Eng. A2 Coursework - 21st Century Books to compare with The Picture of Dorian Gray?

Hello!

I'm going into my second year of A-Levels next year, under the CCEA exam board. I want to do Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' as part of my A2 Coursework, but I'm struggling to find a twenty-first century book to compare it to. I considered The Goldfinch - which admittedly IS a good comparison - but it's also quite long and not truly ideal for a book I have to read multiple times in a short time span, and I was wondering if anyone knew any other possibilities.

Themes I'd be interested in exploring include friendship, narcissism, hedonism and sin, etc.

Does it have to be 21st century?

Yup. Trust me, I wish it wasn't. There's so many books from other periods that make for decent comparisons - The Great Gatsby, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, etc.
But nope. Has to be twenty first century. I think it's a ridiculous requirement, but a requirement nonetheless.
I realise there's not many options, which is why I thought I'd ask here. Worst comes to worst, I'll change book.

That's a shame. Unfortunately I'm not very useful as my reading primarily consists of pre-2000 lit, but someone in my class compared 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' to Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner'. Perhaps you could explore the theme of friendship (specifically male) in both texts, though it may be a stretch. Good luck anyhow!

Try a gothic novella from the 21st century maybe? Sadly I was gonna recommend one but it was twentieth century (1976) 😳

Hello!

I'm going into my second year of A-Levels next year, under the CCEA exam board. I want to do Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' as part of my A2 Coursework, but I'm struggling to find a twenty-first century book to compare it to. I considered The Goldfinch - which admittedly IS a good comparison - but it's also quite long and not truly ideal for a book I have to read multiple times in a short time span, and I was wondering if anyone knew any other possibilities.

Themes I'd be interested in exploring include friendship, narcissism, hedonism and sin, etc.