LitQueuelitqueue

After

The Sins of the Father

Jeffrey Archer2012

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

Same earnest register, still historical fiction

1 more ↓

  • Summer of '69

    Elin Hilderbrand2019

    Four siblings and their mother navigate the summer of 1969 across Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Vietnam.

    earnest → warm, still historical fiction

    pace0·prose+1·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → sardonic, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+3·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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    earnest → dreamlike

    pace-1·prose+3·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Don't Want You Like a Best Friend

    Emma R. Alban2024

    Two Victorian debutantes attempt to matchmake their widowed parents while falling in love with each other.

    earnest → playful

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • When a Duke Loves a Woman

    Lorraine Heath2018

    A tavern owner rescues an injured duke from an alleyway in Victorian London. She nurses him to health while navigating their class differences.

    earnest → tender

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

  • Malibu Rising

    Taylor Jenkins Reid2021

    Four famous siblings host a massive 1983 house party that ends with their mansion in flames. The story explores their family history over one day.

    earnest → warm, still family saga

    pace0·prose+1·bleak-1

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.

    earnest → playful

    pace+1·prose0·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.

    earnest → propulsive

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • Project Hail Mary

    Andy Weir2021

    A man wakes up on a spaceship with amnesia and two dead crewmates. He must use scientific experiments to remember his mission and save the sun.

    earnest → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak-1

Slower

earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → playful

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    earnest → clinical

    pace-2·prose+3·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.

    earnest → bleak

    pace-2·prose+3·bleak+2

Heavier

earnest → bleak, still historical fiction

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    earnest → meditative, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·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.

    earnest → elegiac, still historical fiction

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2