Does anyone have any really good examples of books written in the second person?

I use it sporadically in my writing to create a form of detachment from the first person narrator but recently I've been thinking about writing longer pieces. For instance there's one chapter in my current novel written in the first but I see now how it could become a much more powerful section if rewritten in the second person.

Has anyone come across a book that perhaps only occasionally uses the self referential second person or uses it for specific sections/chapters. What are people's general thoughts on its use?

Geoff

A good question - I must say I can't ever remember reading any extended passages written in the second person, let alone a complete story or novel. I suppose
Irvine Welsh's famous "Choose life..." speech, while written in the imperative, has an implied "you" throughout and a sense of urgency, but that's probably grasping at non-existent straws. Will be interested to see what the WW-ers come up with!

The only one I know of is Jay McInerney's Bright Lights Big City which is written entirely in the second person but I haven't read it as of yet.

I don't recall any books in the second person but I would suspect that its use could become an irritating 'ism' after a couple of chapters. On the other hand, once the reader has become accustomed to it, maybe it would work perfectly well.

I don't know whether you read French but Raymond Queneau in his 'Exercices de Style' writes an account of the same incident on a Paris bus 99 times each in a completely different style. One rendition, 'Pronostications' is written in a combination of second person and future tense! It's a contrivance but it's interesting and it works. The question is whether it would work in a very large chunk. I'm not so sure...

Chris

These two sites are interesting re second person narration:

http://www.missq.msstate.edu/sssl/view.php?pid=19971

http://www.ohiostatepress.org/books/Complete%20PDFs/Phelan%20Narrative/09.pdf#search=%22second%20person%20narrative%22

I haven't read them but I understand that 'If On a Winter's Night a Traveler' by Italo Calvino uses second person in sections and that The Bride Stripped Bare by Nikki Gemmell is written in it entirely.

Chris

Ali Smith often writes in the second person. I'll have to check through my books to find out exactly where. I think I've seen it in her short stories.

I think it can be a very effective technique.

Yes, definitely Ali Smith - especially in 'The Whole Story and Other Stories'.

Frances

Hey all,

Thanks for the pointers. Wikipedia has quite an interesting article on it and lists a number of authors who have used the second person.

Geoff