After
Tinkers
Paul Harding2009
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing denser, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
The Next Big Thing
Anita Brookner2002
A seventy-three-year-old man in London contemplates his few remaining options for the future. He considers travel, marriage, and his isolation.
Same meditative register, still psychological fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak0
The Lost Dog
Michelle de Kretser2007
A professor searches for his lost dog in the Australian bush while caring for his aging mother. He navigates a relationship with a cryptic artist.
Same meditative register, still psychological fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Study for Obedience
Sarah Bernstein2023
A woman moves to a remote northern country to care for her brother. The local community grows hostile as she observes them.
meditative → cold, still psychological fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-2bleak0
Grace Notes
Bernard MacLaverty1997
A composer and new mother returns to Northern Ireland for her father's funeral while struggling to finish a major symphonic work.
Same meditative register, still psychological fiction
pace+1·prose-2·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Milkman
Anna Burns2018
An unnamed 18-year-old girl is stalked by an older paramilitary figure in 1970s Northern Ireland. The prose uses long, circuitous sentences.
meditative → tense, still psychological fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
On a Pale Horse
Piers Anthony1983
After accidentally killing the personification of Death, a man must take over the office. He navigates the bureaucracy of the afterlife.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom1994
A journalist reconnects with his dying college professor for weekly lessons on life. They discuss aging, regret, and love as the professor declines.
meditative → tender
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
The Last Question
Isaac Asimov2007
A short story told in seven vignettes spanning billions of years. Humanity asks a supercomputer if the heat death of the universe can be avoided.
Same meditative register
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-3bleak-1
This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection
Carol Burnett2010
The comedian shares anecdotes from her career in television and film. The book is a series of short chronological reflections.
meditative → warm
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-3bleak-1
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.
meditative → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+3prose-3bleak-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.
meditative → playful
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-2bleak+1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
meditative → tense
pace+3·prose-2·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
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.
meditative → sardonic
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-3bleak-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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-3bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-1
Heavier
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
The Gathering
Anne Enright2007
A woman gathers with her siblings in Dublin for her brother's wake. She reconstructs a childhood trauma to understand his suicide.
meditative → elegiac, still psychological fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
No Longer Human
太宰 治2024
A man describes his life through three notebooks, detailing his inability to connect with others and his social alienation.
meditative → bleak, still psychological fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
The Lighthouse
Alison Moore2012
A recently separated man takes a walking tour of Germany while reflecting on his childhood abandonment and his failing marriage.
meditative → bleak, still psychological fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
The White Hotel
D. M. Thomas1981
A woman's life is told through poems, a Freudian case study, and a narrative. It moves from her sexual fantasies to her death in the Holocaust.
meditative → dreamlike, still psychological fiction
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace+2prose-1bleak+2
My Dark Vanessa
Kate Elizabeth Russell2020
Vanessa reflects on her teenage relationship with a teacher after he is accused of abuse. The narrative shifts between 2000 and 2017.
meditative → bleak, still psychological fiction
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+2
