Short is sweet when it comes to fiction, according to Robert Collins at the Guardian blog a couple of days ago. "Novels don't have to be long to say something — just look at A Clockwork Orange, The Great Gatsby and The Outsider, all of which barely break the 100-page barrier and fit nicely in your back pocket." I agree on these examples, which I have read, and also with One Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovich, The Old Man of the Sea, Of Mice and Men, On Chesil Beach and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, all other titles that Mr Collins provides and which I've read. "When they're this good, short novels come close to perfection in a manner for which longer novels are simply not equipped."
I thought I might try to identify some very short crime(ish) novels I have read and that made sufficient impact on me (in one way or another) that I remember them well, sometimes years later:
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
The Time Machine by H G Wells
The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Thumbprint by Friedrich Glauser
The Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schenkel
The Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner.
Any other suggestions of 100-ish page novels that made an impression (does not have to be a positive one)?
Maxine - Short novels really can "pack a punch." I agree 100% with you, too about Wells, McBain, Steinbeck, Salinger, and several others. I'd also add that I've read several novellas (Maybe I'm wrong, but I categorize them differently from short novels) that are very powerful, too. Robert Colby's No Experience Necessary is one of my favorites. I don't know exactly what it is about that one that makes it stay with me, many years after I first read it, but it has.
Posted by: Margot Kinberg | 19 March 2010 at 18:34
The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette (160p): http://eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/The_Prone_Gunman.html
Posted by: Karen | 19 March 2010 at 18:42
Thanks, Margot and Karen - two more for me to try!
Posted by: Maxine | 19 March 2010 at 19:04
PS I realise I should have given this post the title "An impression is worth 100 pages", but too late now ;-)
Posted by: Maxine | 19 March 2010 at 19:04
L'Etranger – Albert Camus (well, someone gets murdered at the start!)
One or two of Miyuki Miyabe's books are under 200 pages. And I thought Dominique Manotti's Daquin series was too, but when I checked they appear to be over the 200 mark.
Posted by: Shaz | 19 March 2010 at 19:18
I am not sure I have examples of English novels, but I think Charlotte Perkins Gilman´s "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a memorable short story. And a three-page story which also leaves an impression is Kate Chopin´s "The Story of an Hour". Both stories can be found online.
Posted by: Dorte H | 19 March 2010 at 20:03
I've just read the Slaughterhouse 5 two days ago. It got me, as everything by Vonnengut so far.
My short titles (although I'm not sure if they fit into the 100 pages limit)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm and 1984 by Orwell
The 1984 made a huge impact on me: I loved it but I was depressed for days, it left me without hope.
Posted by: Viktor S. Poór | 19 March 2010 at 20:27
Isn't it interesting that none of the examples have been published recently. I would assume if you sent a 100 page (or even 200 page) manuscript to a publisher these days they'd laugh at you - or hire someone to pad it out if they thought your manuscript could be 'saved'.
Posted by: Bernadette | 19 March 2010 at 21:13
Maxine one of my favorite books is Heart of Darkness. My Penguin edition dated 1982 has 112 pages. Bernadette makes a good point.
Posted by: Jose Ignacio Escribano | 19 March 2010 at 22:25
Thanks, all, for your great examples! In the Guardian post linked here, there is some discussion about the fact that books written these days are much longer, for sales purposes (not quite sure of the economic argument, but there seems to be one).
Shaz - agreed on L'etranger - which for some reason when translated into English is given the title of The Outsider (eg my edition). I read that many years ago and as it was my first "existential" novel it made a deep impression and I immediately went off and read Sartre. I think Nausea, though, while quite short, is over the 200 mark (from memory).
Dorte - I have heard good things about Yellow Wallpaper so must read that.
Jose - I am ashamed to say I have never read that, though I have a boxed set of 6 Conrad books and that is one.
Victor- agree totally on Animal Farm (sorry, thought I or the Guardian had included it, my mistake) but I think 1984 (also great) is quite a bit longer. I, too, loved Slaughterhouse 5. Perhaps, come to think of it, that was my first existentialist novel, though that book is lots of other things, too.
Posted by: Maxine | 20 March 2010 at 09:39
The Drowned World by J G Ballard is also a great short novel, though when I checked my ancient copy it just breaks the 200 mark.
Posted by: Maxine | 20 March 2010 at 09:40
Carlo Lucarelli's, Carte Blanche, and the other two in the series of De Luca novels are all pretty good (all three 100 to 150 pages long).
Posted by: Rob | 20 March 2010 at 22:15
Thanks, Rob.
Posted by: Maxine | 21 March 2010 at 14:40
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy, and Double Indemnity by James M. Cain would be on my list.
Posted by: Martin Edwards | 21 March 2010 at 19:00
Great suggestions, Martin - I loved both these. The former was far better than the movie, though the movie was good in a different kind of way (and more sentimental, of course). I also enjoyed one called "I Walk the Line" (or maybe that was the title of the movie made from it) which I recall as being very short - about a small-town sheriff in middle USA.
Posted by: Maxine | 21 March 2010 at 21:58
My copy of Naguib Mahfouz's "The Day the Leader was Killed" clocks in at 102 pages. It was my first exposure to him, and led me to his longer and more well-know novels.
Posted by: Jonathan | 22 March 2010 at 06:14
I'd add The Maltese Falcon and Farewell, My Lovely, both fairly short. There are others, I'm sure. Moving over to science fiction, there's a lot more examples, too.
But my main point is that I've often argued that the novella is actually a perfect length for fiction. Novels can bloat, the novella is elegant and polished and stays focused. A lot of the most memorable fiction I've ever read has been short-novel or novella in length. On of the greatest living practitioners of the novella is Robert Silverberg. In crime fiction and SF alike, Barry Malzberg has done some fascinating things with the short novel and the novella.
Posted by: Art Durkee | 22 March 2010 at 17:58
Thanks, Jonathan, sounds interesting. And thanks, Art. I think Farewell my Lovely and The Maltese Falcon are quite a bit longer than 100 pages, but obviously, both great books. I am not a sci fi reader these days, I'm afraid, though I did read a lot when much younger, and agree that the best of it (in the main) is in the short story or novella format.
Posted by: Maxine | 22 March 2010 at 19:41
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell are great novels. But now I think about it I'm not sure thoses have under 100 pages
Posted by: sandra | 22 May 2010 at 17:38