After
Moby Dick
Herman Melville1851
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing denser, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Orbital
Samantha Harvey2024
Six astronauts orbit Earth over twenty-four hours. The narrative focuses on their routine tasks and observations of the planet below.
Same meditative register, still literary fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Rhine Journey
Ann Schlee1981
A middle-aged woman travels by steamer down the Rhine in 1851. She observes her family and internalizes a chance encounter with a man from her past.
Same meditative register, still literary fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Fable
William Faulkner1954
During WWI, a French corporal leads a mutiny that halts the fighting. The narrative mirrors the events of the Passion of Christ.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The story of a brief marriage
Anuk Arudpragasam2016
Two refugees enter an arranged marriage in a Sri Lankan camp during the final days of the civil war. It focuses on the physical details of survival.
Same meditative register, still literary fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Ducks, Newburyport
Lucy Ellmann2019
An Ohio mother’s thoughts flow in a nearly continuous 1,000-page sentence. She reflects on her life, her children, and the state of the world.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
To recover
meditative → propulsive
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown2009
Symbologist Robert Langdon follows a trail of Masonic puzzles through Washington D.C. monuments to save his kidnapped mentor.
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Walking Disaster
Jamie McGuire2013
This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
This Man
Jodi Ellen Malpas2013
An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.
meditative → tense
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline2008
A teenager in a dystopian future hunts for a digital easter egg inside a massive simulation. The quest relies on 1980s pop culture trivia.
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Real Murders
Charlaine Harris1990
A librarian in a small Georgia town belongs to a club that studies famous crimes. A real murder occurs that mimics a historical case.
meditative → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+3prose-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.
meditative → playful
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
Medusa
Clive Cussler2009
The NUMA team investigates a missing undersea lab and a bathysphere attack. They uncover a corporate plot involving a deadly virus and jellyfish.
meditative → propulsive, still adventure
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
meditative → tense
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-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.
meditative → sardonic
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-3bleak-1
The Jester
James Patterson2003
A man returns from the Crusades to find his village destroyed and his wife abducted. He assumes a new identity to hunt the killers.
meditative → propulsive, still adventure
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
Girls Burn Brighter
Shobha Rao2018
Two girls in India are separated by a brutal act of violence. They endure trafficking and labor across continents to find each other.
meditative → bleak, still literary fiction
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The story of a brief marriage
Anuk Arudpragasam2016
Two refugees enter an arranged marriage in a Sri Lankan camp during the final days of the civil war. It focuses on the physical details of survival.
Same meditative register, still literary fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
A Distant Shore
Caryl Phillips2003
A retired teacher and an African refugee form a quiet bond in a xenophobic English village. Their past traumas emerge through alternating stories.
meditative → bleak, still literary fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara2015
Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.
meditative → bleak, still literary fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead2019
A studious black teenager in 1960s Florida is sent to a brutal reform school where physical abuse is systemic.
meditative → elegiac, still literary fiction
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
