Underrated authors

I read Caroline Knapp's book. I didn't know she died.

I don’t know if everyone would consider Marilynne Robinson underrated, since she’s a Pulitzer Prize winner, but I think she’s under-read and perhaps under-considered as one of the great contemporary American novelists.

Robert McLiam Wilson of Norther Ireland, author of 'Ripley Bogle' and 'Eureka Street,' who writes in a deceptively simple style, lyrical and full of wit, and very well crafted and refined. A promised third novel was postponed countless times and then he fucked on off to Paris to teach and write for newspapers and reviews.

Love Knapp, OP- Great choice-

I loved Knapp's book about her dog, Lucille. "Pack Of Two"

James Salter

Ron Hansen

John Wyndham.

Patrick Dennis

Agatha Christie

Both are often dismissed as "popular" and "genre" writers -But both were brilliant at characterization and plot twists.

R7. Wyndham’s “The Chrysalids” is an amazing novel—I used to teach it to my college honors freshmen and they always loved it.

Who wrote the Fun with Dick and Jane novels? I read them in first grade.

Dawn Powell -- mid-20th century American novelist.

Jonathan Tropper

Agatha Christie is hardly an underrated author R8!

Maybe not underrated, as she’s critically loved, but Louise Erdrich should be on everyone’s bookshelf.

I also really love Laurie Colwin. She died in her 40s and doesn’t seem to be read much nowadays. Shine on, bright and Dangerous Object is terrific.

Lois-Ann Yamanaka should also be more widely read. Heads by Harry and Blu’s Hanging are amazing.

I think Elizabeth George fits here. Her Lynley books number close to 20, I believe, and she writes chilling atmospheric scenes, and poignant storylines, both within the arc of her main characters and the individual mysteries plots. I read many writers in the English mystery genre, and I enjoy her books over many others, but she never seems to appear on the “best of” lists that pop up across the internet.

Judith Krantz was a better (commercial) novelist than she ever got credit for.

OP Do you primarily read just adult materials? I ask because John Green is far from being underrated in the YA world and I would in fact name him as a tent pole author. So, I could see perhaps someone not familiar with YA literature seeing him as underrated, but in no way in his field is he.

I wish more gay men were familiar with Colm Toibin as a writer, who is Irish and whose works have a lyric, quiet, subtlety about them. Most well know for the book Brooklyn that was made into a movie a few years ago, his real masterpiece is The Master. It started out as a biography about Henry James, but strayed a bit so is listed as fiction. The ironic part is the more outrageous elements are actually the truthful ones. He also wrote a heart wrenching novel about a brother dying of AIDS and what he asks of his sister called The Blackwater Lightship. Just gorgeous writing and imagery and such a way with words.

I love Knapp! My sister has struggled with eating disorders since she was a teen, and I never really understood it until I read Appetites: Why Women Want.

Another gay author who seems to be overlooked these days is Bruce Chatwin who died of AIDS in the 1980s before really ever coming out or acknowledging his illness as it was such a hostile time to do so. He single handedly redefined travel writing with two of his books, In Patagonia and Songlines about Australia and the Aborigines. Among his other writings is a short novel called Utz about an obsessive compulsive porcelain collector in Czech Republic during the Cold War, who refuses to leave because of his beloved collection, it’s a fascinating character study in the format of a novel with a wonderful mystery.

[quote]Judith Krantz was a better (commercial) novelist than she ever got credit for.

Yes, if only the author of such cornerstones of the literary canon as "Scruples", "Scruples Two", "Princess Daisy", and "The Jewels of Tessa Kent" had found an audience beyond her 80M books sold.

I would guess she didn't give a rat's greasy ass that she was "underrated" within her genre.

Ruth Rendell

Really, [R13]? Everyone agrees she's a popular seller, but many critics (those who don't specialize in mysteries) dismiss her as being a poor writer with superficial characters. I disagree -But I keep reading it over and over again. She also largely forgotten by the under-40 crowd.

Her books are still being made into movies in 2020. She's not forgotten.

No, the same three books keep getting remade...

If Chrstie is forgotten then every author is

The thread isn't about forgotten authors -It's about those who are better than people remember -underrated.

i too enjoyed Carolyn Knapp's addiction story. Was sorry to her she had passed. I think my cousin was same class as her at Brown.