After
Ducks, Newburyport
Lucy Ellmann2019
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing denser, nothing slower
More like it
Same meditative register
- pace0prose0bleak0
Moby Dick
Herman Melville1851
A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Fable
William Faulkner1954
During WWI, a French corporal leads a mutiny that halts the fighting. The narrative mirrors the events of the Passion of Christ.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann2019
A man visits a Swiss sanatorium for three weeks and stays for seven years. The narrative focuses on philosophical debates among the patients.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Tinkers
Paul Harding2009
An elderly clock repairman lies dying while his thoughts drift through his father's life as a peddler. The prose focuses on nature and mechanics.
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
In Search of Lost Time
Marcel Proust2001
A narrator examines his life through involuntary memories triggered by sensory experiences. It spans seven volumes of social observation.
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Sophie Kinsella2001
A financial journalist hides her mounting debt while continuing to shop compulsively. She eventually writes a career-defining expose.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Untamed
Glennon Doyle2020
A woman recounts leaving her marriage and rebuilding her life after falling in love with another woman. It is a series of personal manifestos.
meditative → earnest
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
Kelly Harms2019
An overworked single mother takes a summer break in New York City for a makeover and a dating life. She rediscovers her identity apart from her kids.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
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.
meditative → playful
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
meditative → tense
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-2bleak-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.
meditative → sardonic
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
Heavier
meditative → bleak
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Road
Cormac McCarthy2006
A father and son walk through a landscape of ash and scavengers toward the coast. They carry only what fits in a shopping cart.
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood2003
A man survives a genetic apocalypse in a world of engineered creatures. He remembers his past with a scientist and the woman they both loved.
meditative → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara2015
Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-2bleak+1
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut1969
Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, experiencing his life out of order, from his chaplaincy in WWII to his abduction by aliens.
meditative → sardonic
pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1
