After
Country of the Pointed Firs
Sarah Orne Jewett1927
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from, nothing slower
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Orbital
Samantha Harvey2024
Six astronauts orbit Earth over twenty-four hours. The narrative focuses on their routine tasks and observations of the planet below.
Same meditative register, still slice of life
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
Walden
Henry David Thoreau1854
A man lives in a small cabin by a pond for two years. He records his daily expenses, the local wildlife, and his thoughts on solitude.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
Holiday
Stanley Middleton1974
A schoolteacher stays at a seaside resort to evaluate his failing marriage through quiet observation and memory.
Same meditative register, still slice of life
pace0·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Gilead
Marilynne Robinson2004
An elderly preacher in 1950s Iowa writes a letter to his young son about their family history. He reflects on his father and grandfather.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Elizabeth Costello
J. M. Coetzee2003
An elderly novelist travels the world giving academic lectures on animals, realism, and evil. The book is structured as a series of formal speeches.
Same meditative register
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
meditative → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+2prose+1bleak+3
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+2·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+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.
meditative → playful
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
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.
meditative → elegiac
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
meditative → dreamlike
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
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.
meditative → playful
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-1bleak+2
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
meditative → tense
pace+3·prose-1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-1bleak+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.
meditative → sardonic
pace+3·prose-1·bleak+1
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
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.
meditative → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak0
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
meditative → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak0
Heavier
meditative → bleak
- pace+1prose+1bleak+3
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+1·bleak+3
- pace+2prose0bleak+3
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·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose0bleak+3
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.
meditative → sardonic
pace+2·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+1prose0bleak+3
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·prose0·bleak+3
- pace+2prose-1bleak+3
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.
meditative → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak+3
