After
Let Us Descend
Jesmyn Ward2023
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
The Map of Salt and Stars
Zeyn Joukhadar2018
A Syrian girl flees modern civil war while her story mirrors a 12th-century mapmaker's apprentice. Both travel across North Africa.
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders2017
Abraham Lincoln visits his son's crypt in 1862. The story is told through a chorus of ghosts trapped in a transitional state between life and death.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
The Snow Child
Eowyn Ivey2012
An aging couple in 1920s Alaska builds a child out of snow who appears to come to life. The story blends homesteading with folklore.
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Ironweed
William Kennedy1983
A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace0prose-2bleak-2
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer2008
A London writer exchanges letters with residents of Guernsey after WWII. The story is told entirely through their correspondence.
elegiac → warm, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace0prose-3bleak-2
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
elegiac → earnest
pace0·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
To Sir Phillip, With Love
Julia Quinn2003
Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace0prose-3bleak-2
All Rhodes Lead Here
Mariana Zapata2021
A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.
elegiac → warm
pace0·prose-3·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
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+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
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+2·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
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+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
Slower
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose-1bleak0
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-1·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak0
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.
elegiac → clinical
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
elegiac → bleak
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace+1prose-1bleak+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.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Ironweed
William Kennedy1983
A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-2bleak+1
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry1995
Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron1967
A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+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.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
