LitQueuelitqueue

After

Humboldt's Gift

Saul Bellow1975

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Purity

    Jonathan Franzen2015

    A young woman burdened by student debt searches for her father and joins an international whistleblowing organization. Multiple perspectives follow.

    wry → sardonic, still satire

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → propulsive

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    wry → playful

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak0

  • 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.

    wry → dreamlike

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1

To recover

wry → playful, still satire

3 more ↓

  • The Bear Went Over the Mountain

    William Kotzwinkle1996

    A bear finds a manuscript in the woods and travels to New York to publish it under a human alias. He becomes a literary celebrity.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • The Technicolor Time Machine

    Harry Harrison1967

    A struggling film producer uses a time machine to travel to the eleventh century to film a Viking movie on location.

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Rich People Problems

    Kevin Kwan2017

    An extended family gathers in Singapore as their matriarch lies dying. They scheme against one another to inherit a massive estate.

    pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Get Jiro!

    Anthony Bourdain2012

    In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

    wry → sardonic, still satire

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak0

  • Child 44

    Tom Rob Smith2008

    A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.

    wry → tense

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak+1

  • Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

    David Wong2015

    A young woman inherits her estranged father's criminal empire in a lawless future city. She must survive assassins using high-tech gadgets.

    wry → sardonic, still satire

    pace+2·prose-1·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    wry → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • 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.

    wry → clinical

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Translated Accounts

    James Kelman2001

    Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.

    wry → bleak

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Heavier

wry → sardonic, still satire

3 more ↓

  • 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.

    wry → bleak

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+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.

    wry → bleak

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+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.

    wry → sardonic

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+2