How can you make ordinary life feel resonant enough to function as literature? One of the ways is to structure it well. Time jumps—whether they be quick sneak-peeks into the future, as Muriel Spark does, or dramatic jumps of several years, as in Henry James’ work—can give resonance to a work of seemingly straightforward literary fiction. For this list, I’m not talking about books that include time travel, but rather novels that are interested in using “sleights of time” to make ordinary stories feel both dramatic and satisfying.
In my debut novel, Mistranslation, I employ several large time jumps in the narrative. By including a childhood section, a teenage section, and an adult section, I hope to infuse energy into the narrative at each jump and also to place certain moments in the lives of my characters in closer proximity to each other. In childhood, my main character Sabina meets Khalil—the boy who’s moved in across the street—and notices that he has popsicle juice staining his mouth. Their meeting is confrontational. In adolescence, during another pivotal moment, a drink has stained his mouth and it reminds her of something, although she can’t say what. By placing these two ordinary moments close together, I hope to create something that feels meaningful—in other words, that feels like plot.
Below, I’ll recommend five character-driven novels that use time jumps in innovative ways.
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