LitQueuelitqueue

After

The blondes

Emily Schultz2013

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

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  • Days

    James Lovegrove1997

    In a world where every day is a corporate-sponsored holiday, two 'Gigante' store detectives investigate a series of incidents.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Blood on the dining-room floor

    Gertrude Stein1948

    A repetitive, circular narrative about a death in a country house. It uses experimental prose to obscure the facts of a traditional mystery.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • The Doves Necklace

    Raja Alem2014

    A detective investigates an unidentified woman's body found in a Mecca alleyway. The city itself narrates parts of the story.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • American Psycho

    Bret Easton Ellis1991

    A wealthy investment banker details his daily routines, consumer habits, and graphic murders. The narrative is cold and repetitive.

    sardonic → cold, still satire

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Smokin' Seventeen

    Janet Evanovich2011

    A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

    A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

    sardonic → wry

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Love on the Brain

    Ali Hazelwood2022

    A neuroscientist must co-lead a NASA project with a man she believes has hated her since grad school.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Get Jiro!

    Anthony Bourdain2012

    In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • 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+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Housemaid's Secret

    Freida McFadden2023

    A housemaid with a criminal record takes a job for a wealthy couple. She becomes obsessed with the wife she is forbidden from seeing.

    sardonic → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Dhalgren

    Samuel R. Delany1975

    An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

    sardonic → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas R. Hofstadter1979

    An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • 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.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Lord of the Flies

    William Golding1954

    Schoolboys are stranded on an island and try to organize a society. Order collapses into tribalism and violence.

    sardonic → tense, still dystopian

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Not Forever, But For Now

    Chuck Palahniuk2023

    Two brothers from a wealthy family of professional assassins spend their time watching nature documentaries and killing people.

    Same sardonic register, still satire

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • The Walking Dead

    Robert Kirkman2014

    Survivors in a zombie-infested Georgia engage in a final, violent siege against a tyrannical leader. The focus is on the collapse of a community.

    sardonic → bleak, still horror

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1