LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Book of Form and Emptiness

Ruth Ozeki2021

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Red at the Bone

    Jacqueline Woodson2019

    The story of two Black families in Brooklyn across three generations. It centers on a teenage pregnancy and its long-term effects on the lineage.

    Same tender register, still coming of age

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Book of Doors

    David Ralph Williams2017

    tender → elegiac, still magical realism

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tender → sardonic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+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.

    tender → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • To Sir Phillip, With Love

    Julia Quinn2003

    Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.

    tender → warm

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • All Rhodes Lead Here

    Mariana Zapata2021

    A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.

    tender → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Hannah's List

    Debbie Macomber2010

    A widower receives a letter from his late wife suggesting three women he should date. He begins to interact with each woman over the following year.

    tender → warm

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tender → sardonic

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

  • 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.

    tender → propulsive

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

  • The Martian

    Andy Weir2011

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

    tender → wry

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    tender → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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.

    tender → clinical

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • My Brilliant Friend

    Chiara Lagani2023

    A graphic novel adaptation of Elena Ferrante's story about two girls growing up in a poor neighborhood in 1950s Naples.

    tender → elegiac, still literary

    pace-1·prose0·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Underground Railroad

    Colson Whitehead2016

    Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.

    tender → bleak, still magical realism

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2

  • Ironweed

    William Kennedy1983

    A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.

    tender → elegiac, still magical realism

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2

  • The Summer that Melted Everything

    Tiffany McDaniel2016

    A boy claiming to be the devil arrives in a small Ohio town during a 1984 heatwave. His presence triggers a series of local tragedies.

    tender → elegiac, still magical realism

    pace0·prose0·bleak+2