After
In the distance
Hernán Díaz2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
- pace0prose0bleak0
Atonement
Ian McEwan2001
A young girl misinterprets an event in 1935, leading to a false accusation. The story follows the consequences across WWII and into the present.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie2006
Three characters navigate the Nigerian Civil War and the short-lived republic of Biafra. The story follows a houseboy, a twin, and an expatriate.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Hours
Michael Cunningham1998
Three generations of women, including Virginia Woolf, are linked across time by the novel Mrs. Dalloway and their experiences with suicide.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy1992
A young Texan travels to Mexico in 1949 to live as a cowboy. The prose omits quotation marks and follows his work on a large ranch.
Same elegiac register, still western
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
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The Line of Beauty
Alan Hollinghurst2004
A young man moves into the home of a Conservative MP in 1980s London. He pursues aesthetics and romance while the AIDS crisis begins to emerge.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-1prose+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.
elegiac → playful, still literary fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose+1bleak+1
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, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
- pace0prose+1bleak0
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
pace0·prose+1·bleak0
To recover
elegiac → warm, still western
- pace0prose-2bleak-2
Montana
Debbie Macomber1997
A single mother moves to her grandfather's Montana ranch and falls for a mysterious farmhand while investigating his past.
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace0prose-2bleak-2
Montana Creeds
Linda Lael Miller2009
A professional bull rider returns to his family ranch to raise the young daughter he barely knows. He must transition from athlete to father.
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Spun Out
Lorelei James2019
A woman enters a polyamorous relationship with two male friends in a small-town setting. The story focuses on their shared history and dynamic.
elegiac → earnest, still western
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Going Cowboy Crazy
Katie Lane2011
A woman travels to a small Texas town to find her secret twin sister and is mistaken for her by the local residents and her sister's ex-flame.
elegiac → playful, still western
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Redshirts
John Scalzi2012
Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-1bleak0
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+2·prose-1·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-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.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-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.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
Slower
- pace-1prose0bleak0
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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose+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.
elegiac → playful, still literary fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+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.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak-1
Lila
Marilynne Robinson2014
A woman with a traumatic, nomadic past settles in a small Iowa town and marries a minister. She struggles to reconcile her history with his faith.
elegiac → tender, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak-1
- pace-1prose0bleak0
Blackouts
Justin Torres2023
A young man cares for a dying elder in a medical facility. They use a 1930s study on homosexuality to reconstruct their personal histories.
Same elegiac register, still literary fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+1
The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead2019
A studious black teenager in 1960s Florida is sent to a brutal reform school where physical abuse is systemic.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison1970
A young Black girl in 1940s Ohio prays for blue eyes as a way to escape her reality. The narrative follows her family's collapse and trauma.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Prophets
Robert Jones Jr.2021
Two enslaved men on a Mississippi plantation find refuge in their love for each other. Their relationship is threatened by a betrayal.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
Streets of Laredo
Larry McMurtry1993
An aging Woodrow Call is hired to hunt down a young train robber in the Texas-Mexico borderlands. The mission is slow and physically grueling.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Deposition of Father McGreevy
Brian O'Doherty2000
A priest recounts the physical and moral decline of an isolated Irish village during a harsh winter in the 1940s.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
