After
The Other Side of the Bridge
Mary Lawson2006
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro1989
An elderly butler takes a motoring trip through the English countryside while reflecting on his service to a disgraced lord before World War II.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Story of Beautiful Girl
Rachel Simon2011
Two disabled lovers escape an institution in 1968 and leave their newborn with a widow. The story follows their separation over four decades.
elegiac → earnest, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Amongst Women
John McGahern1990
An aging IRA veteran rules his family with a mix of love and tyranny on an Irish farm. His daughters remain bound to him despite his temper.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Perfume Collector
Kathleen Tessaro2013
A 1950s socialite inherits an estate from a stranger and travels to Paris to investigate. The story alternates with the benefactor's past.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
An American Marriage
Tayari Jones2018
A young black couple's marriage is dismantled when the husband is wrongfully convicted of rape and sent to prison for twelve years.
Same elegiac register, still domestic fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+2bleak+2
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+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak+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+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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+2·bleak0
- pace0prose+2bleak+1
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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Fifty Shades Freed
E.L. James2011
The final entry in a trilogy following a newly married couple as they navigate their erotic life and a threat from the past.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Frigid
J. Lynn2013
Two college best friends get snowed in at a ski resort. They must confront their attraction while sharing a single bed.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
RoomHate
Penelope Ward2016
A woman returns to her childhood home and must share it with her former best friend. They navigate past betrayals and current attraction.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Royally Screwed
Emma Chase2016
A crown prince visiting Manhattan pursues a bakery worker who threw a pie at him. The story follows their class-clash courtship.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose0bleak+1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
elegiac → tense
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose0bleak0
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·prose0·bleak0
- pace+2prose-1bleak-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-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
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+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
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·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak0
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+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
elegiac → clinical
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+2bleak+2
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
elegiac → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
Heavier
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
- pace0prose0bleak+2
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.
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
Rabbit at Rest
John Updike1990
An aging man faces his failing health and family crises in Florida. The prose focuses on the physical decline and internal thoughts of Harry Angstrom.
Same elegiac register, still domestic fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
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·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
A Long Long Way
Sebastian Barry2005
A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
