After
Grapes of wrath
Boyd Cable1917
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing slower
More like it
Same elegiac register
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Waters of Kronos
Conrad Richter1960
An elderly man travels back in time to his childhood Pennsylvania town, which in his present day is submerged beneath a reservoir.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
History of the Rain
Niall Williams2014
A bedridden girl in Ireland tells the story of her family and her father's obsession with finding a specific book. It is a history of a lineage.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
My Brilliant Friend
Chiara Lagani2023
A graphic novel adaptation of Elena Ferrante's story about two girls growing up in a poor neighborhood in 1950s Naples.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Withered Hill
David Barnett2024
A woman moves to a remote village in Lancashire to escape her past. She observes the local customs and the isolation of the rural landscape.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose+1bleak+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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
Same elegiac register
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-2bleak-1
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+3prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-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.
elegiac → tense
pace+3·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-1bleak0
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+3·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
Heavier
elegiac → bleak
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+2prose0bleak+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.
pace+2·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose0bleak+2
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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
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·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+2prose-1bleak+2
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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+2
