LitQueuelitqueue

After

Affinity

Sarah Waters1999

5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Confessions of Nat Turner

    William Styron1967

    A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.

    Same bleak register, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Amberes

    Roberto Bolaño2002

    A fragmented series of fifty-six short sections follows a police officer, a redhead, and a hunchback through a series of loosely linked crimes.

    bleak → cold

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    bleak → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2

  • The Doves Necklace

    Raja Alem2014

    A detective investigates an unidentified woman's body found in a Mecca alleyway. The city itself narrates parts of the story.

    bleak → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

To recover

bleak → playful

3 more ↓

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    bleak → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3

  • Rock Me

    Cherrie Lynn2010

    Candace visits her cousin's ex-boyfriend for a tattoo and begins a sexual relationship with him. The story focuses on their physical chemistry.

    bleak → tender

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

  • The One Night Stand Before Christmas

    Jana Aston

    A woman has a one-night stand with a man she later discovers is her new boss during the holiday season.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Behind Closed Doors

    B.A. Paris2016

    A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

    bleak → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Kiss the Girls

    James Patterson1995

    Detective Alex Cross tracks two serial killers operating on opposite coasts who are communicating and competing with one another.

    bleak → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Verity

    Colleen Hoover2018

    A ghostwriter moves into a secluded estate to finish a series for an injured author and finds a hidden, disturbing autobiography.

    bleak → tense, still unreliable narrator

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • A Month in the Country

    J. L. Carr1980

    A WWI veteran spends a summer in a quiet village restoring a medieval mural in a church. He reflects on his trauma while observing local life.

    bleak → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The miracle at Speedy Motors

    Alexander McCall Smith2008

    Mma Ramotswe helps a woman find her long-lost family in Botswana. The story follows small domestic complications and slow-paced investigations.

    bleak → warm

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-3

  • Kolyma tales

    Varlam SHALAMOV1980

    Short stories documenting daily life and survival in a Soviet labor camp. The prose is detached and focuses on the physical reality of starvation.

    bleak → clinical, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0