After
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong2019
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing slower
More like it
Same elegiac register, still coming of age
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The Orchard on Fire
Shena Mackay1995
An eight-year-old girl grows up in a 1950s English village. She experiences the casual cruelty of adults and the loss of childhood innocence.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak-1
The Bay of Noon
Shirley Hazzard1970
A young Englishwoman works for NATO in post-war Naples. She navigates a complex social circle and a love triangle while observing the city.
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Housekeeping
Marilynne Robinson1980
Two sisters grow up in an isolated Idaho town under the care of their transient aunt. The prose focuses on memory and the nature of loss.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak-1
Ordinary Wolves
Seth Kantner2004
A white boy grows up in a sod igloo in the Alaskan wilderness. He struggles to find a place between Inupiaq culture and the modern world.
pace+1·prose0·bleak-1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Crossing the River
Caryl Phillips1993
Four interconnected narratives follow the descendants of three children sold into slavery across different centuries and continents.
Same elegiac register, still epistolary
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+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
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
Don Quixote
Kathy Acker1986
A woman undergoes an abortion and adopts the persona of Don Quixote to pursue a quest in a fragmented, postmodern landscape.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+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
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak0
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
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Manning Brides
Debbie Macomber2008
Two brothers navigate unconventional paths to marriage. One enters a marriage of convenience for a child, while the other finds love after loss.
elegiac → warm
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Takeover
T.L. Swan
A billionaire attempts to acquire a widow's family company but ends up moving into her home. It follows their power struggle and her three sons.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-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+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
On Dublin Street
Samantha Young2012
An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.
elegiac → warm
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Everything Beautiful in Its Time
Jenna Bush Hager2020
The author reflects on the lives and deaths of her grandparents, including a former President and First Lady. It is a series of personal essays.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+3prose-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+3·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-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+3·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-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+3·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-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+3·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-2bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry, still epistolary
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart2020
A young boy grows up in 1980s Glasgow public housing. He tries to support his mother as she struggles with severe alcoholism and poverty.
elegiac → bleak, still coming of age
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Betty
Tiffany McDaniel2020
A girl grows up in the foothills of the Appalachians in a family marked by poverty and secrets. She writes her stories to survive her reality.
Same elegiac register, still coming of age
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
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.
elegiac → bleak
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose0bleak+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
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+2prose0bleak+1
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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
