LitQueuelitqueue

After

In the Fold

Rachel Cusk2005

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Butcher's Crossing

    John Williams1960

    A Harvard dropout joins a buffalo hunting expedition in the 1870s. The story follows the physical labor and systematic slaughter of the herd.

    Same cold register

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

cold → sardonic

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    cold → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak-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.

    cold → dreamlike

    pace0·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.

    cold → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Eligible

    Curtis Sittenfeld2016

    A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in Cincinnati. The characters deal with reality TV, CrossFit, and contemporary social hierarchies.

    cold → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank

    Erma Bombeck1976

    A collection of essays observing the daily frustrations and domestic absurdities of suburban family life in the 1970s.

    cold → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → sardonic

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak-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.

    cold → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    cold → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → clinical

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    cold → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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.

    cold → elegiac

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    cold → bleak, still domestic fiction

    pace0·prose0·bleak+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.

    cold → bleak

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+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.

    cold → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+1