After
Doll-baby
Laura Lane McNeal2014
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same warm register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose0bleak0
The education of Little Tree
Forrest Carter1976
A boy is raised by his Cherokee grandparents in the Appalachian Mountains during the 1930s. They teach him about nature and self-reliance.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Susan Crandall2013
A nine-year-old girl runs away from her Mississippi home in 1963. She travels toward Nashville with a Black woman and a white baby.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
West with Giraffes
Lynda Rutledge2021
In 1938, a young man drives two giraffes across the United States in a custom truck. The story is told by the driver at age 105.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Jane Austen Society
Natalie Jenner2020
In post-WWII England, a group of villagers tries to save Jane Austen's former home. They bond over their shared grief and love for her novels.
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Silver Star
Jeannette Walls2013
Two sisters move to their uncle's decaying Virginia mansion after their mother leaves. They navigate 1970s small-town life and adult negligence.
warm → earnest, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- 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.
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- 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.
warm → propulsive, still historical fiction
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.
warm → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- 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.
warm → sardonic, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- 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.
warm → dreamlike
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Truly, Madly
Heather Webber2010
A woman with the psychic ability to find lost objects takes over her family's matchmaking business. She teams up with a cynical private investigator.
warm → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Pioneer Woman
Ree Drummond2011
A city woman moves to a remote cattle ranch after falling in love with a cowboy. She details her transition to country life and farm chores.
Same warm register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Going Cowboy Crazy
Katie Lane2011
A woman travels to a small Texas town to find her secret twin sister and is mistaken for her by the local residents and her sister's ex-flame.
warm → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Marrying Mr. Wrong
Claire Kingsley
Two rivals wake up married in Las Vegas and decide to stay together to help their respective careers.
warm → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Hot Number
Carly Phillips
A sports publicist undergoes a physical makeover to shed her tomboy image. She attempts to catch the attention of a professional ballplayer.
warm → playful
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.
warm → 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.
warm → 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.
warm → 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.
warm → 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.
warm → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- 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.
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong2019
A son writes a letter to his illiterate mother, recounting his family's history in Vietnam and his own experiences growing up in America.
warm → elegiac, still coming of age
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
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.
warm → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- 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.
warm → clinical
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
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.
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
Heavier
- 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.
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Betty
Tiffany McDaniel2020
A girl grows up in the foothills of the Appalachians in a family marked by poverty and secrets. She writes her stories to survive her reality.
warm → elegiac, still southern gothic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+2
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.
warm → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron1967
A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.
warm → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Known World
Edward P. Jones2003
A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.
warm → meditative, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
