Books like Carmen
Loved Carmen by Prosper Mérimée? Here are 7 books with the same pull, and why each one fits.
About Carmen →7 books
- 1The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades
Alexander PushkinA short, cold-edged story of obsession and ruin told with the same economy and irony as Carmen.
- 2A Hero of Our Time

A Hero of Our Time
Mikhail LermontovA set of linked tales narrated by an observant outsider who records the ruinous behaviour of a charismatic officer.
- 3Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary
Gustave FlaubertA provincial story of desire and self-destruction, written with the same exact prose and cool judgement on its characters.
- 4The Stranger

The Stranger
Albert CamusA flat, first-person account of a man who acts without strong feeling and is judged by others for it.
- 5The Red and the Black

The Red and the Black
StendhalThe rise and fall of an ambitious young man whose passions and social position drive him to a violent end.
- 6Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness
Joseph ConradA story told by a narrator who hears another man's account of a dangerous journey and reflects on what it reveals.
- 7Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
Leo TolstoyA novel of passion and social judgement in which a woman's affair leads to a tragic end.
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