7 Transgressive Fiction Reading Recommendations

It’s been a while since I wrote a Transgressive Fiction related post. Here are seven works of Transgressive Fiction that I have read. Click on the links to read the reviews.

Definition: Transgressive Fiction is a genre that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways.

In Wolves’ Clothing by Greg Levin

This first-person transgressive work features a troubled member of an anti child trafficking organisation.

My Review: Zero Slade is a member of an anti-child sex trafficking organisation. The role entails infiltrating the industry by masquerading as
high-rolling sex …(more)

Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh

This is an inventive book, boasting parallel stories and different levels of awareness.

My Review: Roy Strang narrates this story from the hospital in which he is lying in a coma. It begins in South Africa, where he and his friend Sandy Jamieson are hunting the …(more)

Between the Shadow and Lo by Lauren Sapala

This first-person work of Transgressive Fiction is written by a female author, and it boasts an alcoholic female protagonist.

Review: Twenty-something Seattleite Leah is an emotionally damaged alcoholic with a penchant for drugs, sleeping around and books. She has an alter ego, a dark …(more)

Women by Charles Bukowski

The story follows the exploits of ageing lowlife and Bukowski alter ego, Henry Chinaski.

My Review: Fat, ugly fifty-something Henry Chinaski is a degenerate drinker, gambler and womaniser residing in downtrodden East Hollywood.
After a lifetime spent toiling in …(more)

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Based on Heller’s own experiences as a bombardier in WWII, this satirical anti-war novel is brimming with absurdist humour.

My Review: Set on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa during WWII, Catch-22 is about the exploits of the fictitious 256th Squadron. We follow protagonist Yossarian and his comrades’ farcical attempts to …(more)

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

Child of God is a tautly written and concise work of ‘country noir’. Themes include loneliness and necrophilia.

My Review: Having been dispossessed of his land, Lester Ballard is now homeless and eking out an existence in the backwoods of Sevier County, East Tennessee. For food, he steals and forages. For …(more)

The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh

The complex and manipulative protagonist, sordid characters and squalid descriptions will appeal to fans of the Transgressive genre.

My Review: Reformed Scottish ex-con Jim Francis (formerly Franco Begbie) is now a successful sculptor living the dream in sunny California with his former prison art therapist now trophy wife …(more)