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After

The Riders

Tim Winton1994

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Lolita

    Vladimir Nabokov

    A middle-aged professor documents his obsession with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter. He uses complex prose to justify his crimes.

    Same tense register, still literary fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Moby Dick

    Herman Melville1851

    A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.

    tense → meditative, still literary fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • To the Lighthouse

    Virginia Woolf1927

    A family and their guests visit a house in the Hebrides. The narrative follows their internal thoughts over two days separated by ten years.

    tense → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Sea

    John Banville2005

    A widower returns to a coastal resort to reflect on a childhood summer and his wife's death. The narrator's memory is fluid and dense.

    tense → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Score

    Elle Kennedy2016

    A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Walking Disaster

    Jamie McGuire2013

    This novel retells the events of 'Beautiful Disaster' from the perspective of Travis Maddox. It follows his college years and obsession with Abby.

    tense → propulsive

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

  • This Man

    Jodi Ellen Malpas2013

    An interior designer begins an affair with a wealthy client who demands total control over her life and schedule.

    Same tense register

    pace0·prose-2·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2

  • Behind Closed Doors

    B.A. Paris2016

    A woman is held captive by her husband in a high-security home. She must find a way to escape before her sister moves in with them.

    tense → propulsive, still psychological thriller

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

  • Along Came a Spider

    James Patterson1993

    Detective Alex Cross hunts a private school teacher who kidnapped two high-profile students. The kidnapper mimics famous historical crimes.

    tense → propulsive, still psychological thriller

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    tense → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak0

  • Moby Dick

    Herman Melville1851

    A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.

    tense → meditative, still literary fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

  • To the Lighthouse

    Virginia Woolf1927

    A family and their guests visit a house in the Hebrides. The narrative follows their internal thoughts over two days separated by ten years.

    tense → elegiac, still literary fiction

    pace-2·prose+1·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The story of a brief marriage

    Anuk Arudpragasam2016

    Two refugees enter an arranged marriage in a Sri Lankan camp during the final days of the civil war. It focuses on the physical details of survival.

    tense → meditative, still literary fiction

    pace-2·prose0·bleak+1

  • A Distant Shore

    Caryl Phillips2003

    A retired teacher and an African refugee form a quiet bond in a xenophobic English village. Their past traumas emerge through alternating stories.

    tense → bleak, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1

  • A Little Life

    Hanya Yanagihara2015

    Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.

    tense → bleak, still literary fiction

    pace-1·prose0·bleak+1