After
Agnes and the Hitman
Jennifer Crusie2007
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Don't Look Down
Jennifer Crusie2007
A director struggles to film an action movie while dealing with her ex-husband and a rigid military consultant.
playful → wry, still romantic comedy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Love Your Life
Sophie Kinsella2020
Two people fall in love at a nameless retreat where they use aliases, then must navigate their real lives in London.
Same playful register, still romantic comedy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Lola Carlyle Reveals All
Rachel Gibson2002
A former model hiding from a public scandal is caught on a yacht hijacked by an undercover agent fleeing for his life.
Same playful register, still romantic suspense
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Code Name: Blondie
Christina Skye2007
A Navy SEAL and a robbery suspect are stranded on a desert island during a hurricane. He interrogates her while they wait out the storm.
Same playful register, still romantic suspense
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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The Worst Best Man
Mia Sosa2020
A wedding planner must work with the man who encouraged her groom to leave her at the altar. They compete for a major hotel contract.
Same playful register, still romantic comedy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
Middlemarch
George Eliot1800
Interconnected families in a 1830s English town navigate marriage, debt, and political change. The focus is on social realism and internal life.
playful → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
A middle-aged professor documents his obsession with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. He uses complex prose to justify his crimes.
playful → tense
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
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Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert1856
A doctor's wife in provincial France seeks escape from her mundane life through expensive tastes and extramarital affairs.
playful → tense
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
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Paradise Logic
Sophie Kemp2025
A young woman follows advice from a magazine to become a perfect partner. Her quest involves surreal jobs and messages from the beyond.
playful → epic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Mad Mabel
Sally Hepworth2025
An eighty-one-year-old woman with a history of killing people tries to hide her past when a curious young girl moves into the neighborhood.
playful → dark
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
Faster
playful → propulsive, still romantic suspense
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Savage Prince
Meghan March2018
A powerful man in the New Orleans underworld becomes obsessed with a woman and pursues her despite the danger of his lifestyle.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
The Risk
S.T. Abby2016
A serial killer seeking revenge on her childhood tormentors falls for the FBI profiler hunting her. She kills while he investigates.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Breaking Point
Pamela Clare2011
A journalist and a deputy sheriff are targeted by a drug cartel in the Colorado mountains. They must survive the wilderness while being hunted.
playful → tense, still romantic suspense
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Quantum Radio
A.G. Riddle2023
A scientist at CERN discovers a signal from a parallel universe. He must flee a conspiracy while exploring the implications of the data.
playful → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
Paper Princess
Erin Watt2016
An orphaned girl is taken in by a wealthy family with five hostile sons. She must navigate high school bullying and mansion politics.
playful → propulsive, still forced proximity
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
Slower
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany1975
An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.
playful → dreamlike
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas R. Hofstadter1979
An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.
Same playful register
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
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.
Same playful register
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+3
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
playful → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+2bleak+1
Either/Or
Søren Kierkegaard1992
A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.
playful → meditative
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë1846
Two families on the Yorkshire moors deal with the arrival and subsequent revenge of an adopted orphan. The story is told through nested narrators.
playful → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose0bleak+3
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway1929
An American ambulance driver and a British nurse conduct a love affair during the Italian campaign of World War I.
playful → elegiac
pace-1·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
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Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
A country girl is sent to claim kinship with wealthy relatives. Her life is derailed by a sequence of social betrayals and rigid moral standards.
playful → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
Brokeback Mountain
Annie Proulx1997
Two ranch hands begin a secret sexual and emotional relationship in 1963 Wyoming. The story follows their occasional meetings over twenty years.
playful → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace0prose0bleak+3
Bright Side
Kim Holden2014
An optimistic college student moves to Minnesota for a fresh start while hiding a terminal diagnosis from her best friend.
playful → tender
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
