c/books · by Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 2y

What's a good book that unfolds over a short time in-story? No spoilers, thanks.

Everything takes place over a few hours, or entirely set during the immediate aftermath of an automobile crash, for example?

I'd like to avoid "and it was all a dream", time travel, or similar plot devices if possible.

I'm curious what a novel of any length purposely confined to a strict time window in-story reads like.

Maybe I should be reading more plays.

Thanks.

35 points · 28 comments · view on lemmy.world

28 Comments

GreyShuck@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine - basically takes place over the course of a lunch break - with a few footnotes and digressions.

OK, a LOT of footnotes and digressions. But, still, a lunch break.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y

Great, thanks

frefi@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Ulysses by James Joyce takes place in a day... 🫠

~~Also, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens takes place in one night~~

Oops, I forgot you said: I'd like to avoid "and it was all a dream", time travel, or similar plot devices if possible

Wow, it's really hard to think of books that only take place in a few hours. The only ones I can think of take place over the course of a day. Yeah, I guess reading plays would be your best bet

leraje@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 2y

Oops, I forgot you said: I’d like to avoid “and it was all a dream”

But it wasn't! Even if it did inspire the immortal line: " There's more of gravy than of grave about you"

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Plenty of good plays I need to catch up on anyhow

guillem@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

[ removed ]

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y

That's kind of what gave rise to this question. Plays are so succinct and plotted accurate and characterization I was wondering what sort of novels also had that kind of accuracy.

But I haven't read many plays, regardless of the fact that I usually enjoy them for exactly the reason I'm asking.

So yeah, I'll definitely read some more plays, but I'm definitely going to check out some of these novels people are suggesting as well

underscore_@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 2y (1 reply)

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World — Elif Shafak.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y

Seems on point, thanks

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Try the classical Greek tragedies—one of the requirements of the genre is that the action is supposed to take place in less than a day (Aristotle’s “unity of time”).

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y

I'll look into the unity of time, thanks

SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Can't believe I forgot that

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y

Cool, thanks, that's the second dalloway rec, it's definitely on the list

garrbear@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y (3 replies)

The heroes by Joe Abercrombie is about a 3 day long battle.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Should I read the first four books to catch up to those events?

garrbear@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

It can definitely be read standalone and was written to be standalone, but the other books are also fantastic and absolutely worth reading.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y

Okay, awesome. Thank you, I'm definitely interested

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

I haven’t read it yet, but Martin Riker’s novel The Guest Lecture apparently takes place in the mind of a professor lying awake in bed the night before she’s supposed to deliver a lecture.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y

Thanks, definitely worth looking into

NycterVyvver@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

The Children's Story by James Clavell.

IIRC, the book takes about 20 minutes to read and the events that take place occur in real time.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y

Okay, cool thanks.

I read shogun a couple years ago, I wouldn't mind reading something by him that only takes 20 minutes.

frankPodmore@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Other people have already said Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway, both modernist classics that take place in a single day. There are a couple of other examples of similar novels, but the only one that springs to mind right now is a deeply annoying experimental 'novel' called Fidget by Oliver Goldsmith, which I don't recommend at all. He wore a tape recorder and spoke out loud describing everything he did that day, then transcribed it all and that's the book. If you do decide to read it, don't say I didn't warn you.

I don't know if this will count for you, but there's a hypertext novel called 253 by Geoff Ryman which IIRC takes place over just a couple of minutes, with very short chapters describing the thoughts of each of the 253 passengers on board a train. He did later also publish a print version.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y

Thanks, fidget does sound deeply annoying

hybridhavoc@darkfriend.social · 0 pts · 2y (1 reply)

@Varyk How short a time are we talking?

This one might be a bit of a cheat, but: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Technically everything happens within a day.

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y

A day is good, and I love that title.

I didn't have a hard and fast timeline going in deliberately, i'm more interested in all of your recommendations.

I'll definitely be looking into that, thanks.

SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · -2 pts · 2y (3 replies)

Dan Brown novels tend to be fast paced with time constraints. Not as confined as you'd like tho.

Grimy@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y

He said good tho

Varyk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

I read his famous series. At least a few of them. They did read easy

SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 2y

Yeah he has a very readable style. The short chapters and the cliffhanger ends to eevry chapter woth buildimg mystery, its like reading breaking bad