zoe Heller What happens when weird girls grow up? In the case of these two novels, she becomes a little too invested in the lives of other, more exciting people. And then she demands that you look directly at her in all of her splendid ugliness. Maris Kreizman Maris Kreizman hosted the literary podcast, The Maris Review, for four years. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Esquire, The New Republic, and more. Her essay collection, I Want to Burn This Place Down, is forthcoming from Ecco/HarperCollins.