20 "Weird Girl Lit Fic" book recs.

What is Weird Girl Lit Fic exactly? Well, I know it when I see it, but if it’s got more than 3 of these “attributes, you have Weird Girl Lit Fic on your hands...

I first heard the moniker “weird girl lit fic” on my friends Becca Freeman and Olivia Muenter’s podcast, Bad on Paper, a few weeks ago and I knew intrinsically what they meant, and smiled. Ah, an emerging genre after my own heart. Thank you, Bad on Paper, for the term and the inspiration.

Weird Girl Lit Fic seems to have picked up steam in recent years. What is it exactly?

Well, I know it when I see it, but if it’s got more than three of the “attributes” below, you have Weird Girl Lit Fic on your hands:

• Unreliable female narrator who you grow increasingly wary of the more of her dark mind she exposes to you

• Big wealth disparity in the book between FMC and her surroundings-- either she’s super rich and her counterparts aren’t, but more likely the opposite, she is drifting through an opulent place

• FMC may be actually just be a grifter

• Story takes place in the Hamptons (see above)

• FMC is obsessed with her husband-- either she hates him and is plotting his death or she loves him so much she’s plotting his death

• The plot seems somewhat banal or cerebral and then the book takes a turn towards the 75% mark and death becomes a persistent and recurring threat

• FMC is completely unlikeable but you need to know if she accomplishes her goals in a way that has you tearing through pages

• Sapphic undertones

• FMC believes strongly that she is better than everyone else in the book

• For whatever reason, very “literary”

Here are a few that I’d recommend— and if you already know and like some of these, surely you may like the ones on this list you’ve yet to read!

1. My Year of Rest And Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh // In some ways, this was the blueprint. No one does WGLF like Otessa Moshfegh. Amazon | Bookshop

2. My Husband by Maud Ventura // This main character loves her husband so much, she could just smother him to death… right? Amazon | Bookshop

3. The Guest by Emma Cline // Also WGLF blueprint. It felt like this was in every girl’s beach bag two summers ago, whether or not you made it to the Hamptons. Amazon | Bookshop

4. Lover Girl by Nicole Sellew // Read this if you liked to medium-liked The Guest— vibes are similar, and this is a debut novel that just came out. Expect a similar setting, but a younger FMC who thinks sex with mediocre guys will… solve all her problems. Amazon | Bookshop

5. Death in Her Hands by Otessa Moshfegh // Probably the most underrated Otessa Moshfegh book I’ve ever come across, and one of my favorites. Amazon | Bookshop

6. Rouge by Mona Awad // Mona Awad is another writer who writes burgeoning insanity or an untethering with reality in a way that no one else simply can. Rouge is a meditation on beauty standards from inside the mind of a woman who is beginning to lose hers in the pursuit of beauty… Amazon | Bookshop

7. Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino // Ever wanted something so bad that you simply can’t stand it? This FMC has: a house in the suburbs. And it’ll drive her to insane ends… Amazon | Bookshop

8. Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Howarth // This barely makes the list since it’s a shared POV among 3 main characters in rural Ireland, only 1 female— but when you get to the end, you’ll know exactly why it merits a spot here. Amazon | Bookshop

9. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke // The book on everybody’s lips. Doing great work for the WGLF genre. Amazon | Bookshop

10. All’s Well by Mona Awad // Awad’s hallmark unreliable FMC meets Shakespeare in this meditation on performance and chronic illness. Amazon | Bookshop
    

11. Happiness and Love by Zoe Dubno // This takes place entirely inside a scene-y dinner party in the art world of NYC— the FMC is so vexed that she spends the entire time skewering every guest in her mind. Amazon | Bookshop

12. Workhorse by Caroline Palmer // Early 2000s Vogue employee turned grifter. Longer and more literary than the pitch makes it sound, don’t expect Devil Wears Prada or a fun soapy escapade. Amazon | Bookshop

13. The Compound by Aisling Rawle // The WGLC genre takes on the reality TV world in this dystopic satire of a Love Island-esque reality show, with much higher stakes. Amazon | Bookshop

14. Hungerstone by Kat Dunn // Ever think your husband was poisoning you? Ever had a sapphic relationship with a bloodthirsty woman who has been stalking you only to find you’re unsure if she’s real at all? Amazon | Bookshop

15. Piglet by Lottie Hazell // Leans more literary, food-world adjacent, and more than a little dark. Amazon | Bookshop

16. Banal Nightmare by Halle Butler // This down on her luck, condescending FMC returns home to her Midwestern hometown as an adult, with plenty to say about those she left behind. Amazon | Bookshop

17. All Fours by Miranda July // An unhinged tale of perimenopause. Ruined the word “polyp” for me personally. Amazon | Bookshop

18. The Coin by Yasmin Zaher // In which a woman gets roped into selling fake Birkins with a homeless man in pursuit of luxury and wealth in NYC. Amazon | Bookshop

19. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin // One of my favorites, and I simply wish more people read and liked it. Set in Upstate New York, Greta becomes obsessed with a client of her sex therapist boss— Big Swiss. Amazon | Bookshop

20. Bunny by Mona Awad // Last but not least, Mona Awad’s dystopic and unstable lens turns towards sorority and girl group culture. Amazon | Bookshop

Did I leave out a favorite of yours? Or a piece of “Weird Girl Lit Fic” criteria that you think merits a spot on the list?