LitQueuelitqueue

After

Battle Royale

Koushun Takami1999

5 of 6 directions open — nothing faster

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Dark Harvest

    Norman Partridge2006

    Every Halloween in a 1960s Midwestern town, teenage boys hunt a pumpkin-headed monster. The winner earns a chance to leave the cursed town.

    Same propulsive register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

propulsive → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    propulsive → dark

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    propulsive → cold

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Ghost Stories

    Henry James2001

    A collection of Victorian tales where the existence of ghosts is often left to the reader's interpretation.

    propulsive → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

To recover

propulsive → playful

3 more ↓

  • Every Boy's Got One

    Meg Cabot2004

    Told through emails and travel logs, two adversarial witnesses travel to Italy for their friends' secret elopement.

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Love Hypothesis

    Ali Hazelwood2021

    A biology PhD candidate enters a fake relationship with a young professor to satisfy a friend. They navigate academic politics and attraction.

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Playing for Keeps

    Kendall Ryan2019

    A hockey player has a one-night stand with his teammate's sister. He attempts to win her over months later despite the social risk to his team.

    propulsive → warm

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-3·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.

    propulsive → playful

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

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

    propulsive → elegiac

    pace-3·prose+2·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Darkness on the Edge of Town

    Brian Keene2010

    A small Virginia town is surrounded by a wall of absolute blackness. The residents struggle to survive as the darkness begins to change them.

    propulsive → bleak, still survival horror

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Long Walk

    Richard Bachman

    One hundred teenage boys start a walking contest where anyone who slows down is shot. The story ends when only one person is left alive.

    propulsive → bleak, still dystopian

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Blindness

    José Saramago1999

    An epidemic of sudden blindness strikes a city, leading to the collapse of social order. A small group struggles to survive in a filthy asylum.

    propulsive → bleak, still dystopian

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1