History Main / SecondPersonNarration

* In 1945 FilmNoir ''Film/{{Detour}}'', Al the narrator continually address the audience as "you", as Al pleads with us to believe that he isn't a murderer and he didn't mean to do anything wrong and he only stole that dead guy's money and car because he had to and when he strangled that woman to death it was totally an accident...

->''And you rage and scream and reach through the Force to crush [[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine the shadow]] [[EvilMentor who has destroyed you]], but you are so far less now than what you were, you are more than half machine, you are like a painter who has gone blind, a composer gone deaf, you can remember where the power was but the power you can touch is only a memory, and so with all your world-destroying fury it is only droids around you that implode, and equipment, and the table on which you were strapped shatters, and in the end, you cannot touch the shadow.''

->''[[FateWorseThanDeath This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever.]]''

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' uses this for the normal narration. [[LemonyNarrator The narrator will even sass you if you do certain things]]. The narration will switch to first person in the No Mercy route, something that has caused a lot of argument and speculation.

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Most of the books [[SelfDemonstratingArticle you]]'ve read are written either in the first person (narrated from the perspective of one of the characters, who is referred to as "I" and "me") or in the third (referring to all characters by name or with third-person pronouns like "he" and "she"). Occasionally, though, you run across something written in the [[PointOfView second-person]], where the subject of the narration is ''you''.

You'll note that second-person narration is very rare. On one hand, like first-person narration, it has a very intimate feeling. On the other hand, while the intimacy of first-person narration is that of storytelling, the intimacy of second-person narration is that of telepathy: the book is telling you what you experience and how you experience it, which often includes directly telling you what you think or feel. You may find this rather presumptuous unless it's done carefully.

* Austin Grossman's ''Literature/{{You}}'' is mostly written in first person from Russell's perspective, but when he's playing a game or the narrative is describing games and gaming, it dips into second-person. Since the book is partially about being a gamer, this makes sense. There's also a segment at the beginning that is directly written in InteractiveFiction format, commands and all.

* The last part of the novel ''Some Other Place. The Right Place'' by Donald Harington is written like this, but the "you" is not the reader but the first-person narrator of the previous chapters, whose "[[JustForPun eye]]" has been confiscated by a new narrator who speaks in first person plural.

* Lorrie Moore's collection of short stories "[[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/90872.Self_Help Self-Help]]" contains a few examples of second-person narration. Stories like "How to be an Other Woman" and "How to Talk to Your Mother" exemplify the second-person style.

* The narrator of Marvel Comics's ''Dracula'' summarizing the previous issue: "Your name is Frank Drake and you are having a bad day. Your girlfriend has just been killed, turned into a vampire, and you had to kill her again (or something like that). You have came to the bridge to commit suicide."

* The early ''ComicBook/IronFist'' stories from the 70s used second-person narration, starting each story with variations of "You are Iron Fist." This was started by creator Roy Thomas and continued with writers Len Wein and Tony,Isabella in the ''Marvel Premiere'' title and ChrisClaremont in his own series.
* ''ComicBook/ManThing'' has this due to his limited understanding of human ways.
* [[spoiler:Morpheus']] wake in the "The Wake", the tenth volume of ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', is narrated in second person, and to great effect.
* ''ComicBook/TheSentry 2000'' and 2005 miniseries apparently use SecondPersonNarration to represent the protagonist's internal monologue, which creates a claustrophobic effect: the Sentry is a character metaphorically and somewhat literally trapped in his own head. This is kind of weird when the perspective shifts to Reed Richards or the Hulk in the crossover issues, because it begins to feel like the author dictating to them the mental tongue baths they are giving the Sentry, but then becomes awesome again in ''The Sentry vs. the Void'', which wraps up the 2000 miniseries, when it becomes apparent that the Sentry is ''supposed'' to be a CanonSue:

* ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'', waking up [[spoiler: the day after Kathy's death]].
* ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', though they dropped it with the last relaunch.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' fanfic "[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/1641044 The Taste of Honey]]" uses this kind of narration to great effect too.

* A book on writing, rife with examples, said that second-person rarely worked. The example used, which did, implied that there was an "I" which somehow never came up. Paraphrased:
-->You walk about the cabin. Hearing a noise, you peer out the window, but you see nothing. Out loud, you say, "ItsProbablyNothing," but your voice is shaky. The light silhouettes you perfectly in the window.
* Same in ''Literature/HowNOTToWriteANovel'', but without examples.
--> In fact, it was called the "second person" when [=McInerney=] became the second person to get away with it and it became clear he would also be the last.

