LitQueuelitqueue

After

C

Tom McCarthy2010

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Line of Beauty

    Alan Hollinghurst2004

    A young man moves into the home of a Conservative MP in 1980s London. He pursues aesthetics and romance while the AIDS crisis begins to emerge.

    clinical → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

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.

    clinical → playful, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

    clinical → sardonic, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    Same clinical register

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Walking Disaster

    Jamie McGuire2013

    This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

    An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

    clinical → tense

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Ready Player One

    Ernest Cline2008

    A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    clinical → sardonic

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-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.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    clinical → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Rhine Journey

    Ann Schlee1981

    A middle-aged woman travels by steamer down the Rhine in 1851. She observes her family and internalizes a chance encounter with a man from her past.

    clinical → meditative, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • Gathering the Water

    Robert Edric2006

    In 1840s Yorkshire, a man oversees the flooding of a valley for a reservoir. He records the final days of a village and its remaining residents.

    clinical → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

  • 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.

    clinical → playful, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Prophets

    Robert Jones Jr.2021

    Two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation find refuge in their love for each other. Their relationship is threatened by a betrayal.

    clinical → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • The Deposition of Father McGreevy

    Brian O'Doherty2000

    A priest recounts the physical and moral decline of an isolated Irish village during a harsh winter in the 1940s.

    clinical → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • A Fine Balance

    Rohinton Mistry1995

    Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.

    clinical → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1