The Paris Wife

Fire from Heaven

Mary Renault1969

The story follows Alexander the Great from childhood to age twenty, focusing on his relationship with his parents and Hephaistion.

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.

Same elegiac register, still historical fiction

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

Vampires Are Forever

Lynsay Sands2008

A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

The Mane Event

Shelly Laurenston2007

A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

This Girl

Colleen Hoover2013

A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

elegiac → earnest

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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

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The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

elegiac → wry

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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

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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

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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

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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

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·prose0·bleak+1