* Central gimmick of the ''Podcast/{{Pseudopod}}'' episode "[[http://pseudopod.org/2008/03/14/pseudopod-81-its-easy-to-make-a-sandwich/ It's Easy to Make a Sandwich]]." It alternates between deep immersion and a narratorish, hectoring tone reminiscent of {{radio|Drama}}'s ''The Whistler'':

* [[spoiler:Morpheus']] wake in the "The Wake", the tenth volume of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', is narrated this way, and to great effect.

* Creator/NKJemisin's ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'' has Essun written in the second person, both to distinguish her from [[spoiler: Damaya and Syenite, who are both her at different points in her life]] and to trick the reader into empathizing with a character whose actions and trauma are often unpleasant and unsympathetic. [[spoiler: In the end the second person narrative is revealed to be a first person narrative by Hoa, educating a now amnesiac Essun about her past.]]

* ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', though they dropped it with the last relaunch a couple years ago.

* The narrations at the end of each episode in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' are in second person.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', although it takes itself less than seriously.
** ''VideoGame/WestOfLoathing'' and ''VideoGame/ShadowsOverLoathing'' are narrated in the same way.

* "Dancing Queen" by ABBA seems to be of the perspective of a dancer singing this song to ''themselves'', the dancing equivalent of looking in the mirror and saying "Damn, you're looking good today!"
* "Creepy Doll" by Music/JonathanCoulton.

* One example of second person ''narration' is the third vocal section of Music/{{Tool}}'s "Disgustipated."
* Music/TaylorSwift's "Fifteen" uses mostly second-person narration despite clearly being an autobiographical song.

* "Music/OnceInALifetime" by Music/TalkingHeads. "You may find yourself... living in a shotgun shack..."
* "Baker Street" by Music/GerryRafferty.
* "Sultans of Swing" by Music/DireStraits. "You get a shiver in the dark/it's raining in the park but meantime/south of the river you stop and you hold everything"
* "Sometime Around Midnight" by The Airborne Toxic Event, which could be described as a poem or very short story set to music:
-->''And it starts sometime around midnight''\\
''Or at least that's when you lose yourself for a minute or two''\\
''As you stand under the bar lights''\\
''And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while''\\
''And the piano's this melancholy soundcheck to her smile''\\
''And that white dress she's wearing, you haven't seen her for a while...''
* Ricardo Arjona's "Si usted la viera(el confesor)" recounts to you a conversation between the narrator and a priest during confession, the whole discussion is about you ("you" being a woman of doubtful reputation).
* The song "Mineshaft 2" by rapper/singer Music/{{Dessa}}.
-->''He knows how bad he acted, knows he can't have you back''\\
''But the fact is he can't be happy when you're angry''\\
''And you're so angry...He says you stayed so mad''\\
''And he heard it on the street that you moved back in with your dad''\\
''You were drinking something awful and that makes him sad''\\
''Then he says it's good to hear your voice again''\\
''And that it's hard to ask it, but he's calling with a question...''
** The chorus and first two verses are entirely in second person, with only the last verse switching to first person in a way that makes it clear the song is about Dessa herself.
* Many of the songs on Music/{{Swans}}' first few albums (''Filth'' through ''Holy Money'') were intentionally written to resemble political slogans, resulting in a good number of them being entirely in the second person. ''Cop'' in particular is filled with abstract mini-narratives and decidedly creepy character studies, all framed solely with the word "you."
** Swans frontman Michael Gira's other major project, Angels of Light, has a few of these, most notable being the song that gave the band their name: The seven-minute "Angels of Light", which seems to describe an out-of-body experience.
* Music/{{Everclear}}'s "Like a California King" is a song in second person written by Art Alexakis to himself as a reminder that he needs to never be "[[JerkAss that guy]]".
* Music/PinkFloyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" the "you" referring to Syd Barrett.
** From the same album ("Wish You Were Here"), "you" in "Welcome to the Machine" refers to a young musician, who is being addressed by a seedy record company executive.
* Music/IronMaiden's "Killers" starts with a SecondPersonAttack, before going into [[VillainSong the killer's point of view]].

