The Restraint of Beasts

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.

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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.

sardonic → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

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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.

sardonic → propulsive

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The Sound and the Fury

William Faulkner1929

The decline of a Southern family told through four perspectives, including a non-linear stream of consciousness from a man with a disability.

sardonic → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

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A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole1980

An eccentric, misanthropic man living with his mother in New Orleans is forced to find a job. He encounters various local subcultures.

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Spondulix: A Romance of Hoboken

Paul Di Filippo2003

A sandwich shop owner in Hoboken deals with a local currency scheme and strange occurrences. It is a satirical look at urban life.

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Rich People Problems

Kevin Kwan2017

An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.

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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

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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

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Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

David Wong2015

A young woman inherits her estranged father's criminal empire in a lawless future city. She must survive assassins using high-tech gadgets.

Same sardonic register, still satire

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Absalom, Absalom!

William Faulkner1936

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

sardonic → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+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.

sardonic → 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.

sardonic → bleak

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The Road

Cormac McCarthy2006

A father and son walk through a landscape of ash and scavengers toward the coast. They carry only what fits in a shopping cart.

sardonic → bleak

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The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead2016

Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.

sardonic → bleak

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Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood2003

A man survives a genetic apocalypse in a world of engineered creatures. He remembers his past with a scientist and the woman they both loved.

Same sardonic register

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