LitQueuelitqueue

After

A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole1980

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Eligible

    Curtis Sittenfeld2016

    A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in Cincinnati. The characters deal with reality TV, CrossFit, and contemporary social hierarchies.

    Same playful register, still satire

    pace0·prose-1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Briefing for a Descent into Hell

    Doris Lessing1971

    A man is found wandering London and placed in a psychiatric ward. The narrative shifts between the hospital and his internal cosmic hallucinations.

    playful → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • A Brief History of Seven Killings

    Marlon James2014

    A large cast of characters recounts the 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life. The narrative spans decades and moves from Jamaica to New York.

    playful → propulsive

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • The Sound and the Fury

    William Faulkner1929

    The decline of a Southern family told through four perspectives, including a non-linear stream of consciousness from a man with a disability.

    playful → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Get Jiro!

    Anthony Bourdain2012

    In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

    playful → sardonic, still satire

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Child 44

    Tom Rob Smith2008

    A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

    playful → tense

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown2003

    A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

    playful → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • The Pale King

    David Foster Wallace2011

    An unfinished, experimental novel about the mundane daily operations of an IRS processing center in 1985 Illinois.

    playful → sardonic, still satire

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Umbrella

    Will Self2013

    A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.

    playful → clinical

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    playful → bleak

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+3

Heavier

playful → sardonic, still satire

3 more ↓

  • The Road

    Cormac McCarthy2006

    A father and son walk through a landscape of ash and scavengers toward the coast. They carry only what fits in a shopping cart.

    playful → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3

  • The Underground Railroad

    Colson Whitehead2016

    Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.

    playful → bleak

    pace0·prose0·bleak+3

  • Oryx and Crake

    Margaret Atwood2003

    A man survives a genetic apocalypse in a world of engineered creatures. He remembers his past with a scientist and the woman they both loved.

    playful → sardonic

    pace0·prose0·bleak+3