Midwest Emo
"What a midwesterner he was, a thoroughly unhip guy with his heart in the usual place, on the sleeve, in plain sight." — Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love
Fiction that embodies the experience of being Midwestern and full of big feelings: depression, yearning, being lost in a cornfield
created by teddydee
last updated October, 2026
Comments
NOTES:
— SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU (Cameron): This kid's a New Yorker in reality but a Midwesterner in his heart. The book stays — THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ (Baum): inspired by Baum's recurring childhood nightmare of a scarecrow pursuing him across a field. Additionally, in the film adaptation, the Toto subplot is never resolved, casting a shadow over Dorothy's relief to be home.
MULTIMEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS* BY STATE (SEEKING CONTRIBUTIONS!):
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
IOWA — 📽️ the Straight story (1999)
KANSAS
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA
MISSOURI
NEBRASKA
NORTH DAKOTA
OHIO — 📽️ Bones and All (2022 — part of this was filmed 5 minutes from my house, lololol) — 🎶 Hang On Sloopy (Ohio's state rock song!) — 🎶 Mrs. Hippopotamuses' (Relient K) — 🎶 Ohio Is for Lovers (Hawthorne Heights) — 📽️ Super 8 (2011)
SOUTH DAKOTA
WISCONSIN — 📽️ the Straight story (1999)
*These recommendations need not be literally related to the emo music genre (although they totally can be). It's also enough if they somehow evoke the spirit of the thing: economic disenfranchisement, industrial pollution, those unspeakable feelings of alienation and yearning you would feel as a teenager running around your small-town 4th of July fair with your friends in the dark, riding the scrambler too many times and wondering if love would ever find you?
Okay well obviously Ohio is for Lovers by Hawthorne Hearts, from Dayton, Ohio.
I'd also recommend They can't kill us till they kill us, essays about music (much of it Midwest emo) by Columbus Ohio's sweetheart, Hanif Abduraquib
Oh yes we love Hawthorne Heights 😍 (I grew up near Dayton!)
And thank you! I have a companion list in my drafts for nonfiction and this book is on it! :)
Okay its set in Pittsburgh but I think the rust belt vibes and earnestness of perks of being a wallflower feel Midwest emo adjacent. . . Ill have to ponder 🌽
teddydeeOP
I actually agree with this but wasn't sure if it was too much of an edge case, lol. Let's ponder together 🤔🌽 And furthermore, I get Midwest emo vibes from The Killing Grounds by Joan Tierney, which is set in upstate NY
hello fellow dayton escapees super 8 directed by jj abrams takes place in like a 1980s dayton suburb (even though it was filmed in west virginia). its not my favoritest film ever but i’d say the vibes are pretty solid!!
Hello yourself! 🤝 Excellent, thank you! I forgot about this movie
They were one of my first favorite bands! I lived in Columbus for a decade and before I got there that song was all I knew about the state lol. Loving this list concept!
just want to say i love you “the book stays” note. you are fighting the good fight🫡 (agree abt that book too btw)
Your lists are always bangers and as an actual midwestern emo your description is very real.
teddydeeOP
Takes one to know one ;) and thank you!
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