Someone I know has trouble reading stuff in their free time that isn’t romantic fiction. They couldn’t make it through Capital the manga. All I could think of for recommendations is ‘the revolt of the angels.’
Germinal is about labor struggle in the 19th century, and there is a romance in it. However, I have to be honest - you cannot expect all of your education to be entertaining. Unfortunately, your friend still has to eat their metaphorical vegetables.
edit: The Jungle also has a newly wed couple in it but I forget if there was anything romantic. Also, the relationship is pedophilic - sorry, ephebophilic 🙄 American readers are also infamous for misunderstanding the moral of the story: “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” Upton Sinclair.
Thanks, I think those might be a little dark for the person I’m asking for, but I’ll add the first one to my personal list.
I know I’m really late on this one, but Chernyshevsky’s What Is to Be Done? is said by many to be the book that most sparked the 1917 revolution, and it’s about love. Vera is living in kind of an oppressive family that want her to marry well, and befriends her brother’s tutor, who tries to help her escape. The novel is about the importance of equality in a relationship for true love, as well as more obliquely (due to censorship) about the need for economic equality for a thriving society.
If romance isn’t crucial, but you want a breezy but clever book about revolution/decolonization with a bit of a Hogwarts-y vibe (in the least transphobic, most positive sense), RF Kuang’s Babel is fun.
I couldn’t find a synopsis of witbd so thanks. I’m going to read that soon. A while ago i was listening to a podcast about how reading capital in DSA or whatever org isn’t great because it makes everyone hate it, whereas back in the day it wasn’t Marx, but Chernyshevsky that everyone had read.
I have a physical copy of Babel, but have yet to read it.
