Alasdair Gray’s Lanark is a grimy and dystopian allegory of the afterlife and working class life in Glasgow (renamed Unthank) in the latter half of last century that bookends a poignant and often dark realistic bildungsroman. Most importantly, it is highly readable novel littered with musings on the nature of art, writing, sex, class and politics.
https://www.amazon.com/Lanark-Life-Four-Books-Canons/dp/1782117148
