Books like The People in the Trees

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara reads as bleak, unsettling. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

The rescue

Joseph Conrad · 1920

Both explore colonialism

64% genome match

Lolita. A Screenplay

Vladimir Nabokov · 1974

Both explore morality

56% genome match

Novels (Bartleby, the Scrivener / Benito Cereno / Billy Budd / Encantadas)

Herman Melville · 1928

Both explore morality & isolation

71% genome match

The Mosquito Coast

Paul Theroux · 1981

Both explore isolation

68% genome match

A Passage to India

E.M. Forster · 1924

Both explore colonialism

56% genome match

The dark forest

Hugh Walpole · 1916

Both explore morality & isolation

63% genome match

South Sea Tales

Jack London · 1911

Both explore colonialism & morality

58% genome match

The Sympathizer

Viet Thanh Nguyen · 2015

Same literary feel

54% genome match

Delilah

Marcus Goodrich · 1941

Same adventure feel

59% genome match

Heart of darkness

Lynette Gould · 2007

Both explore colonialism & morality

83% genome match

The heart of the matter

Graham Greene · 1948

Both explore colonialism

55% genome match

The writings in prose and verse of Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling · 1897

Both explore colonialism & morality

57% genome match