* Music/LeonardCohen's "The Stranger Song"
* {{Music/Shia LaBeouf|Live}} by Rob Cantor:
-->''You're walking in the woods. There's no one around and your phone is dead. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot him...''
* "One of Those Nights" by Music/TimMcGraw:
-->She slides in and you rode down Main Street\\
You turn right when that red light turns green\\
Sun sets now, you're half way to heaven\\
She picks a song, you turn it up to eleven\\
You say "do you wanna?" and she says "hell yeah"\\
So you hit the party, all your buddies are jealous\\
Someday you'll be looking back on your life\\
At the memories, this is gonna be one of those nights

* ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' is told using this style of narration.

* The narration of ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' refers to the main character -- a hard-boiled detective with amnesia -- as if he's you. Not only that, but the various systems of this character's brain also speak to you as if you're that character. The detective does have an identity that you can find through the story, but you can choose to accept this identity, reject it, or carve your own.

* The narrations at the end of each episode in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' are in second person.
* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, with a few exceptions that can be written off as typos, the narration always refers to Link as "you", e.g. "You found ten rupees!". The instruction manuals for ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' are written entirely in second person.
* The entire ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise, wherein the main protagonist is the quintessential BlankSlate (and a HeroicMime and HelloInsertNameHere, at that). You do get quoted dialogue options, but one [[VideoGame/StrangeJourney chilling case]] involves the narration describing your EvilLaugh instead.
* ''VideoGame/OmikronNomadSoul'' is not about your character - it's about you. The player's soul is supposed to inhabit the bodies of the game characters.

* ''VideoGame/WarlordsHeroes'' uses this for its entire storyline, placing you in the minds of the characters themselves.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', much of which is dialogue and narration, tells the story this way. Like ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' above, it's a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game.
* The epilogue to ''VideoGame/Bioshock1'' is like this.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', although it takes itself less than seriously.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastSovereign'': For much of the prologue, the game uses this along with present tense narration. This is despite Kai, the protagonist, being a total idiot and asshole. [[spoiler: Once Kai dies and the perspective switches to Simon, the true protagonist, the narration also switches to third-person past tense. This was done stylistically to mimic the style of other lower quality H-games.]]
* The mission briefings in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' are always presented as being spoken ''directly'' to the player by a variety of characters, such as a [[BigGood GDI]] Commanding Officer or the BigBad Kane.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonCave'', a lot of text is written in second-person, since you're the adventurous human who's taking care of dragons and exploring the wild. Evidently, you're not a blank slate because some of the flavor text describes how you feel about some eggs and some of your actions around hatchlings.

* ''Webcomic/BlackWardEmptyChambers'' likewise inherits the same as the SpiritualSuccessor to Webcomic/SilentHillPromise.
* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' narrates the protagonist Fern's actions in second person, in part because they're being influenced by the mysterious mental presence that represents the comic's readers [[FromBeyondTheFourthWall on the far side of the fourth wall]]. On a couple of occasions, Fern gets angry enough with the commentators to hijack the narrative and switch to first person for a while.
* ''Webcomic/{{Fortuna}}'' takes the parody aspect of ''Homestuck's'' narration to a new extreme, being fully stylized as a video game. The characters are refered to by third-person pronouns and names, but the reader's actions are all second-person. It becomes even more accentuated when the v1 AIs (self-aware beings who know that they are trapped behind a screen on the reader's computer) begin to converse with the reader directly.

* The early ''ComicBook/IronFist'' stories from the 70s used second-person narration, starting each story with variations of "You are Iron Fist." This was started by creator Roy Thomas and continued with writers Len Wein and Tony,Isabella in the ''Marvel Premiere'' title and ChrisClaremont in his own series.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', though they dropped it with the last relaunch a couple years ago.

* The narrator of Marvel Comics's ''Dracula'' summarizing the previous issue: "Your name is Frank Drake and you are having a bad day. Your girlfriend has just been killed, turned into a vampire, and you had to kill her again (or something like that). You have came to the bridge to commit suicide."

* [[spoiler:Morpheus']] wake in the "The Wake", the tenth volume of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', is narrated this way, and to great effect.

* ''ComicBook/ManThing'' has this due to his limited understanding of human ways.

* On the other hand, sometimes it's used as a proper narrative device, with the narrator (whoever the narrator is) addressing whichever character the story happens to be about. The narrator and the "you" tend to be implicitly the same: in angstier fare, the fic is the character talking to/mentally berating himself, which makes it a prime device for fics fueled by angst. A non-angsty example of this can be found in most parts of the ''[[Fanfic/AgentLokiInternationalManOfMayhem Agent Loki: International Man Of Mayhem]]'' 'verse.

