After
History of the Rain
Niall Williams2014
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing slower
More like it
- pace+1prose0bleak0
Clear Light of Day
Anita Desai1980
Adult siblings reunite in their childhood home in Old Delhi. They navigate long-held resentments and memories of the Partition of India.
Same elegiac register, still family saga
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
Beach Music
Pat Conroy1995
A widower in Rome returns to South Carolina to confront his family's past and find a missing friend. The story spans from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Same elegiac register, still family saga
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Illuminations
Andrew O'Hagan2015
A retired documentary photographer with failing memory shares her secrets with her grandson, a soldier recently returned from Afghanistan.
Same elegiac register, still family saga
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace+1prose0bleak0
A Place for Us
Fatima Farheen Mirza2018
An Indian-American family gathers for a wedding, prompting reflections on their history and the return of an estranged son.
elegiac → tender, still family saga
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose0bleak0
The Northern Clemency
Philip Hensher2008
Two families in Sheffield live through twenty years of social change, including the 1984 miners' strike. It is a detailed domestic chronicle.
elegiac → wry, still family saga
pace+1·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
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+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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+1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace+2prose+1bleak+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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+1prose+1bleak+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.
elegiac → dreamlike
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Manning Brides
Debbie Macomber2008
Two brothers navigate unconventional paths to marriage. One enters a marriage of convenience for a child, while the other finds love after loss.
elegiac → warm
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Takeover
T.L. Swan
A billionaire attempts to acquire a widow's family company but ends up moving into her home. It follows their power struggle and her three sons.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
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-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Everything Beautiful in Its Time
Jenna Bush Hager2020
The author reflects on the lives and deaths of her grandparents, including a former President and First Lady. It is a series of personal essays.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Love Comes Softly
Janette Oke1979
A widow on the 19th-century frontier enters a marriage of convenience with a widower to survive the winter and care for his daughter.
elegiac → tender
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+3prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-1bleak+1
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·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+3prose-1bleak0
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·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+3prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+3prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+3·prose-2·bleak-1
Heavier
elegiac → bleak, still family saga
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
The Lives of Others
Neel Mukherjee2014
A multi-generational family in 1960s Calcutta disintegrates while one grandson joins a violent Maoist insurgency. It tracks the family's collapse.
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+1prose0bleak+2
I'll Go to Bed at Noon
Gerard Woodward2004
The Jones family spends a decade succumbing to alcoholism. The book tracks their physical and social disintegration in 1970s Britain.
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose+1bleak+2
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.
elegiac → bleak
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace+2prose0bleak+2
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
elegiac → bleak
pace+2·prose0·bleak+2
- pace+2prose0bleak+2
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·prose0·bleak+2
