After
Violeta
Isabel Allende2022
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
Angie Cruz2022
A Dominican immigrant in New York tells her life story to a job counselor across twelve formal sessions. The text uses a transcript format.
Same warm register, still epistolary
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Summer of '69
Elin Hilderbrand2019
Four siblings and their mother navigate the summer of 1969 across Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Vietnam.
Same warm register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
The Color Purple
Alice Walker1982
A Black woman in the rural South writes letters to God and her sister over several decades. She navigates abuse and eventually finds independence.
warm → tender, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Susan Crandall2013
A nine-year-old girl runs away from her Mississippi home in 1963. She travels toward Nashville with a Black woman and a white baby.
Same warm register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Briar Club
Kate Quinn2024
In a 1950s D.C. boardinghouse, a new tenant brings together several women with secrets before a murder occurs during a dinner party.
Same warm register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace0prose+2bleak+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.
warm → propulsive, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+2bleak+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.
warm → sardonic, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
warm → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+2bleak+1
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.
warm → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer2008
A London writer exchanges letters with residents of Guernsey after WWII. The story is told entirely through their correspondence.
Same warm register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Murder boogies with Elvis
Anne George2001
Two sisters attend a charity event where an Elvis impersonator is stabbed on stage, prompting them to find the killer.
warm → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
A Veiled Deception
Annette Blair2009
A vintage shop owner investigates a murder during her sister's wedding preparations to clear her family's name.
warm → playful
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
It Starts with Us
Colleen Hoover2022
A single mother navigates a new relationship with her first love while managing a jealous ex-husband. The story alternates perspectives.
warm → earnest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Assistant to the Villain
Hannah Nicole Maehrer2023
A woman takes a job as an administrative assistant to a local villain to support her family. She manages his office while ignoring his evil deeds.
warm → playful
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
warm → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
warm → tense
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
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.
warm → sardonic
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose-1bleak-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.
warm → propulsive
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
warm → wry
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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-2·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+1bleak+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-2·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+2bleak0
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.
warm → playful
pace-2·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-2prose+2bleak+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.
warm → clinical
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+2bleak+2
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
warm → bleak
pace-2·prose+2·bleak+2
Heavier
warm → bleak, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose0bleak+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.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
warm → meditative, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
A Long Long Way
Sebastian Barry2005
A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Brotherless Night
V. V. Ganeshananthan2023
A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.
warm → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
