After
Umbrella
Will Self2013
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing denser, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf1927
A family and their guests visit a house in the Hebrides. The narrative follows their internal thoughts over two days separated by ten years.
clinical → elegiac, still modernist
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Moby Dick
Herman Melville1851
A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.
clinical → meditative
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
A Fable
William Faulkner1954
During WWI, a French corporal leads a mutiny that halts the fighting. The narrative mirrors the events of the Passion of Christ.
clinical → meditative
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Sea
John Banville2005
A widower returns to a coastal resort to reflect on a childhood summer and his wife's death. The narrator's memory is fluid and dense.
clinical → elegiac
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
Ducks, Newburyport
Lucy Ellmann2019
An Ohio mother’s thoughts flow in a nearly continuous 1,000-page sentence. She reflects on her life, her children, and the state of the world.
clinical → meditative
pace0·prose0·bleak0
To recover
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Sea of Greed
Clive Cussler2018
Kurt Austin investigates the destruction of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The trail leads to a billionaire with a plan to end the oil age.
clinical → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Modern Romance
Aziz Ansari2015
A comedian and a sociologist analyze how technology and culture have changed dating. It uses data and interviews to compare eras.
clinical → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Building a Second Brain
Tiago Forte2022
A guide to a digital organization system designed to store and retrieve ideas, notes, and information for long-term projects.
clinical → earnest
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
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.
clinical → meditative
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
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.
clinical → warm
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
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.
clinical → playful
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
clinical → tense
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-2bleak-1
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.
clinical → sardonic
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
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.
clinical → propulsive
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
clinical → wry
pace+3·prose-3·bleak-2
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
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.
clinical → elegiac, still modernist
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+1
The Lives of Others
Neel Mukherjee2014
A multi-generational family in 1960s Calcutta disintegrates while one grandson joins a violent Maoist insurgency. It tracks the family's collapse.
clinical → bleak, still historical
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
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.
clinical → bleak
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
clinical → bleak
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose-1bleak+1
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood2003
A man survives a genetic apocalypse in a world of engineered creatures. He remembers his past with a scientist and the woman they both loved.
clinical → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1
