After
How Late It Was, How Late
James Kelman1994
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
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
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak0
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf1927
A family and their guests visit a house in the Hebrides. The narrative follows their internal thoughts over two days separated by ten years.
sardonic → elegiac, still stream of consciousness
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
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.
Same sardonic register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Book of Evidence
John Banville1989
A cultured man in prison recounts the theft of a painting and the impulsive murder of a maid. He explains his actions through a cold, detached lens.
Same sardonic register
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
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·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
Artemis
Andy Weir2017
A porter and smuggler on a lunar colony takes a high-stakes sabotage job to pay off a debt. She uses technical knowledge to solve problems.
sardonic → propulsive
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-3bleak-2
The Kaiju Preservation Society
John Scalzi2022
A food delivery driver joins a secret organization that travels to an alternate Earth to care for massive, dinosaur-like creatures.
sardonic → playful
pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
Smokin' Seventeen
Janet Evanovich2011
A bounty hunter investigates bodies found in her boss's lot while choosing between three suitors. The story follows her daily mishaps in New Jersey.
sardonic → playful
pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace0prose-3bleak-2
The Comfort Book
Matt Haig2021
A collection of short reflections, lists, and anecdotes intended to provide mental support. It is a non-linear book of philosophy and memoir.
sardonic → warm
pace0·prose-3·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-3bleak-2
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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
Same sardonic register
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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → 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.
sardonic → elegiac
pace-1·prose-1·bleak0
Heavier
sardonic → 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.
Same sardonic register
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.
Same sardonic register
pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1
