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Mary Doria Russell2011

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More like it

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  • The Other Wind

    Ursula K. Le Guin2001

    A sorcerer whose dreams bridge the world of the living and the dead seeks help from the former Archmage Ged to save Earthsea.

    Same elegiac register, still reluctant hero

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

elegiac → sardonic

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.

    elegiac → 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.

    elegiac → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Mirror and the Light

    Hilary Mantel2020

    Thomas Cromwell navigates the final four years of his life in Henry VIII's court. He attempts to maintain power as his allies and influence erode.

    Same elegiac register, still biographical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Eggs in Purgatory

    Laura Childs2008

    Three widows running a cafe investigate the murder of a local lawyer. The plot involves a religious cult and the protagonist's past.

    elegiac → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Desperate housedogs

    Sparkle Abbey2011

    A pet groomer in a small town becomes an amateur sleuth. She investigates a local murder while managing her business and her dogs.

    elegiac → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries

    Emily Brightwell1993

    A Victorian housekeeper and her staff secretly solve crimes for their employer, a clueless Scotland Yard inspector.

    elegiac → playful, still historical mystery

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Child 44

    Tom Rob Smith2008

    A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

    elegiac → tense

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    elegiac → sardonic

    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.

    elegiac → propulsive

    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.

    elegiac → 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.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The English Patient

    Michael Ondaatje1992

    Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.

    Same elegiac register

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Executioner's Song

    Norman Mailer1979

    A factual account of Gary Gilmore, who murdered two men in 1976 and fought the legal system to ensure his own execution.

    elegiac → clinical, still biographical fiction

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Streets of Laredo

    Larry McMurtry1993

    An aging Woodrow Call is hired to hunt down a young train robber in the Texas-Mexico borderlands. The mission is slow and physically grueling.

    Same elegiac register, still western

    pace0·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.

    elegiac → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2