After
Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Snow Child
Eowyn Ivey2012
An aging couple in 1920s Alaska builds a child out of snow who appears to come to life. The story blends homesteading with folklore.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak0
North Woods
Daniel Mason2023
The story of a single house in the Massachusetts woods told through the lives of its inhabitants over four hundred years.
pace0·prose0·bleak0
- pace0prose0bleak+1
The Map of Salt and Stars
Zeyn Joukhadar2018
A Syrian girl flees modern civil war while her story mirrors a 12th-century mapmaker's apprentice. Both travel across North Africa.
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Ironweed
William Kennedy1983
A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Beloved
Toni Morrison1987
A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
Denser prose
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Let Us Descend
Jesmyn Ward2023
An enslaved girl travels from the Carolinas to New Orleans. She uses memories of her mother and spirits to survive the journey and the labor.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
Beloved
Toni Morrison1987
A mother in post-Civil War Ohio is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed to spare from slavery. The prose is dense and non-linear.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
The Famished Road
Ben Okri1991
An abiku, or spirit child, narrates his life in a Nigerian ghetto. He fluctuates between the world of the living and the world of spirits.
elegiac → dreamlike, still magical realism
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+1
This Other Eden
Paul Harding2023
A multiracial community on a small island off the coast of Maine faces forced displacement by state officials in the early 20th century.
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace0prose+1bleak+2
The Wake
Paul Kingsnorth2014
A landowner in 1066 leads a guerrilla resistance against Norman invaders. The story is written in a modified version of Old English.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose+1·bleak+2
To recover
- pace0prose-2bleak-1
This Girl
Colleen Hoover2013
A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.
elegiac → earnest
pace0·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
While It Lasts
Abbi Glines2013
A college baseball player works on a farm over the summer to avoid jail after a DUI. He falls for a woman who is grieving her late fiancé.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
Love Bites
Lynsay Sands2004
A vampire turns a coroner into an immortal to save her life after an accident. They navigate their new bond while being pursued by others.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace0prose-1bleak-1
Lost Lake
Sarah Addison Allen2014
A widow and her daughter travel to a family lakeside resort in Georgia to help her aunt prepare the property for sale.
elegiac → warm, still magical realism
pace0·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+1prose-2bleak-1
The Score
Elle Kennedy2016
A college senior has a one-night stand with a hockey player to get over a breakup. They continue the arrangement as graduation approaches.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-1
Faster
- pace+2prose-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+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-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+2·prose-1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+2prose-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+2·prose-1·bleak0
- pace+2prose-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+2·prose-2·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-1
The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-1
Slower
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose-1bleak0
A Month in the Country
J. L. Carr1980
A WWI veteran spends a summer in a quiet village restoring a medieval mural in a church. He reflects on his trauma while observing local life.
pace-1·prose-1·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak+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.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose0bleak0
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·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
A Fable
William Faulkner1954
During WWI, a French corporal leads a mutiny that halts the fighting. The narrative mirrors the events of the Passion of Christ.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Rhine Journey
Ann Schlee1981
A middle-aged woman travels by steamer down the Rhine in 1851. She observes her family and internalizes a chance encounter with a man from her past.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
Heavier
- pace+1prose0bleak+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, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
Ironweed
William Kennedy1983
A homeless alcoholic returns to Albany in 1938. He encounters the ghosts of his past while trying to find a day of work and reconciliation.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak+2
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry1995
Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose-1·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron1967
A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
- pace0prose0bleak+2
The Known World
Edward P. Jones2003
A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+2
