LitQueuelitqueue

After

Crossroads

Jonathan Franzen2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Goodbye, Columbus

    Philip Roth1959

    A working-class young man begins a summer romance with a wealthy girl in suburban New Jersey. It examines class and Jewish identity.

    Same sardonic register

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Denser prose

Same sardonic register

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • A daughter for Christmas

    Margaret Daley2010

    A doctor moves to a small town to find the daughter he never knew. He befriends her adoptive mother while hiding his true identity.

    sardonic → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

    Todd Burpo2011

    A father recounts his four-year-old son's descriptions of visiting heaven during an emergency surgery.

    sardonic → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Happy, Happy, Happy

    Phil Robertson2013

    The founder of Duck Commander recounts his life from a difficult upbringing to business success. He focuses on his faith and outdoor lifestyle.

    sardonic → earnest

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

    Same sardonic register

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    sardonic → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    sardonic → clinical

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    sardonic → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • A Passage North

    Anuk Arudpragasam2021

    Krishan travels by train from Colombo to a funeral in northern Sri Lanka. He spends the journey reflecting on a past love and the civil war.

    sardonic → meditative, still literary

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Association of Small Bombs

    Karan Mahajan2016

    The narrative follows the victims, survivors, and perpetrators of a terrorist bombing in Delhi. It examines the long-term psychological fallout.

    sardonic → bleak, still literary

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • Because They Never Do

    Patrick Erin Monaghan2002

    sardonic → tense, still literary

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+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.

    sardonic → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2