LitQueuelitqueue

After

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Marina Lewycka2005

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Battle of Pollocks Crossing

    J. L. Carr1985

    A young English teacher spends a year in 1920s South Dakota. He encounters a series of local eccentrics and escalating frontier violence.

    Same wry register, still satire

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    wry → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3

  • 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.

    wry → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    wry → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

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.

    wry → sardonic, still satire

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    wry → tense

    pace+1·prose0·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.

    wry → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

wry → elegiac, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The Pale King

    David Foster Wallace2011

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

    wry → sardonic, still satire

    pace-2·prose+2·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.

    wry → clinical

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2

Heavier

wry → bleak, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • The Known World

    Edward P. Jones2003

    A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.

    wry → meditative, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3

  • A Long Long Way

    Sebastian Barry2005

    A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.

    wry → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3

  • Brotherless Night

    V. V. Ganeshananthan2023

    A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.

    wry → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3