After
Ask Again, Yes
Mary Beth Keane2019
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Shoemaker's Wife
Adriana Trigiani2012
Two Italian teenagers meet in the Alps, are separated by circumstance, and eventually cross paths again as immigrants in early 20th-century New York.
Same tender register, still family saga
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
A Place for Us
Fatima Farheen Mirza2018
An Indian-American family gathers for a wedding, prompting reflections on their history and the return of an estranged son.
Same tender register, still family saga
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Maine
J. Courtney Sullivan2011
Three generations of women from the Kelleher family spend a summer together at a beach house in Maine. Long-held secrets and resentments surface.
tender → wry, still family saga
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
We Are Water
Wally Lamb2013
A family in Connecticut reacts to the mother's sudden divorce and her upcoming marriage to a female art dealer. Multiple perspectives are used.
tender → earnest, still family saga
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Clear Light of Day
Anita Desai1980
Adult siblings reunite in their childhood home in Old Delhi. They navigate long-held resentments and memories of the Partition of India.
tender → elegiac, still family saga
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon1973
During the end of WWII, an American lieutenant's sexual encounters seem to predict where German V-2 rockets will fall. The narrative is fragmented.
tender → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+2bleak+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.
tender → propulsive
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
tender → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
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.
tender → elegiac
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
tender → dreamlike
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Final Offer
Lauren Asher2023
An alcoholic heir returns to his family's lake house to secure his inheritance. He finds his ex-girlfriend living there with a child he never knew.
tender → earnest
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
You Can Heal Your Life
Louise L. Hay1984
The author argues that physical illness is caused by mental patterns and provides affirmations to change one's internal dialogue.
tender → warm
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Hot on her heels
Susan Mallery2009
A female deputy protects her friends from a man seeking revenge on their father. The two antagonists find themselves physically attracted.
tender → warm
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Simply Irresistible
Rachel Gibson1998
A runaway bride escapes her wedding with a professional hockey player. They spend a night together that leads to a surprise pregnancy.
tender → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Best Man
Kristan Higgins2013
A woman returns to her family winery years after a public wedding disaster. She begins a relationship with the man who helped end her engagement.
tender → warm
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
Dial A for Aunties
Jesse Q. Sutanto2021
A photographer accidentally kills her blind date. Her mother and aunties help hide the body during a massive luxury wedding.
tender → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose0bleak+1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
tender → tense
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose0bleak0
Candide
Voltaire
A naive young man travels the world while his tutor insists that everything is for the best. He encounters a series of global catastrophes.
tender → sardonic
pace+2·prose0·bleak0
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
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.
tender → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tender → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
History of the Rain
Niall Williams2014
A bedridden girl in Ireland tells the story of her family and her father's obsession with finding a specific book. It is a history of a lineage.
tender → elegiac, still family saga
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
tender → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
tender → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
tender → clinical
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
tender → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
Heavier
tender → bleak, still family saga
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Lives of Others
Neel Mukherjee2014
A multi-generational family in 1960s Calcutta disintegrates while one grandson joins a violent Maoist insurgency. It tracks the family's collapse.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
I'll Go to Bed at Noon
Gerard Woodward2004
The Jones family spends a decade succumbing to alcoholism. The book tracks their physical and social disintegration in 1970s Britain.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+2
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.
tender → bleak
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
tender → bleak
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
tender → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