* Common among ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fics, often for clopfics where "you" (in pony form or [[InterspeciesRomance otherwise]]) romance/seduce/bang a character from the show.
** It has gotten to the point that a [[http://www.fimfiction.net/group/203875/the-most-dangerous-group-contest FIMFiction site-wide contest]] was held where writers had to use at least one of the "always bad" story tropes - second person perspective, alicorn OC, OC x major character romance, or human in Equestria - and make it into a good story, proving that a good writer can make anything work.
* Extremely common among ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' fics. More than a quarter of the fanfics on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn pair one of the characters (with Sans being the most common) with the reader.

* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5235290/1/Rising_Sun Rising Sun]] is written in second person and an example of this technique being used effectively.
* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' fanfic "[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/1641044 The Taste of Honey]]" uses this kind of narration to great effect too.

* The ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' shortfic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10161218 Wafuku]]'' uses this.

* ''Fanfic/AChampionInEarthBet'' is a ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' quest, reading from the perspective of the ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds''-styled character, [[PhysicalGod the Avatar]], placed into the CrapsackWorld of Earth-Bet to make it better.

* The fanfic series ''Fanfic/FallingIsLikeFlying'' is almost entirely written in second person, but 'you' look through the eyes of an established character (in the main four stories, they are: Taichi, Homare, Kazunari and [[spoiler: Kasumi]]). Considering that this series also contains DemonicPossession and AndThenJohnWasAZombie happening to this character sometimes, it is supposed to feel more chilling then when one were to look at it through the lens of a third person.

* In 2014 novel ''This Is the Water'', you are Annie, a middle-aged suburban swim mom with a daughter on the swim team, and you contemplating having an affair... while a SerialKiller stalks your town.
* ''Literature/IfOnAWintersNightATraveler'' by Italo Calvino has a frame story (about "the Reader") as well as descriptions of the novels the Reader is reading. The Reader is referred to as "you"; the narrators of the internal novels are referred to as "I". Then there's an interesting section where the Other Reader (the love interest of the Reader) becomes the "you" for a brief while.
* ''Halting State'' and its sequel ''Rule 34'' by Creator/CharlesStross are written in the second person despite having multiple well-defined, named narrators, as an homage to text adventure gaming.
* ''The Gospel of the Knife'' by Will Shetterly is also written in second person.
* ''Bright Lights, Big City'' by Jay [=McInerney=] is one of the more famous English language examples.
* ''Half-Asleep in Frog Pajamas'' by Creator/TomRobbins, but completely not a FeaturelessProtagonist -- information about "you" gets revealed slowly over the course of the book.
* The last part of the novel ''Some Other Place. The Right Place'' by Donald Harington is written like this, but the "you" is not the reader but the first-person narrator of the previous chapters, whose "[[JustForPun eye]]" has been confiscated by a new narrator who speaks in first person plural.
* Ann M. Martin's ''California Diaries'' books are mostly written in the first person, being fictional diaries, but Ducky's books are in second person. The explanation is that he doesn't feel comfortable writing about his feelings or whatever in first person, so he uses it to distance himself).
* ''The Frangipani Gardens'' by Barbara Hanrahan starts off like this. but it's dropped after the first chapter.
* In ''Literature/TheStand'', by Creator/StephenKing, Fran at one point muses about Harold's very unusual fiction writing style: second person, present tense.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_13 Bunker 13]] by Aniruddha Bahal is a Stale Beer Flavored SpyFiction, very much at the end of SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism. You are an Indian journalist conducting an investigation into covert intelligence operations of the Pakistanis. It keeps the second person perspective even after [[spoiler: the reader unravels that he is actually a Pakistani double-agent]].
* Carlos Fuentes' short novel ''Aura'' is written in second person, ''future'' tense. It gives you a sensation of inevitability on what the protagonist is going through, with it adds to the other themes of the book.
* Tim Waggoner's [[http://timwaggoner.com/portraitof.htm Portrait of a Horror Writer.]]

