The Paying Guests

A Blade of Grass

Lewis DeSoto2004

A white woman and her Black servant are left alone on a remote farm during the South African Border War. They must rely on each other to survive.

Same tense register, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·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.

tense → sardonic, still historical fiction

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

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.

tense → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

tense → dreamlike

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

Artemis

Andy Weir2017

A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.

tense → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

An Offer From a Gentleman

Julia Quinn2001

The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Rock Me

Cherrie Lynn2010

Candace visits her cousin's ex-boyfriend for a tattoo and begins a sexual relationship with him. The story focuses on their physical chemistry.

tense → tender, still forbidden love

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

tense → 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.

tense → propulsive

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

The Martian

Andy Weir2011

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

tense → wry

pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1

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.

tense → playful

pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

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.

tense → clinical

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Translated Accounts

James Kelman2001

Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

tense → bleak

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+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.

tense → meditative, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+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.

tense → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

Brotherless Night

V. V. Ganeshananthan2023

A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.

tense → elegiac, still historical fiction

pace0·prose0·bleak+2