After
Maine
J. Courtney Sullivan2011
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Northern Clemency
Philip Hensher2008
Two families in Sheffield live through twenty years of social change, including the 1984 miners' strike. It is a detailed domestic chronicle.
Same wry register, still family saga
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Ask Again, Yes
Mary Beth Keane2019
Two neighboring families in the New York suburbs are linked by a violent incident. The story follows the children over forty years.
wry → tender, still family saga
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Burgess Boys
Elizabeth Strout2013
Two brothers return to their Maine hometown after their nephew commits a hate crime. They confront a shared childhood trauma involving their father.
Same wry register, still family saga
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
We Are Water
Wally Lamb2013
A family in Connecticut reacts to the mother's sudden divorce and her upcoming marriage to a female art dealer. Multiple perspectives are used.
wry → earnest, still family saga
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Clear Light of Day
Anita Desai1980
Adult siblings reunite in their childhood home in Old Delhi. They navigate long-held resentments and memories of the Partition of India.
wry → elegiac, still family saga
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
wry → sardonic
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner1915
The Bundren family travels by wagon to bury their matriarch. Fifteen different narrators describe the journey as the corpse decomposes.
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+2bleak+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.
wry → propulsive
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
wry → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
wry → dreamlike
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Tangled Up In You
Rachel Gibson2007
A woman returns to her hometown to investigate a family scandal. She falls for the son of the man who caused her family's ruin.
wry → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The McCaffertys
Lisa Jackson2000
An investigator is hired to protect a woman and her secret child. He attempts to uncover her past while guarding her from unknown threats.
wry → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Secrets
Fern Michaels2022
Siblings who restore antiques find a locked diary and a carnival flyer in a mysterious steamer chest. They work to find the owner.
wry → warm
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
The Wedding
Danielle Steel2000
A career-focused woman plans her wedding while her parents and siblings navigate their own romantic crises.
wry → warm, still family saga
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
A Veiled Deception
Annette Blair2009
A vintage shop owner investigates a murder during her sister's wedding preparations to clear her family's name.
wry → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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.
wry → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose0bleak+1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
wry → tense
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose0bleak0
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.
wry → sardonic
pace+2·prose0·bleak0
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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.
wry → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
Same wry register
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
wry → elegiac, still family saga
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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.
wry → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
wry → elegiac
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
wry → clinical
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
wry → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
Heavier
wry → bleak, still family saga
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Lives of Others
Neel Mukherjee2014
A multi-generational family in 1960s Calcutta disintegrates while one grandson joins a violent Maoist insurgency. It tracks the family's collapse.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
wry → bleak
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+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.
wry → bleak
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+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.
wry → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
