Family saga type books?

livinsane

Not sure if family saga is an accurate description but I am looking for suggestions for a particular type of book. I want an expansive story dealing with the life of a family. Examples of three I have recently read are:

Half a Yellow Sun - about the civil war in Nigeria but told mainly through the experiences of one family. About love and loss.

The God of all Small Things - about a family in India and how one tragic event effects each member.

The Good Earth - set in China and centred around a farming family, their sucess and failures, drought, migration etc.

So hopefully those books give an idea of what I'm looking for. Thanks!

trashcan

Not sure if it would appeal to you but there is book by Len Deighton called Winter. It follows a Berlin family, in particular two brothers, from 1900 to 1945 and covers the rise to power of the Nazi party. I read it in the late eighties and thought it was a great read. it's loosely connected to a set of books he did in 3 Trilogies (Game Set and Match etc) in that there are some recurring characters, but it can be read on it's own as a standalone story.

JohnFalstaff

Gabriel Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude follows the fortunes of a South American family over seven generations - it's a great book.

Steinbeck's East of Eden would also fit the bill.

livinsane

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

Gabriel Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude follows the fortunes of a South American family over seven generations - it's a great book.

Steinbeck's East of Eden would also fit the bill.

Funny, I've never read Steinbeck but as I was typing the post I was thinking to myself, I bet John Steinbeck is someone I should be checking out. Will start with both these books, thanks.

livinsane

trashcan wrote: »

Not sure if it would appeal to you but there is book by Len Deighton called Winter. It follows a Berlin family, in particular two brothers, from 1900 to 1945 and covers the rise to power of the Nazi party. I read it in the late eighties and thought it was a great read. it's loosely connected to a set of books he did in 3 Trilogies (Game Set and Match etc) in that there are some recurring characters, but it can be read on it's own as a standalone story.

Sounds good, thanks.

tbh

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Book 1 of a trilogy, book 2 is Winter of the World.

Loved book 1, found book 2 a bit preachy. Good page turners tho.

Swiper the fox

+1 to Steinbeck, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath are his two masterpieces and both fit the bill of your request perfectly.

Have you read Sebastian Barry, many of his books deal with the same families although you'd hardly realise it unless you read them all together, brilliant writer as well.

Lady Chatterton

Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty by Catherine Bailey.

"Black Diamonds" is an extraordinary tale of family feuds, forbidden love, civil unrest and the downfall of a mining dynasty. Wentworth in Yorkshire was surrounded by 70 collieries employing tens of thousands of men. It is the finest and largest Georgian house in Britain and belonged to the Fitzwilliam family. It is England's forgotten palace which belonged to Britain's richest aristocrats.

"Black Diamonds" tells the story of its demise: family feuds, forbidden love, class war, and a tragic and violent death played their part. But coal, one of the most emotive issues in twentieth century British politics, lies at its heart. This is the extraordinary story of how the fabric of English society shifted beyond recognition in fifty turbulent years in the twentieth century.

chasmcb

No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod about Scottish emigrants to Cape Breton and their enduring sense of clan identity/history/connectedness

vepyewwo

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3591262-cutting-for-stone

Wyldwood

+1 for Cutting for Stone & also Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna set in India

Ectoplasm

A Scots Quair by Lewis Grassic Gibbon is a trilogy following the same family in Scotland beginning around the time of the first world war.

The individual books are Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite. The language is a little difficult at first but it is worth sticking with. Sunset Song is particularly impressive.

Cyrus

maybe a little lighter than already mentioned but archers new series the clifton chronicles are a nice read

medici

I think the Kite Runner and Hosseini's other one...- a Thousand Splendid Suns are good "family-saga" type books. I'll vouch for the Grapes of Wrath too and Follett's The Pillars of the Earth

r3nu4l

You could try Wild Swans by Jung Chang. A fantastic (and true) autobiographical story of over 100 years of life of a family in China, particularly focusing on the lives of the women.

on the fiction side, Wilbur Smith often uses different generations of the same family in his novels, set in Africa.