After
Don Quixote
Kathy Acker1986
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
4 of 6 directions open — nothing heavier, nothing denser
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak-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.
Same sardonic register, still postmodernism
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-2
The Autograph Man
Zadie Smith2002
A Jewish-Chinese autograph dealer in London goes on a quest for the signature of a reclusive 1940s film star. It explores fame and grief.
Same sardonic register, still quest
pace0·prose-1·bleak-2
- pace0prose0bleak0
Dorian
Will Self2002
A modern retelling of Oscar Wilde's novel set in the London drug and art scenes of the 1980s. A video installation ages while the subject does not.
Same sardonic register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Vilnius Poker
Ričardas Gavelis2014
Four narrators describe life in Soviet-occupied Vilnius. The city is depicted as a living, malevolent entity that traps and corrupts its citizens.
sardonic → bleak, still postmodernism
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak-1
How Late It Was, How Late
James Kelman1994
A Glaswegian shoplifter wakes up blind after a police beating and tries to navigate the city in a stream of consciousness.
Same sardonic register
pace0·prose0·bleak-1
To recover
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
Murderbot Diaries
Martha Wells2023
A self-aware security android hacks its governor module to watch soap operas while protecting humans. It navigates corporate conspiracies.
Same sardonic register
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
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.
sardonic → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
The Mane Event
Shelly Laurenston2007
A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.
sardonic → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
Mile High
Liz Tomforde2023
A professional hockey player and a flight attendant clash on the team's private plane during a season-long road trip.
sardonic → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+1prose-3bleak-3
Behind the Net
Stephanie Archer2024
A former musician becomes the live-in assistant for a professional hockey goalie she knew in high school.
sardonic → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-3
Faster
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
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.
sardonic → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
sardonic → tense
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
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.
Same sardonic register
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
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.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
- pace+2prose-3bleak-3
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
sardonic → wry
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-3
Slower
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
sardonic → bleak, still experimental fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- 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.
sardonic → elegiac
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose-1bleak-1
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.
sardonic → elegiac
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Moby Dick
Herman Melville1851
A sailor joins a whaling voyage led by a captain seeking revenge on a specific whale. Large sections digress into the mechanics of 1850s whaling.
sardonic → meditative
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose-1bleak-3
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.
sardonic → meditative
pace-1·prose-1·bleak-3
