After
The Summer that Melted Everything
Tiffany McDaniel2016
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-1
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Jesmyn Ward2017
A family drives across Mississippi to pick up a father from prison. The journey is haunted by ghosts and the state's history of racial violence.
Same elegiac register, still southern gothic
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose0bleak-1
The Secret Wisdom of the Earth
Christopher Scotton2015
A boy spends a summer in a Kentucky coal town after his brother's death. He navigates local tensions over mountaintop removal mining.
Same elegiac register, still southern gothic
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
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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 magical realism
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Betty
Tiffany McDaniel2020
A girl grows up in the foothills of the Appalachians in a family marked by poverty and secrets. She writes her stories to survive her reality.
Same elegiac register, still southern gothic
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
Lesley Nneka Arimah2017
A collection of short stories set in Nigeria and the US, ranging from realistic family dramas to speculative tales of future floods.
Same elegiac register, still magical realism
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Denser prose
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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.
Same elegiac register, still southern gothic
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
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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
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3 more ↓ ↑
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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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+1·prose+1·bleak0
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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·bleak-2
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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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace0·prose+1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
The time keeper
Mitch Albom2011
The inventor of the first clock is released from a cave to help two people in the modern world. He teaches them the value of their remaining time.
elegiac → earnest, still magical realism
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
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Thoughtful
S.C. Stephens2015
Kellan Kyle falls for his best friend's girlfriend, Anna. The story retells the events of Thoughtless from Kellan's perspective.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
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Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
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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-3
- pace+1prose-2bleak-3
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-3
Faster
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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-3
- 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 ↓ ↑
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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·bleak-2
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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-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose+1bleak0
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 southern gothic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak-2
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·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- 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
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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.
elegiac → bleak
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Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino1972
Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.
elegiac → meditative, still magical realism
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-2