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Harlem Shuffle

Colson Whitehead2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Transcription

    Kate Atkinson2018

    A woman's quiet life at the BBC is interrupted by figures from her past work transcribing bugged conversations for MI5.

    Same wry register, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Niccolò Rising

    Dorothy Dunnett1986

    A dyer’s apprentice in 15th-century Bruges uses his intellect to navigate the world of international trade. He builds a mercantile empire.

    Same wry register, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

  • Trainspotting

    Irvine Welsh1993

    A group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh navigate poverty, violence, and withdrawal. The narrative uses heavy phonetic Scottish dialect.

    wry → sardonic, still noir

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    wry → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • An Offer From a Gentleman

    Julia Quinn2001

    The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.

    wry → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Rich People Problems

    Kevin Kwan2017

    An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.

    wry → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Royal Dad

    Leanne Banks2001

    An American tutor travels to a foreign kingdom to teach a young prince and enters a romantic relationship with his widowed father.

    wry → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

wry → propulsive

3 more ↓

  • Behind Closed Doors

    B.A. Paris2016

    A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • Kiss the Girls

    James Patterson1995

    Detective Alex Cross tracks two serial killers operating on opposite coasts who are communicating and competing with one another.

    wry → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • Verity

    Colleen Hoover2018

    A ghostwriter moves into a secluded estate to finish a series for an injured author and finds a hidden, disturbing autobiography.

    wry → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • Dhalgren

    Samuel R. Delany1975

    An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

    wry → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas R. Hofstadter1979

    An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.

    wry → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Killer Inside Me

    Jim Thompson1952

    A small-town Texas deputy maintains a boring public persona to hide his identity as a serial killer. He describes his crimes in a flat, cold voice.

    wry → cold, still noir

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2

  • Shutter Island

    Dennis Lehane2003

    wry → tense, still noir

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Vindens son

    Henning Mankell2000

    A Swedish entomologist adopts a San orphan in South Africa and brings him to 1870s Sweden. The boy struggles to survive in a cold, alien culture.

    wry → bleak, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2