The Public Image

Fleishman Is in Trouble

Taffy Brodesser-Akner2019

A recently divorced doctor navigates dating apps while his ex-wife disappears, leaving him with the children. The perspective shifts halfway.

pace0·prose0·bleak0

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.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace-1·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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Don Quixote

Kathy Acker1986

A woman undergoes an abortion and adopts the persona of Don Quixote to pursue a quest in a fragmented, postmodern landscape.

Same sardonic register

pace-1·prose+1·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.

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Redshirts

John Scalzi2012

Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

sardonic → playful, still satire

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Mile High

Liz Tomforde2023

A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.

pace0·prose-2·bleak-1

Get Jiro!

Anthony Bourdain2012

In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Child 44

Tom Rob Smith2008

A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

sardonic → tense

pace+1·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.

sardonic → propulsive

pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

The Wilderness

Samantha Harvey2009

An architect with Alzheimer's attempts to reconstruct his life story. The narrative fragments as his memory and sense of time dissolve.

sardonic → elegiac, still psychological fiction

pace-2·prose0·bleak+1

Study for Obedience

Sarah Bernstein2023

A woman moves to a remote northern country to care for her brother. The local community grows hostile as she observes them.

sardonic → cold, still psychological fiction

pace-2·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.

sardonic → playful

pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

The Lighthouse

Alison Moore2012

A recently separated man takes a walking tour of Germany while reflecting on his childhood abandonment and his failing marriage.

sardonic → bleak, still psychological fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut1969

Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, experiencing his life out of order, from his chaplaincy in WWII to his abduction by aliens.

Same sardonic register, still satire

pace0·prose-1·bleak+2

The White Hotel

D. M. Thomas1981

A woman's life is told through poems, a Freudian case study, and a narrative. It moves from her sexual fantasies to her death in the Holocaust.

sardonic → dreamlike, still psychological fiction

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2