After
Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton1910
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Elected Member
Bernice Rubens1969
A brilliant barrister in a Jewish family descends into drug addiction and hallucinations. His family struggles with his decline and guilt.
Same bleak register, still tragedy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
I'll Go to Bed at Noon
Gerard Woodward2004
The Jones family spends a decade succumbing to alcoholism. The book tracks their physical and social disintegration in 1970s Britain.
Same bleak register, still domestic fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Rabbit at Rest
John Updike1990
An aging man faces his failing health and family crises in Florida. The prose focuses on the physical decline and internal thoughts of Harry Angstrom.
bleak → elegiac, still domestic fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
American Pastoral
Philip Roth1997
A successful businessman's life collapses when his daughter commits a political bombing in the 1960s. It tracks the decay of his family and ideals.
bleak → elegiac, still tragedy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
Same bleak register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak-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.
bleak → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
bleak → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner1929
The decline of a Southern family told through four perspectives, including a non-linear stream of consciousness from a man with a disability.
bleak → elegiac
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak-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.
bleak → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
On a Pale Horse
Piers Anthony1983
After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.
bleak → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
RoomHate
Penelope Ward2016
A woman returns to her childhood home and must share it with her former best friend. They navigate past betrayals and current attraction.
bleak → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Royally Screwed
Emma Chase2016
A crown prince visiting Manhattan pursues a bakery worker who threw a pie at him. The story follows their class-clash courtship.
bleak → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace0prose-2bleak-3
The Princess
Lori Wick2006
In the fictional land of Pendaran, a prince enters an arranged marriage with a commoner who must learn the ways of the royal court.
bleak → warm
pace0·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
bleak → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
bleak → tense
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
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.
bleak → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
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.
bleak → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
bleak → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
bleak → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
bleak → elegiac
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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.
bleak → clinical
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
Same bleak register
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak-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.
bleak → elegiac
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
