After
The Snow Child
Eowyn Ivey2012
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose0bleak0
Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders2017
Abraham Lincoln visits his son's crypt in 1862. The story is told through a chorus of ghosts trapped in a transitional state between life and death.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
North Woods
Daniel Mason2023
The story of a single house in the Massachusetts woods told through the lives of its inhabitants over four hundred years.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Map of Salt and Stars
Zeyn Joukhadar2018
A Syrian girl flees modern civil war while her story mirrors a 12th-century mapmaker's apprentice. Both travel across North Africa.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Ironweed
William Kennedy1983
A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Beloved
Toni Morrison1987
A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
Denser prose
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Beloved
Toni Morrison1987
A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
elegiac → propulsive, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
elegiac → sardonic, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
elegiac → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
- pace0prose-2bleak-1
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
elegiac → earnest
pace0·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
While It Lasts
Abbi Glines2013
A college baseball player works on a farm over the summer to avoid jail after a DUI. He falls for a woman who is grieving her late fiancé.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Love Bites
Lynsay Sands2004
A vampire turns a coroner into an immortal to save her life after an accident. They navigate their new bond while being pursued by others.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Lost Lake
Sarah Addison Allen2014
A widow and her daughter travel to a family lakeside resort in Georgia to help her aunt prepare the property for sale.
elegiac → warm, still magical realism
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
elegiac → tense
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak0
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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
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.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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.
elegiac → playful
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
elegiac → clinical
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
elegiac → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Ironweed
William Kennedy1983
A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry1995
Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron1967
A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