* Rosamond Lehman's ''Dusty Answer'' sometimes switches to this from third person, forcing the reader to closely identify with the heroine. Could this be why it was her most insanely popular novel, leading to multiple marriage proposals? Could be.
* Used to very good effect by Matthew Stover in [[Literature/RevengeOfTheSith the novelization]] of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. While most of the book is written in third person, Stover breaks out the second person present-tense narration when he moves into an in-depth character study, which he always signals with the phrase "This is what it feels like to be X."
* [[http://literary.erictmarin.com/shower.htm "The Parable of the Shower"]] by Leah Bobet is written in the old style second-person singular familiar--that is, "thou." The effect is used to evoke a King James Bible-style of speaking.
* ''Creator/DaveBarry in Cyberspace'' contains a non-comedic, English-major-y short story written from this perspective of a housewife, new to the Internet, who starts an online romance.
* ''Cut'' by Patricia [=McCormick=] is written in second person; the you is Callie's counselor.
* ''Literature/TheCrimsonPetalAndTheWhite'', where "you" is the reader as we're told where the characters are going, what they're thinking at the time, etc. This is often acknowledged by telling the reader to pay attention, hurry up so they don't miss something, and a moment early on when a character's daughter walks into the room and the narrative says, "all this time you were following him, you never would have thought he had a daughter."
* ''Literature/TheGirlsGuideToHuntingAndFishing'', a series of related short stories [[PatchworkStory collected into a novel]], switches to second-person in one story/chapter for the female protagonist/narrator.
* Creator/RoaldDahl dips into extended uses of this at times, notably in the nonfiction chapter "Lucky Break" from ''The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More'', when he describes what it was like to be caned at his school.
* The first chapter of ''Literature/TheElricSaga'' is written in this manner, as a way of establishing the title character and his court.
* Creator/DavidBrin wrote a story, "Reality Check," in which you really are the main character. You're supposedly in a LotusEaterMachine, and the narration gets increasingly frantic as you fail to snap out of it. A clever experiment in writing, but one that can be easily defused by reading the story backward.

* The first chapter of ''[[Literature/WinnieThePooh Winnie-The-Pooh]]'' uses a FramingDevice in which A. A. Milne tells Christopher Robin a story about himself and Pooh, so in the story, Christopher Robin is constantly referred to as "you." This is only used for the first chapter, however, and the rest of the book uses conventional third-person narration.
* ''Literature/HouseMadeOfDawn'', to help give some clarity with the extremely [[AnachronicOrder non-linear]] narrative, describes all of Abel's childhood in this fashion, though it's blatantly obvious the "you" is just Abel.

* Creator/NKJemisin's ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'' has Essun written in the second person, both to distinguish her from [[spoiler: Damaya and Syenite, who are both her at different points in her life]] and to trick the reader into empathizing with a character whose actions and trauma are often unpleasant and unsympathetic. [[spoiler: In the end the second person narrative is revealed to be a first person narrative by Hoa, educating a now amnesiac Essun about her past.]]

* Creator/DrSeuss's ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' is written in the second person...it's right there in the title! Even more uniquely, it's written in future tense.
* Several stories -- or the narration between the stories - in the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' [[ExpandedUniverse guidebooks]] are written this way. Occasionally it will be as if the reader is a cat interacting with the characters. Other times, it will be from one character speaking this way to another specific character that appears in the books. At times -- notably the [[ConfessionCam "so-and-so speaks" portions]] -- the identity of the "you" isn't necessarily clear.
* ''Literature/{{Cut}}'' is told by Callie to "you", her therapist.
* The Creator/PaulJennings story ''Thought Full'' is done like this, part of the narrator's (somewhat unnecessary) attempt to put the reader in his shoes.
* The first chapter of ''[[Literature/TheTomorrowSeries Circle of Flight]]'' is done like this, as Ellie comes home to find Gavin is missing.

* Several of horror writer Gemma Files' short stories are written using this tense, including "Rose-Sick", "Bottle of Smoke", and "Slick Black Bones and Soft Black Stars", although the latter two do in fact turn out to have named, gender-specific protagonists.

* Creator/HarryTurtledove's short story "Deconstruction Gang". In the compilation reprint he notes that this was partly as a SelfImposedChallenge and partly to fit with the surreal nature of the story (that literary {{Deconstruction}} could actually be used to demolish old buildings and roads, and English majors are employed to do so).
* Georges Perec's ''The Art and Craft of Approaching Your Head of Department to Submit a Request for a Raise'' is a textual representation of a flowchart explaining all the ways you'll never get a raise, and consequently written entirely in the second person.
* Creator/GeneWolfe's "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories": in this case, "you" is likely the writer's younger self.
* Austin Grossman's ''Literature/{{You}}'' is mostly written in first person from Russell's perspective, but when he's playing a game or the narrative is describing games and gaming, it dips into second-person. Since the book is partially about being a gamer, this makes sense. There's also a segment at the beginning that is directly written in InteractiveFiction format, commands and all.

