Kane and Abel

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

Crystal Smith Paul2023

A young Black woman discovers that her late grandmother, a famous white Hollywood icon, was actually passing for white.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

The Wake

Paul Kingsnorth2014

A landowner in 1066 leads a guerrilla resistance against Norman invaders. The story is written in a modified version of Old English.

earnest → bleak, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

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.

earnest → sardonic, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

Beloved

Toni Morrison1987

A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.

earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

The Love Hypothesis

Ali Hazelwood2021

A biology PhD candidate enters a fake relationship with a young professor to satisfy a friend. They navigate academic politics and attraction.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Beautiful Bastard

Christina Lauren2013

An MBA intern and her demanding media executive boss engage in a series of sexual encounters while competing at work. It is an erotic romance.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

The Hating Game

Sally Thorne2016

Two executive assistants at a publishing house compete for a single promotion through a series of psychological games and mutual sabotage.

earnest → playful

pace0·prose-1·bleak-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.

earnest → sardonic

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

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.

earnest → propulsive

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

earnest → wry

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.

pace-2·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.

earnest → playful

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

earnest → clinical

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

The Known World

Edward P. Jones2003

A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.

earnest → meditative, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

A Long Long Way

Sebastian Barry2005

A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.

earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Brotherless Night

V. V. Ganeshananthan2023

A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.

earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2