After
Autobiography of Red
Anne Carson1999
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Famished Road
Ben Okri1991
An abiku, or spirit child, narrates his life in a Nigerian ghetto. He fluctuates between the world of the living and the world of spirits.
Same dreamlike register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
Same dreamlike register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
A sport and a pastime
James Salter1967
An unnamed narrator observes the sexual affair between an American college dropout and a French girl in 1960s France.
Same dreamlike register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak0
1Q84
Haruki Murakami2011
A woman and a man enter a parallel version of 1984 Tokyo with two moons. Their paths converge through a religious cult and a series of murders.
Same dreamlike register, still star-crossed lovers
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Hot Milk
Deborah Levy2016
A woman takes her chronically ill mother to a clinic in Spain. She examines their symbiotic relationship while exploring her own identity.
Same dreamlike register, still coming of age
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Rock Me
Cherrie Lynn2010
Candace visits her cousin's ex-boyfriend for a tattoo and begins a sexual relationship with him. The story focuses on their physical chemistry.
dreamlike → tender
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Twenties Girl
Sophie Kinsella2009
Lara is visited by the ghost of her great-aunt Sadie, who appears as a 1920s flapper. They search for a missing necklace and chase a former lover.
dreamlike → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Bad Girl Reputation
Elle Kennedy2022
A former party girl returns to her coastal hometown for a funeral and tries to avoid her ex-boyfriend. They struggle to maintain their distance.
dreamlike → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Seducing Cinderella
Gina L. Maxwell2012
An orthopedic surgeon asks her brother's best friend, an MMA fighter, to help her become more confident. They enter a physical arrangement.
dreamlike → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Vampires Are Forever
Lynsay Sands2008
A woman suspects her business partner is a vampire after he attempts to bite her. He tries to convince her they are fated mates.
dreamlike → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-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.
dreamlike → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak0
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
dreamlike → tense
pace+2·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-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.
dreamlike → sardonic
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-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.
dreamlike → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
dreamlike → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-1prose0bleak-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.
dreamlike → playful
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
dreamlike → elegiac
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak0
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.
dreamlike → clinical
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
dreamlike → bleak
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose-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.
dreamlike → elegiac
pace-1·prose-1·bleak0
Heavier
dreamlike → bleak
- pace0prose0bleak+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.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-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+1·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-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.
dreamlike → sardonic
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose-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.
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-2bleak+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.
dreamlike → sardonic
pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1