* "S", by Doug Dorst has a section in the Interlude written in second person narration. However, rather than have the 'you' be a featureless protagonist, the 'you' is simply another character.
* At least two short stories by Neal Shusterman, "The Body Electric" and "Loveless" used second-person narration.
* Jeff [=VanderMeer=] likes to use this trope:
** ''Literature/VenissUnderground'' is divided into three parts, the second of which is told via second-person narration (the first via first-person and the third via third-person narration). The "you" in this case is Nicola, the first narrator's [[HalfIdenticalTwins twin sister]] and the third narrator's ex-girlfriend.
** In ''Acceptance'', the third book of ''Literature/TheSouthernReachTrilogy'', the chapters dedicated to the director are written in the second person and present tense, with the director being the one adressed as "you".

* "...And it Comes Out Here" by Creator/LesterDelRey is structured as a monologue from a time traveler, telling 'you' what 'you' are about to do. In this case, 'you' is a distinct character, the time traveler's younger self.
* The Hungarian book ''Hajléktaland'' ("Homeless-land") is a documentary disguised as a tourist guide book. In the book you, the reader, are guided through Budapest and the surrounding areas with the assumption that you are homeless and you want to find safety, food, shelter, medical care, etc. The book never breaks SecondPersonNarration to build the reader's empathy toward the homeless. It is an intentionally harrowing read.
* Some chapters of Creator/IainBanks's ''Complicity'' are written in second person in present tense. These describe the actions of a murderer. It really helps to hide the identity of the killer (even their gender) but the result is also very creepy.
* Half of Creator/AnnLeckie's ''Literature/TheRavenTower'' is written this way, with the narrator telling the story of Eolo through a 'you' perspective. The other half is a first-person narration by said narrator, eventually revealing [[HowWeGotHere how he came to be involved with the half he narrates second-person]].
* ''Literature/HarrowTheNinth'' is written in an intimate second person about Harrow, though the FlashbackBPlot is written in traditional third person. The unusual narration seems to reflect Harrow's [[SanitySlippage fragile]] mental state and prolonged HeroicBSOD. At least, that's what we're led to believe for the majority of the book. [[spoiler:The second-person point of view is actually narrated by Gideon's consciousness trapped inside Harrow. Even as her point of view becomes more and more first-person in Act 5, she continues to address Harrow as "you."]]
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheAuthorsOrdeal": "You" are a ScienceFiction writer, [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny distracted from day-to-day things]] like conversations, traffic lights, and ''other cars'' by your new story. Getting caught up in [[PointOfView the third-person perspective of the story]], you cannot [[TheMadnessPlace escape the obsession]] until after you've completed the outline, and you "wake up" [[GeniusSlob in complete disarray]].
* In ''Literature/TheAngelOfKhanElKhalili'', "you" are Aliaa, a young woman searching through the eponymous BazaarOfTheBizarre for a self-proclaimed angel. Your goal is to strike a deal with this supernatural entity to save the life of your mortally wounded sister.

* Creator/NKJemisin's ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'' has Essun written in the second person, both to distinguish her from [[spoiler: Damaya and Seyenite, who are both her at different points in her life]] and to trick the reader into empathizing with a character whose actions and trauma are often unpleasant and unsympathetic.

Most of the books [[SelfDemonstratingArticle you]]'ve read are written either in the first person (narrated from the perspective of one of the characters, who refers to themself as "I" and "me") or in the third (referring to all characters by name or with third-person pronouns like "he" and "she"). Occasionally, though, you run across something written in the [[PointOfView second-person]], where the subject of the narration is ''you''.

* "Once in a Lifetime" by Music/TalkingHeads. "You may find yourself... living in a shotgun shack..."

* TheNarrator of ''Podcast/WithinTheWires'' Season 1's Relaxation Cassettes addresses the Institute's patient as "you" and feigns impartiality as a purely instructional, pseudo-omniscient figure in those exercises that mimic a typical guided meditation, but as her instructions deviate to become peculiarly specific, she eventually drops the façade to refer to herself as "I" at the end of the first cassette, and addresses the patient with increasing directness in subsequent installments.