After
Music of the ghosts
Vaddey Ratner2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
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Atonement
Ian McEwan2001
A young girl misinterprets an event in 1935, leading to a false accusation. The story follows the consequences across WWII and into the present.
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Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie2006
Three characters navigate the Nigerian Civil War and the short-lived republic of Biafra. The story follows a houseboy, a twin, and an expatriate.
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The Hours
Michael Cunningham1998
Three generations of women, including Virginia Woolf, are linked across time by the novel Mrs. Dalloway and their experiences with suicide.
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The Line of Beauty
Alan Hollinghurst2004
A young man moves into the home of a Conservative MP in 1980s London. He pursues aesthetics and romance while the AIDS crisis begins to emerge.
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1 more ↓ ↑
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The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver1998
An evangelical family moves from Georgia to the Belgian Congo in 1959. Five female narrators track their physical and mental decline over 30 years.
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Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
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.
elegiac → propulsive, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
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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, still literary fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
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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.
elegiac → sardonic, still historical fiction
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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
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To recover
- pace0prose-2bleak-2
Sweet Tea at Sunrise
Sherryl Woods2010
A single mother returns to her small South Carolina hometown to start over and is recruited by a man opening a new radio station.
elegiac → warm
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
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You Can Heal Your Life
Louise L. Hay1984
The author argues that physical illness is caused by mental patterns and provides affirmations to change one's internal dialogue.
elegiac → warm
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- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
The Duke and I
Julia Quinn2000
A duke and a debutante enter a fake courtship to avoid social pressure. They navigate Regency London's marriage market while hiding their deal.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
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Hot on her heels
Susan Mallery2009
A female deputy protects her friends from a man seeking revenge on their father. The two antagonists find themselves physically attracted.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-1bleak0
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-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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-2·bleak-2
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The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
Slower
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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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-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, still literary fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Lila
Marilynne Robinson2014
A woman with a traumatic, nomadic past settles in a small Iowa town and marries a minister. She struggles to reconcile her history with his faith.
elegiac → tender, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak0
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.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison1970
A young Black girl in 1940s Ohio prays for blue eyes as a way to escape her reality. The narrative follows her family's collapse and trauma.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
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3 more ↓ ↑
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The Prophets
Robert Jones Jr.2021
Two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation find refuge in their love for each other. Their relationship is threatened by a betrayal.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Deposition of Father McGreevy
Brian O'Doherty2000
A priest recounts the physical and moral decline of an isolated Irish village during a harsh winter in the 1940s.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose-1bleak+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-1·bleak+1
