After
Someday, Someday, Maybe
Lauren Graham2013
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Rich People Problems
Kevin Kwan2017
An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.
Same playful register, still contemporary
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Identicals
Elin Hilderbrand2017
Estranged identical twin sisters swap lives on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard to handle a family crisis and repair their relationship.
playful → warm, still contemporary
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
Kelly Harms2019
An overworked single mother takes a summer break in New York City for a makeover and a dating life. She rediscovers her identity apart from her kids.
Same playful register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Good Material
Dolly Alderton2024
A struggling stand-up comedian tries to understand why his long-term girlfriend broke up with him. He stalks her social media and moves into a van.
playful → wry, still contemporary
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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The Guncle
Steven Rowley2021
A former sitcom star takes in his niece and nephew for the summer after a family tragedy, navigating grief through humor and palm springs life.
playful → warm, still contemporary
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
Same playful register
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+3bleak+2
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.
playful → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+3bleak+3
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.
playful → sardonic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+3bleak+2
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.
playful → sardonic
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace0prose+3bleak+3
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.
playful → propulsive
pace0·prose+3·bleak+3
Faster
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
playful → tense
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+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.
playful → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
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.
Same playful register
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
- pace+1prose0bleak0
'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics
Gavin Edwards1995
A collection of hundreds of misheard song lyrics organized by category. Each entry lists the real lyric alongside the humorous mistake.
Same playful register, still humor
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Slower
- pace-2prose+3bleak+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.
Same playful register
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+3bleak+3
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
playful → elegiac
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+3bleak+2
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.
playful → clinical
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+3bleak+3
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
playful → bleak
pace-2·prose+3·bleak+3
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
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.
playful → elegiac
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
Heavier
- pace-1prose+2bleak+3
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.
playful → bleak, still contemporary
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+3bleak+3
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.
playful → bleak
pace-1·prose+3·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+3
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
playful → bleak
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose+2bleak+3
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.
playful → sardonic
pace0·prose+2·bleak+3
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut1969
Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, experiencing his life out of order, from his chaplaincy in WWII to his abduction by aliens.
playful → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
