LitQueuelitqueue

After

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty

Joshilyn Jackson2012

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More like it

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  • The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing

    Mira Jacob2014

    A photographer returns to her family home in New Mexico when her father begins hallucinating. The story spans decades of Indian-American life.

    Same warm register, still family secrets

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    warm → propulsive

    pace0·prose+2·bleak+2

  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    warm → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • 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.

    warm → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Murder Past Due

    Miranda James2010

    A librarian and his Maine Coon cat investigate the murder of a former classmate in a small Mississippi town.

    Same warm register, still mystery

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Wish you were here

    Rita Mae Brown1990

    A small-town postmistress investigates a series of murders linked by mysterious postcards. Her cat and dog provide their own perspective.

    Same warm register, still mystery

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The McCaffertys

    Lisa Jackson2000

    An investigator is hired to protect a woman and her secret child. He attempts to uncover her past while guarding her from unknown threats.

    warm → propulsive

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Tell No One

    Harlan Coben2000

    A widower receives an email from his wife eight years after her murder. He flees the FBI to discover if she is still alive.

    warm → propulsive, still mystery

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

  • Ten Big Ones

    Janet Evanovich2004

    Stephanie Plum witnesses a gang hit and becomes a target herself. She balances the threat with her ongoing romantic indecision.

    warm → playful, still mystery

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Private Vegas

    James Patterson2015

    Jack Morgan investigates a man who trains women to become killers in Las Vegas. The story follows multiple perspectives in short chapters.

    warm → propulsive, still mystery

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    warm → clinical

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

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

    warm → bleak

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

  • The English Patient

    Michael Ondaatje1992

    Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

    warm → elegiac

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

warm → elegiac, still southern gothic

3 more ↓

  • The Keepers of Truth

    Michael Collins2000

    A local reporter in a dying Indiana town investigates a murder at the last local factory. He documents the decay of his family and his community.

    warm → bleak, still mystery

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Havoc, in Its Third Year

    Ronan Bennett2004

    A magistrate in a 1630s English town tries to maintain order as religious extremism and plague take hold. The social fabric slowly dissolves.

    warm → bleak, still mystery

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Bastard Out of Carolina

    Dorothy Allison1995

    A young girl grows up in poverty in 1950s South Carolina. She endures physical and sexual abuse from her stepfather while her mother looks away.

    warm → bleak, still southern gothic

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2