Three debut novels to read right now

2018 so far has been ripe with amazing debut novels. From Eleanor Oliphant to My Absolute Darling, I came cross first books that made me purple with envy (that's one step further than green) - but also stunned me. It's so comforting to know that the amount of creative and talented authors is only growing.

Here, I have picked out three debuts that I will be reading before the year is out - one from 2017 admittedly, but I am yet to jump on the bandwagon that is Sally Rooney.

Sally Rooney, the author of Conversations with Friends, has just yesterday been announced as a long-lister for the 2018 Man Booker Prize (albeit for her new novel, Normal People). But that's not really how I came across her work: it was more the incredible hype that it is still getting, despite having published over a year ago.

Goodreads readers had a split opinion on it - with some claiming that her writing is hard to read, and others complaining that punctuation marks would make it much more understandable - but overall the praise is overwhelming.

The reason I'm interested in reading it, besides its fame, is precisely this different style though. I enjoy a bit of a challenge and I haven't read anything that used language massively innovatively (saying that, I should read some more Saramago some time). The story also sounds very human - a love triangle, the clash of younger and older generations, very personal thoughts. 

If good, I'll probably move on to her new book - the one on the Booker list - so I'll be more in.

Here's another Booker long-lister for you! But in all fairness, I have set my eyes on Sophie Mackintosh's The Water Cure a while back already, thanks to an interview in The Bookseller.

I think I've mentioned that I don't love anything as much as I love a juicy dystopia, and with three girls stuck on an island, isolated from the main land, you've got my attention. Based on what I know about the book, I'm expecting a lot of darkness and in-depth characters. She does mention that she had been told it’s "difficult to read, in the sense that it can be a bit brutal, but I hope for those who do persevere it pays off for them, that it gives them something". Based on her being long-listed, I'm guessing it does - and a lot of it. I cannot wait.

This final choice I had ignored for quite some time - I think my main reason being (without being conscious about it until just now) is that the cover reminded me too much of The Female Persuasion by Meg Wollitzer). Then, finally, being the perfect cog in this media-reliant society - and perfectly okay with that - I read this beautiful New Yorker review and decided I needed to get my hands on it. (FYI, simply being mentioned in the New Yorker will get you in my good books. No pun intended.)

Now that I broadly know what it's about, I want it even more. The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwon tells the story from three different perspectives, and touches on topics such as faith, grief, religion and understanding what it can mean to lose religion. Laura Miller quotes the following in her opening lines:

"People with no experience of God tend to think that leaving the faith would be a liberation, a flight from guilt, rules.”

This immediately got me thinking - and if one line can do that, just imagine what the rest of the book can do.