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Marisa Silver’s latest novel, At Last , weaves together the life stories of two women whose paths entwine because their children marry. Below, the author of Mary Coin , Little Nothing , The Mysteries , and Babe in Paradise recommends six other “whole life” narratives.

‘Stoner’ by John Williams (1965)

Something I love about the “whole life” novel is how it can dignify the ordinary by suggesting that the simple act of living from one end to the other is an epic feat. John Williams writes straight to the heart of the yearnings, faults, and disillusionments of an unheroic man in this brilliant and shattering novel. Buy it here .

‘The Aut

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