After
A tree grows in Brooklyn
Betty Smith1943
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The Heart's Invisible Furies
John Boyne2017
Cyril Avery grows up in 1940s Ireland and spends seventy years navigating his identity as a gay man in a repressive society.
tender → wry, still bildungsroman
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
The Dictionary of Lost Words
Pip Williams2021
A girl grows up in the shed where the first Oxford English Dictionary is compiled. She collects words related to women's experiences that men omit.
Same tender register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Paradise
Abdulrazak Gurnah1994
A boy in East Africa is sold into domestic servitude to pay his father's debts. He travels with a trading caravan into the interior.
tender → elegiac, still bildungsroman
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Mister Pip
Lloyd Jones2006
During a blockade on Bougainville Island, the only remaining white man reads Great Expectations to local children. The story shapes their reality.
tender → elegiac, still bildungsroman
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak0
Red at the Bone
Jacqueline Woodson2019
The story of two Black families in Brooklyn across three generations. It centers on a teenage pregnancy and its long-term effects on the lineage.
Same tender register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+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.
tender → propulsive, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+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.
tender → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+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.
tender → sardonic, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+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.
tender → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace0prose+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.
tender → dreamlike
pace0·prose+2·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
When I'm Gone
Abbi Glines2015
A Texas rancher visits Rosemary Beach and becomes involved with a local woman while navigating his family's rock star legacy.
Same tender register
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Her Russian Billionaire: 50 Loving States, Texas
Theodora Taylor
A woman reunites with a wealthy Russian man she once knew, leading to the revelation of a child he did not know existed.
tender → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
An Offer From a Gentleman
Julia Quinn2001
The illegitimate daughter of an earl works as a servant for her stepmother. She sneaks into a masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.
tender → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-1bleak-1
Rich People Problems
Kevin Kwan2017
An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.
tender → playful
pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Royal Dad
Leanne Banks2001
An American tutor travels to a foreign kingdom to teach a young prince and enters a romantic relationship with his widowed father.
tender → warm
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-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.
tender → playful
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose0bleak+1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
tender → tense
pace+2·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose0bleak0
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.
tender → sardonic
pace+2·prose0·bleak0
- pace+2prose-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.
tender → propulsive
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-1bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
tender → wry
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
Slower
tender → elegiac, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose+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-1·prose+2·bleak+2
- pace-1prose+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-1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+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.
tender → playful
pace-1·prose+2·bleak0
- pace-1prose+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.
tender → clinical
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+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.
tender → bleak
pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2
Heavier
tender → bleak, still historical fiction
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose+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.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+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.
tender → meditative, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+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.
tender → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+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.
tender → elegiac, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
