The Map of Salt and Stars

North Woods

Daniel Mason2023

The story of a single house in the Massachusetts woods told through the lives of its inhabitants over four hundred years.

pace0·prose0·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.

elegiac → propulsive, still historical fiction

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1

Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

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

pace-1·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.

elegiac → sardonic, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak0

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.

elegiac → warm

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

elegiac → warm

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

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.

elegiac → warm

pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

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+2·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.

elegiac → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

elegiac → wry

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-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.

pace-1·prose0·bleak0

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

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Lila

Marilynne Robinson2014

A woman with a traumatic, nomadic past settles in a small Iowa town and marries a minister. She struggles to reconcile her history with his faith.

elegiac → tender, still historical fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

A Fine Balance

Rohinton Mistry1995

Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.

elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

The Confessions of Nat Turner

William Styron1967

A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.

elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

The Known World

Edward P. Jones2003

A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.

elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+1