After
When All Is Said
Anne Griffin2019
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing slower
More like it
Same elegiac register
- pace0prose0bleak-1
A Month in the Country
J. L. Carr1980
A WWI veteran spends a summer in a quiet village restoring a medieval mural in a church. He reflects on his trauma while observing local life.
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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.
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Pachinko
Lee Min Jin2017
Four generations of a Korean family live in Japan as immigrants. It follows their struggle for money and identity over eight decades.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong2019
A son writes a letter to his illiterate mother, recounting his family's history in Vietnam and his own experiences growing up in America.
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro1989
An elderly butler takes a motoring trip through the English countryside while reflecting on his service to a disgraced lord before World War II.
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+2bleak0
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner1915
The Bundren family travels by wagon to bury their matriarch. Fifteen different narrators describe the journey as the corpse decomposes.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace0prose+2bleak-1
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
pace0·prose+2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+2bleak0
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.
Same elegiac register
pace0·prose+2·bleak0
- pace+1prose+2bleak0
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
pace+1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace+2prose+2bleak+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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-1bleak-2
To Sir Phillip, With Love
Julia Quinn2003
Eloise Bridgerton travels to meet a widowed baronet she has only known through letters. They consider a marriage of convenience.
elegiac → warm
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
All Rhodes Lead Here
Mariana Zapata2021
A woman moves back to her Colorado hometown after a breakup and rents a garage apartment from a grumpy single father.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-1bleak-2
Hannah's List
Debbie Macomber2010
A widower receives a letter from his late wife suggesting three women he should date. He begins to interact with each woman over the following year.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+3prose-1bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace+3·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+3prose0bleak0
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+3·prose0·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose0bleak-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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+3·prose0·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-1bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+3·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace+3prose-1bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+3·prose-1·bleak-2
Heavier
elegiac → bleak
- pace+1prose+2bleak+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.
pace+1·prose+2·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.
pace+2·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- 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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara2015
Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose0bleak+1
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut1969
Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, experiencing his life out of order, from his chaplaincy in WWII to his abduction by aliens.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
