After
Suttree
Cormac McCarthy1979
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing denser, nothing slower
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak0
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.
Same sardonic register, still literary fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Pale King
David Foster Wallace2011
An unfinished, experimental novel about the mundane daily operations of an IRS processing center in 1985 Illinois.
Same sardonic register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
Notes from the Underground
Fyodor Doestoyevsky2007
A bitter, isolated retired civil servant delivers a rambling monologue from his basement. He dissects his own spite and social failures.
Same sardonic register, still literary fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Moby Dick
Herman Melville1851
A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.
sardonic → meditative, still literary fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
Jean Stafford1969
Short stories focusing on the internal lives of isolated women and children in the mid-20th century American West and New York.
Same sardonic register, still literary fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
To recover
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
On a Pale Horse
Piers Anthony1983
After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.
sardonic → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom1994
A journalist reconnects with his dying college professor for weekly lessons on life. They discuss aging, regret, and love as the professor declines.
sardonic → tender
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
The Last Question
Isaac Asimov2007
A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.
sardonic → meditative
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
sardonic → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-3bleak-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.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+3·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.
sardonic → playful
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- 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.
sardonic → tense
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- 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.
Same sardonic register
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-3bleak-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.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
sardonic → wry
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → meditative, 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → elegiac, still literary fiction
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
