The Sound of Glass

Normal People

Sally Rooney2018

Two teenagers from different social classes in a small Irish town move in and out of each other's lives through their university years.

Same tender register

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.

tender → sardonic

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

tender → propulsive

pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2

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.

tender → dreamlike

pace0·prose+2·bleak+1

The Takeover

T.L. Swan

A billionaire attempts to acquire a widow's family company but ends up moving into her home. It follows their power struggle and her three sons.

tender → playful, still contemporary romance

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Angel's Peak

Robyn Carr2010

A woman encounters her ex-boyfriend four years after their breakup. She must decide when to tell him they have a three-year-old daughter.

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Truly Mine

Kennedy Fox2019

Two former lovers reunite years later. One discovers the other has been raising the child they didn't know existed.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

The Professional: Part 2 (The Game Maker, #1b)

Kresley Cole

A Russian enforcer continues his pursuit of a graduate student across Europe. The focus is on their sexual power dynamic and his mafia duties.

tender → tense, still contemporary romance

pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1

Victory at Prescott High

C.M. Stunich

A high school girl seeks revenge against the boys who bullied her while navigating a complex relationship with all of them at once.

tender → propulsive, still contemporary romance

pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Child 44

Tom Rob Smith2008

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

tender → tense

pace+2·prose0·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.

tender → clinical

pace-1·prose+2·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.

tender → bleak

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

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.

tender → elegiac

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Bastard Out of Carolina

Dorothy Allison1995

A young girl grows up in poverty in 1950s South Carolina. She endures physical and sexual abuse from her stepfather while her mother looks away.

tender → bleak, still southern gothic

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

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.

tender → bleak

pace0·prose+2·bleak+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.

tender → bleak

pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2